{"id":56384,"date":"2025-11-27T19:50:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T17:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/?p=56384"},"modified":"2025-11-27T19:51:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T17:51:20","slug":"a-tight-battle-ahead-ruka-nordic-opens-the-mens-nordic-combined-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/en\/a-tight-battle-ahead-ruka-nordic-opens-the-mens-nordic-combined-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"A tight battle ahead &#8211; Ruka Nordic opens the men\u2019s Nordic Combined world cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">November 28 at 1:15 PM. The day continues at 4:15 PM with a 7.5-kilometre cross-country race in the individual compact format.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Saturday, ski jumping starts at 11:15 AM followed by a 10-kilometre race using the Gundersen method.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the final competition day, Sunday, the athletes will set off at 10:00 AM with a mass start, and the Nordic combined weekend will culminate in the ski-jumping segment at 2:00 PM.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nordic combined, one of the most interesting disciplines of the upcoming winter sports season, is expected to be very evenly matched according to forecasts \u2014 a view also shared by FIS Nordic Combined Race Director <\/span><b>Lasse Ottesen<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe tightest Nordic Combined World Cup overall competition in history,\u201d Ottesen describes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adding to the unpredictability is the absence of the top two finishers from last season\u2019s overall World Cup. The sport\u2019s undisputed leading athlete of recent years, last year&#8217;s runner-up Jarl-Magnus Riiber, ended his career after last season due to developing Crohn\u2019s disease. Germany\u2019s Vinzent Geiger, last year\u2019s overall World Cup winner, injured his leg and is unable to compete in Ruka.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ruka Nordic is an excellent opportunity to set the tone for the upcoming Olympic winter. For example, <\/span><b>Johannes Lamparter<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>Jens Luraas Oftebro<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>Ilkka Herola<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Julian Schmid<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are all potential contenders for a World Cup event victory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ruka has been experiencing strong winds, adding extra uncertainty to the ski-jumping segments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teksti: Konsta Mervel\u00e4<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kuva: Laajasalon Opisto<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 28 at 1:15 PM. The day continues at 4:15 PM with a 7.5-kilometre cross-country race in the individual compact [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":56381,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[60,70,77,78],"class_list":["post-56384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ruka-nordic-en","tag-nordic-combined","tag-yhdistetty-en","tag-maailmancup-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A tight battle ahead - Ruka Nordic opens the men\u2019s Nordic Combined world cup - Ruka Nordic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/en\/a-tight-battle-ahead-ruka-nordic-opens-the-mens-nordic-combined-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A tight battle ahead - Ruka Nordic opens the men\u2019s Nordic Combined world cup - Ruka Nordic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 28 at 1:15 PM. The day continues at 4:15 PM with a 7.5-kilometre cross-country race in the individual compact [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/en\/a-tight-battle-ahead-ruka-nordic-opens-the-mens-nordic-combined-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ruka Nordic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rukanordic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-27T17:50:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-27T17:51:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/30.11_yhdistetty_maki-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Soili Hirvonen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@RukaNordic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@RukaNordic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Soili Hirvonen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/en\/a-tight-battle-ahead-ruka-nordic-opens-the-mens-nordic-combined-world-cup\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/en\/a-tight-battle-ahead-ruka-nordic-opens-the-mens-nordic-combined-world-cup\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Soili Hirvonen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rukanordic.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/06b86a563eb667afed07c24965720944\"},\"headline\":\"A tight battle ahead &#8211; 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