NEWS FEATURE Germans wary of future despite golden Nordic combined treble By Patrick Reichardt and John Bagratuni, dpa

German athletes swept the Olympic Nordic combined gold medals, after doing the same at last year‘s worlds, but the first warnings are arriving that success can only be sustained with investment into the future.Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Germany delighted in its sweep of the three Olympic gold medals in Nordic combined skiing after also taking all four golds at last year‘s world championships - but there are also first words of warning amid the celebrations.Vinzenz Geiger, Fabian Riessle, Eric Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek wrapped up matters with an undisputed team event gold at the Pyeongchang Games on Thursday.They humiliated Norway, the inventors of the sport twinning ski-jumping and cross-country skiing, by almost a minute.Germany return home with five of seven possible medals with a normal hill gold from Frenzel and a large hill sweep from Rydzek, Riessle and Frenzel joining the team effort.The haul was just as impressive as at last year‘s worlds in Lahti, Finland, where Rydzek bagged an unprecedented four golds and the Germans left with six out of a possible eight medals.Frenzel and Rydzek have eight golds each from worlds and Olympics and 33 medals overall between them from those global events. Frenzel is also a record five-time reigning World Cup champion.But coach Hermann Weinbuch, himself a three-time world champion in the 1980s, warned that further silverware was not a foregone conclusion."The magic could be over in three or four years if you are not on your guard," warned Weinbuch who has seen 49 big-event medals won by his athletes during his 25-year reign.There are two reasons for concern, according to Weinbuch and Horst Huettl, Nordic combined director at the national federation DSV."We have a lot of competition within the German ski federation. Alpine, ski-jumping, biathlon are far more in the public eye than we are, and much more is invested into them. We need more investment into the youth sector," Weinbuch said. "Eric, Rydzi are peaking right now or are just past it. They will continue to give us a lot of joy. But it won‘t last forever. We must be careful that there isn‘t a hole after them."The 20-year-old Geiger is the only newcomer to make it into the team, along with Rydzek (26), Riessle (27), Frenzel (29) and unused alternate Bjoern Kircheisen (34).Rydzek, Riessle and Frenzel have enjoyed vast success but are also blocking young talent to make the team - and they all have another Olympic cycle within them, which could prove problematic in the long-term."We must see how we keep the young athletes happy. That can become a serious problem. I really hope that that we can integrate one or two young men into the top three or four within the next year or two," Huettl said.In addition, the World Cup season has shown that rivals like Norway, Austria and Japan have caught up again after the past campaign saw the rampant Germans took 22 of the 25 top spots. This time around the Germans won just four of the 17 events contested - but then managed to peak when it mattered.Frenzel meanwhile also had some words of wisdom for up and coming skiers."It is important to work on yourself all the time, to use the best as a reference. Meticulousness is a part of it, self-reflection, realise your own deficits and overcome them - daily, annually, over a whole career," he said.