Can you describe your role in the FIS? What are your tasks and responsibilities?

Roman Kumpost: I am the chairman of the nordic combined committee. My task is to further develop nordic combined and to get it to a new level.

A lot was already done this season. There is a full calendar again and new competition formats. Can you already say how these things were accepted?

Kumpost: That's right, we made some adjustments concerning the staff and had discussions with national associations. In addition the structure of the committee was changed a little. We really took a lot of steps what lead to the fact that nordic combined became more popular again in the national associations and that we now have more World Cup events again. We were able to plan our World Cup calendar for the next three years. Now we have to make further improvements, mainly concerning the competition formats. All formats shall be renewed and new formats shall be added. So far we draw a positive balance. Now it's our task to further develop the sport in detail.

We are talking about the team sprint and the penalty race...

Kumpost: The team sprint was again included in the calendar and it was planned to carry out three events this season. The same applies for the penalty race, but for that there's still a lot of work to do. This tactical format is for sure interesting for the media, but the graphics display has to be more comprehensible.

The feedback of the athletes seems to be mainly positive.

Kumpost: That's right. The athletes appreciate it when there are innovations and a fresh wind in the sport. The same competition format in 27 World Cup competitions can be a bit tiring. And that's the same for the media. Tactics and team work are important in the new formats and this is a good development.

There was some confusion when the penalty race was held for the first time in Lillehammer. What was the feedback of the spectators?

Kumpost: We got positive feedback of the big TV stations. Of course everyone thinks that there still has to be some improvement. It has to be more comprehensible, how many penalty laps an athletes has to run. The competitions in this format need to be developed and improved this season. At the end of the season we will hopefully have a good and exciting format for next winter.

Will these two remain the only new formats or will there be other innovations?

Kumpost: We did a lot so far and now everything needs to calm down again. The main task now is to optimize the existing formats. And we are also working on having another highlight in the nordic combined calendar in January.

At some locations all nordic disciplines are getting together this season, which is very popular. Could this happen more often in the future, that nordic combined, ski jumping and cross country skiing events are taking place at the same place?

Kumpost: This is definitely a goal, even if it's not that easy. Not many locations can host competitions in all three disciplines. We would want to have such nordic weekends at least five times in the winter. Especially in Scandinavia this is done for a longer time, just think about Kuusmo, Lahti or Oslo. In central Europe this is hardly the case. Right now we are planning a date in late January where all nordic sports meet. According to the current state this nordic weekend might take place for the first time in the 2015/16 season.

if you had a personal wish for the future of nordic combined, what would that be?

Kumpost: I want nordic combined to have the same number of spectators again like it had previously and this sport will be interesting again for young athletes.

Silke Tegethof/Mariele Stockinger 

Tags:  kumpost | interview

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