Willi Denifl starts the Olympic season highly motivated with a new sponsor

Proudly presented by Willi Denifl is his current company car, on which all his sporting supporters are also showcased. Since this summer, the logo of Peter Riedel GmbH has been part of it, because the Saxon bootmaker sponsor now supports Austrian Nordic Combined. 

'For us, it is the first time we are supporting an elite athlete with Willi Denifl. I have known him for a long time and I am pleased that we can support him on the way to the Olympic Games,' says Managing Director Peter Riedel. 

To prepare optimally for the Olympic winter, Willi Denifl skipped the Summer Grand Prix. 'I feel very good, everything is going according to plan. I trained a lot and further developed my cross-country technique,' explains the 2003 world champion. 'I no longer start in the Summer Grand Prix because I realized it doesn't benefit me. This summer I invested a lot of training into jumping because I believe Nordic Combined can only be won through jumping.'

At 36, he is one of the 'old hands' and knows exactly what he needs. 'I don't train much differently than before. I need to listen to my body more, but I know myself quite well now and know what suits me.'

October will be relatively stressful for him, as many appointments are pending just before winter. In addition to gearing up, two training camps are still on the program, and then the long wait for the first snow begins so that cross-country training can finally start. In early November they travel to Finland or Norway to fine-tune before the World Cup. On November 24, he and his teammates start the new season in Ruka, Finland.

The goals are clear: 'I simply want to start the season with a good result to qualify for the Olympics. The highlight, of course, are the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, which is why I kept going.' The culmination of his long career should come at the domestic World Championships in Seefeld 2019, unless 'I get such an immoral offer that I cannot refuse and have to continue,' says Denifl with a laugh.