German duo face fight to defend World Cup crowns in new Nordic Combined season

FIS Nordic Combined Race Director Lasse Ottesen says the 2025–26 campaign could bring “the closest World Cup overall fight in Nordic Combined history,” following a rollercoaster 2024–25 season that produced two first-time overall champions for Germany: Vinzenz Geiger and Nathalie Armbruster.

On the men’s side, five-time overall winner Jarl Magnus Riiber dominated much of last season, adding five victories and 13 podiums plus two individual World Championship golds in Trondheim, before announcing his retirement due to Crohn’s disease and ending his World Cup career in Oslo. His early exit opened the door for Geiger, whose seventh win of the season in Oslo and consistent podium form secured his maiden Crystal Globe.

With Riiber gone, the title race appears wide open. Austria’s Johannes Lamparter closed last season strongly with back-to-back Lahti wins and is tipped as a leading challenger. Team‑mate Stefan Rettenegger, runner‑up to Riiber in 2023–24, showed renewed form with two Summer Grand Prix wins. Germany’s Julian Schmid delivered eight podiums without a win and remains a threat, while Finland’s Ilkka Herola finished last season brightly after taking his first World Cup victory in Oslo. Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro, perhaps the fastest skier in the field, and Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves also eye the vacancy left by Riiber.

In the women’s field, 2023–24 overall champion Ida Marie Hagen seeks to reclaim the title after a suit infraction and a fall in Seefeld and Otepää derailed her defense, allowing 19‑year‑old Armbruster to seize the yellow bib and become Germany’s first women’s overall winner. Two‑time overall champion Gyda Westvold Hansen ended last season with dominant Oslo wins but will switch to Ski Jumping this winter to pursue Milano‑Cortina 2026. Rising Finns Minja Korhonen—fresh off a first Summer Grand Prix win in Val di Fiemme—and Heta Hirvonen will contest both Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping. Japan’s Yuna Kasai targets momentum from her Trondheim World Championship mass start gold, though twin sister Haruka Kasai is sidelined with a knee ligament rupture.

The World Cup calendar starts in Ruka (FIN) with three men’s events (Compact, Gundersen, Mass Start) from 28–30 November, before the women begin in Trondheim (NOR) on 5 December. Ramsau (AUT) rounds out December, followed by a January swing through Schonach (GER), Otepää (EST), and Oberhof (GER). A season highlight is the Seefeld Triple (AUT) at the end of January, a key form guide ahead of the Milano‑Cortina 2026 Olympics.

At the Games, men will compete in two individual Gundersens (normal and large hill) and a large hill team event, with jumping in Predazzo and skiing in Tesero (Val di Fiemme). The following week, Nordic Combined debuts its first‑ever men’s Ski Flying event at Kulm (Bad Mitterndorf, AUT) within an Individual Compact (HS235 + 7.5 km). The season closes in Scandinavia with Lahti (FIN)—including a mixed team event and a women’s large hill—before the final individual Gundersens for women and men in Oslo (NOR) on 15 March. FIS will award equal season‑end prize money to men and women via a new overall distribution system.

Pre‑season facts and figures are available in the FIS Media Hub.