Kristjan Ilves: Estonia’s Best and His Golden Dream
To make his way to the top of the world, Estonia’s best athlete in his discipline made a bold decision in 2019. Since then, he has been training with the Norwegian national team, with Trondheim as his sporting home. Nothing brings out the best in an athlete like strong competition. Kristjan has achieved a great deal throughout his career, but one golden dream is still waiting to be fulfilled. That’s why, this World Championship season, he is putting his trust in jumping skis from VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports.
The Dream of a First Victory
Kristjan Ilves has known for seven years that he can trust his intuition when it comes to making career decisions. This was evident when he made the decision to join the Norwegian national team and train alongside some of the world’s leading Nordic combined athletes.
He says that training with such strong competitors has played a major role in helping him break into the world elite of Nordic combined, despite a challenging starting point: in Estonia, he was essentially on his own as a Nordic combined athlete, while he initially had some catching up to do in cross-country skiing.
Kristjan’s love of sport was nurtured at home in Estonia by his father, a biathlon coach. This background helps to explain why he is making another change now. At 30, Kristjan Ilves has competed at four Olympic Games and has stood on the podium 12 times in individual World Cup events. He has finished second six times and third six times. The only spot he has yet to claim is the top step. And yet, a victory for Kristjan would be historic: it would be Estonia’s first-ever World Cup win in Nordic combined. A mission like that is worth going all in for.
New Skis, Rediscovering Old Strength
This is why the switch to VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports is no coincidence at this stage of his career. For years, Kristjan Ilves was one of the strongest ski jumpers on the World Cup circuit. Cross-country skiing, on the other hand, was the part of Nordic combined where he had the most ground to make up. He managed to close that gap – and did so better than many had expected. In recent seasons, however, his athletic profile has shifted: Kristjan has developed into an increasingly strong cross-country skier, while, ironically, he has lost some of the consistency on the jumping hill that was once his greatest strength.
After the 2026 Olympics, the question was therefore not only whether to continue, but also how. If he wants to make his final great sporting dream a reality, his ski jumping needs to regain the confidence and consistency that once came naturally to him. “Confidence comes from all the repetitions you have done in the past,” says Ilves. “From consistency.”
That is where his choice of equipment comes in. Two top Nordic combined athletes, Vinzenz Geiger and Stefan Rettenegger, had already joined Marcel Hirscher’s team of athletes and switched to VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports equipment. For Kristjan Ilves, then, the move is no leap into the unknown: the equipment and setup have already proven themselves at world-class level in his discipline.
The Old Spark Is Still There
Kristjan’s exceptional ski-jumping ability was on full display at the 2026 Olympic Games, of all places. In the first individual event, he led after the jumping before dropping back to sixth place in the cross-country race. “I’ve learned through competition that there are no shortcuts in life,” he says. And while he is an experienced and successful athlete, he remains hungry for success: “You have to be a little crazy in the head if you want to achieve something.”
And there is something the best Nordic combined athlete in Estonia wants to achieve at the 2027 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun. The exceptional athlete’s golden dream:
It would be the crowning achievement of his remarkable career and an unforgettable sporting moment for his home country, Estonia.
