Johannes Rydzek, who was jumping for the first time shortly before his fifth birthday, discovered his passion for nordic sports already at a young age because of his parents. "I always went cross-country skiing with my parents. My dad was also a volunteer at the 4-Hills-Tournament and that was also a reason why I always wanted to jump", the "Junior-Athlete of the Year 2011" remembers. As a child, he first started ski jumping and cross-country skiing seperately of each other. Johannes, who gave his World Cup debut in Kuusamo in 2008 is fascinated by the combination of speed and endurance which Nordic Combined has to offer.

Already at age 20 he can look back on some successes in his career and won two silver medals at World Championships and one bronze medal at Olympic Games so far. The 20-year-old could celebrate another success in front of his home crowd in Oberstdorf last summer: he won the overall ranking of the Summer Grand Prix 2011.

In his leisure time, Johannes likes to go skiing and explore the mountains around his hometown of Oberstdorf, Germany.