Freund sends good luck to athletes for Finsterau 2017

Germany’s Olympic and world champion ski jumper Severin Freund has sent a good luck message to all athletes set to compete at the 2017 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships, which will take place in his home region of Freyung-Grafenau from 10 February.

Freund, who is also a former World Cup champion, released a video on Wednesday (2 November) to celebrate 100 days to go until the Championships get underway in Finsterau.

“Congratulations to Finsterau on hosting this year’s World Para Nordic Skiing World Championships! I am glad that you brought this event to the Bavarian Forest,“ Freund, a member of the large hill gold medal winning team from Sochi 2014, said.

“I want to wish all athletes good luck, I am looking forward to fair competitions, great memories, a lot of snow and of course: much success! A big thank you to all volunteers for making this event possible.”

On 10 February the Opening Ceremony for the most important competition ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games will take place. Nine days of cross-country skiing and biathlon competition will follow.

The Local Organising Committee, the municipality of Finsterau and the SV Finsterau sports club, as well as the entire county of Freyung-Grafenau, are already looking forward to welcoming 135 athletes from all over the world.

Preparations are in full swing including the completion of a new, permanent building in the stadium area. This building replaces the temporary tent, which had served as a meeting place, dining hall and venue during competitions such as the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup events in 2011 and 2016.

A successful site visit to inspect the proposed courses and other organisational details was also carried out by the Technical Delegate Hans Peter Neeser.

Organisers report that they expect the first snow to fall in the next few days as the countdown continues to Finsterau 2017.