SkiJumpingUSA - Schedule & Results

US Nordic Combined News & Notes NEW PAGE: The former USNOCO site has disappeared. Because there’s no replacement site as of mid-December 2011, we’re going to attempt to give you information here from our Nordic Combined team, including notices of upcoming events, links to results, and any feature material we can get from the NC gang. We covered their magical 2010 season, culminating in their historic success at the Vancouver Olympics. We will rely on the NC team for information, and the FIS site for links to schedule and results. We hope you’ll visit this page now & then to follow their progress! More on FIS and US Ski Team Sites ... links at left This Week in Nordic Combined - March 11, 2012 - by Adam Loomis, athlete Fletcher Breaks Through to Win King's Cup in Oslo Saturday, after weeks of being close to the podium, USA’s Bryan Fletcher broke through in dramatic fashion for a career best, winning this year’s final World Cup in Oslo, Norway. In an non-championship year the King's Cup is the most prestigious world cup event. The winner spends the evening meeting with the King of Norway. The USA boys set themselves up for success after the jumping; Fletcher jumped to 3rd, Spillane 6th and Demong 12th before the start of the15km race. Demong moved up steadily and nearly closed in on the podium, but finished a close 4th, his 2nd best finish of the season. Spillane finished the race in 15th. Fletcher caught the leader after the jumping, Taihei Kato, and held off Mikko Kokslien, who has been one of the strongest skiers on the circuit for the entire season. Fletcher described his victory as a "dream come true." Friday, Fletcher also lead the team with a 14th place, while Demong finished 19th after jumping to 35th, and Spillane finished 36th. Link to Ski Team article on Fletcher's win: CLICK HERE This Week in Nordic Combined - Feb 29, 2012 World Junior Nordic Championships - Erzurum TUR Craig Ward has provided a thorough report on the recently-completed World Junior Nordic Championships in Erzurum, Turkey. The venue was spectacular, as were the events. Read full report ... CLICK HERE This Week in Nordic Combined - Feb 6, 2012 - by Adam Loomis, athlete Demong Cracks Podium in Val di Fiemme - February 5th Sunday, at the end of another three day World Cup weekend, Bill Demong (R) led the team to the best day for US Nordic Combined since the Vancouver Olympics. Demong, Spillane and Fletcher have all been near the podium for the last few World Cups, but have not had the finishing speed until today. Demong said of the results, "today I was a little more patient and made it happen. At the end of the race I had enough energy left to keep pushing." Demong's third place finish was followed closely by Bryan Fletcher in 7th, and Taylor Fletcher, who set his career best with a 14th place finish. Spillane, who has been struggling to recover from illness, kept the whole team in the top 20 with a 19th place finish. Click here for a link to the US Ski Team article about the day: http://usskiteam.com/news/demong-back-podium Saturday, Bryan Fletcher and Demong led the U.S. to a 6th place in the 2-man team sprint. The two started the race in a close 5th after jumping, and remained in contention for the entire race, but were not able to close out for the podium, despite finishing within 20 seconds of the winning team from Norway. US Ski team article here: http://usskiteam.com/news/demong-fletcher-duo-lands-sixth (photo by Armando Trovati ... click to enlarge) Friday, Bryan Fletcher's 14th was the top US finish in the individual penalty lap competition. Fletcher jumped to 10th, resulting in only one penalty lap. Demong and Spillane both jumped into the two penalty lap range, finishing 18th and 22nd, respectively. Taylor Fletcher was not allowed to compete after not making the cut of top 50 in the provisional competition. US Ski Team article here: http://usskiteam.com/news/fletcher-leads-usa-14th This Week in Nordic Combined - Jan 31, 2012 - by Adam Loomis, athlete Victory at Klingenthal Continental Cup - Jan 28 & 29 Taylor Fletcher lead the US Ski Team in a 66 man field with a third place finish Saturday and decisive victory on Sunday. On Saturday, Fletcher skied the fastest time to move onto the podium from 17th place after jumping. Sunday, Fletcher tweeted that he had a "killer day" and jumped to 7th then skied the 4th fastest race. This put him in position to easily move into the lead and win by over 20 seconds. Fletcher is now back in 2nd in the COC overall standings, despite missing out on 5 individual competitions to ski in World Cups. Nick Hendrickson and Brett Denney also competed, but struggled in the deep field of competitors, finishing 55th and 41st, and 57th and 59th, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Fletcher #17 on podium ... click image to enlarge ... photo by Zdenka Mikešová This Week in Nordic Combined - Jan 19, 2012 - by Adam Loomis, athlete Chaux-Neuve World Cup The US skied a full 5 man team for all three days of competition in Chaux-Neuve, France January 13-15. Friday, Bryan Fletcher put down a great competition jump and started off the race in 2nd. Fletcher was in contention for the lead the first two laps but was eventually caught by the chase packs and finished in a solid 14th. Bill Demong skied a strong race after jumping to 20th and finished 8th. Spillane skied a fast race as well and moved up from 28th to 13th. Saturday was a close and exciting day, with 10 or 12 athletes all in the lead pack going into the last kilometer of the race. Spillane started off in the thick of things in 13th after jumping, while the rest of the team had a bit more work to do. In the end, Spillane finished in 9th, his best international result since the Vancouver Olympics. Demong skied the 3rd fastest time to finish in 12th, just 10 seconds out the lead. Bryan Fletcher finished just out of points in 31st, Taylor Fletcher finished a close 32nd, and Nick Hendrickson 41st. Sunday Demong lead the team with a season best 6th place. Once again, he