Croatia's Ivica Kostelic (Photo Agence Zoom)

Three times there was a Combined in this season and three times the winners name was Ivica Kostelić. The Croat won both Super Combined in Wengen and Chamonix and also the classical Combined in Kitzbühel. This series will have no proceeding at the World Championships.

Kostelić and Janka both absent for Super Combined

After his bronze medal in the super-G the Croat has decided to take a break and to put his focus on the overall World Cup. "The World Cup is a priority for me. I should train instead of competing in the World Championships to have enough energy left for the rest of the season. "Besides Kostelić the Swiss Carlo Janka also decided to abstain from a start in the super combined. The second place finisher of the super combined in Wengen went back home to get ready for the World Champs giant slalom.

Many medal contenders

Due to the absence of Kostelić there are many candidates for a Gold medal. At the top of this list there is Aksel Lund Svindal from Norway. The title holder gained this season two third places. With a second place also Kostelić team mate Natko Zrnčić-Dim is a contender for the podium: "After my Bronze medal in Val d'Isère I want to get at least one step higher", says the Croat. Zrnčić-Dim understands the break of his compatriot: "Till now the decisions of our team were always right." Silvan Zurbriggen from Switzerland counts with his second place in the Combined World Cup also to the closer favourites. The winner of the Olympic Gold medal 2010, Bode Miller, is also always capable to win a medal. Fighting chances there are furthermore for the Austrians Romed Baumann and Benjamin Raich, the Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud and the double medal winner in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Christof Innerhofer from Italy.

Combined taking place on both hills

The race courses in Garmisch-Partenkirchen are really challenging; the Gudiberg slalom and the Kandahar downhill are two of the most difficult courses in the Ski World Cup. The combined starts with the downhill at 10:00 and proceeds with the slalom at 14:00.

Combined events history

Alpine Skiing began its competition history at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 Olympic winter Games with men's and ladies'(traditional) combined races - consisting of three runs, namely a downhill or super G run and two slalom runs - as the only contested events.

Later on, with the inclusion of giant slalom at the Oslo 1952 Olympic Games, the (traditional) combined event was dropped until the Calgary 1988 Olympic Games. During that time, the world champion in combined was determined only “on paper”, by adding up the results of the Olympic downhill, giant slalom and slalom races, as the combined event was not run separately. In 1988, it was reintroduced in the traditional three-run format including one downhill and two slalom runs.

Since 2005, the format of the combined has been changed to a two run event, known as the super combined (with a downhill run and one single slalom run instead of two). Both are held the same day and times are added together with the fastest overall time determining the winner. Usually the downhill or super G is carried out first, followed by the slalom. The first super combined was a World Cup race held in 2005 in Wengen, Switzerland, on January 14th.

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