skied the 3rd fastest time. Spillane had the 5th best race time and finished in the thick of things in 8th. Dave Jarrett said of the weekend, "We're inching closer and closer to the podium ." The Team is back home for a bit of training, and will resume action in Val de Fiemme, Italy on February 3. Youth Olympic Games, Innsbruck Colton Kissell represented the US in Innsbruck, Austria this weekend for the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games. The event encompassed 15 sports and saw athletes from all around the world. Kissel competed in a field of 17 athletes and finished in 13th after both the jumping and after the 10km race. Kissell will compete in a team event with Will Rhoads and Emily Anderson on January 20. Continental Cup The National Training group traveled from Erzurum, Turkey to Szczyrk, Poland for one more competition before heading back to the states. Unfortunately, strong winds and heavy snow fell all weekend, and both competitions were canceled. Needless to say it was a disappointing weekend, but equal for all, and the team still had a good trip, with the focus being on the Turkey leg (couldn’t resist saying that). Erzurum Continental Cup - Jan 7 & 8, 2012 - by Kerry Lynch, Coach Erzurum TUR - Official FIS Results: Jan 7 Jan 8 Greetings, Nordic Combined fans, from the US Continental Cup Team, We are at the mid point of the second period of Nordic Combined Continental Cup competitions that concluded this past weekend in Erzurum, Turkey. I apologize for the tardiness of the news. Getting online was a challenge from the hotel. The US Team consisted of 5 juniors; Adam Loomis, Erik Lynch, Michael Ward, Tyler Smith and Cliff Field, with two coaches, Martin Bayer & Kerry Lynch. The US Team has 4 “earned” spots in the second COC period currently, so we could only enter 4 athletes in each competition each day. It will be up to the guys to score more points and earn more qualified spots. There were 14 nations represented in the competitions and a total of 50 athletes. It was not going to be an easy task for all of our athletes to place in the top 30 to score points. The trip from the US to Erzurum was tedious. It took 3 days and 6 airplanes with an overnight in Prague, CZE. After leaving on New Year’s Eve, we arrived in Erzurum, Turkey at 8:00pm Monday night, January 2 of the new year. The first few days were spent getting adjusted to the time change, the surroundings, transportation system and the program that was set up for us. The ski jumping complex is amazing. It is one of the most modern venues in existence at the cost of 600 million Euros. It is a year round complex with plastic on the landings and an ice rail for in runs on all hills, including the HS 140, HS 110, HS 75 & HS 40. The smaller hills also had plastic. Unfortunately, the facility managers are having a challenge getting water to the complex and the only time they have been able to use the jumps in the “summer” months is when it is raining, which is a rare occurrence. The competitions for the COC’s were on the HS110. The altitude in Erzurum is similar to Steamboat Springs, CO at 6,700 feet. The cross country venue was in the Kandilli region, 50 kilometers west of Erzurum and a drop in altitude of about 1,000 feet, similar to Soldier Hollow near Midway & Heber in Utah. Ironically, it looked very similar in appearance as well. The cross country venue was also impressive with wide open trails, difficult terrain, a modern snow making system, a new base lodge and 60 wax cabins. However, there was little snow cover, it was all natural, as the snow guns that line the trail system had not yet been turned on. Sadly, the cover was thin and the trails were covered in rocks, dirt and weeds. Another challenge was that there was no electricity supplied to the wax cabin and power was obtained via a large diesel powered generator. It didn’t always work properly so we were not able to wax skis until the afternoon before comp days. And, it was also a challenge to find someone to turn the generator on when teams were on sight to do ski work. As the competitions neared, organizers rallied to shovel as little snow on the worst patches of the race course which helped a little and fired up the generator for longer durations each day. All teams stayed at the Dedeman Hotel half way up the Palandoken Ski Resort. The hotel was nice, but far from town, 15 minutes drive to the ski jumps and nearly an hour drive to the cross country venue. The price of fuel is over $10 per gallon so we depended on organizers to provide transportation, versus renting a vehicle, which was also a challenge at times. The hotel had many amenities, including a spa with a sauna and Turkish style bath which is like a steam sauna and the boys were able to partake in the spa to help with recovery after training. The food was great, buffet style with a lot of variety. It wasn’t possible to sample everything without being stuffed. The Turkish hospital was top notch. They are lacking in the ski culture “know how”, but are eager to learn and cater to team needs. Comp day # 1 arrived with temperatures at -10C and bouts of changing wind direction which can be challenging on the ski jump. The 4 athletes competing were Adam, Erik, Michael and Tyler. Coach Bayer managed the boys at the ski jump events while Coach Lynch was at the cross country venue getting skis ready for racing. Coach Bayer said about the jump comp, “Adam & Michael put down some “solid” jumps in varying winds. Erik had much better training jumps but his timing was a little off for the comp jump. Tyler didn’t have good wind and it was difficult to jump far”. A headwind gives an advantage and a tail wind is a disadvantage. There was a little of both kinds of winds and some athletes did well with head wind and some flew shorter in the tails winds. After the jump comp, our top athlete was Adam Loomis with a jump of 91 meters, good for 23rd place. The jump comp winner was Espen Andersen of NOR with a jump of 102.5. In jumping, it is not so much about the place, but it is more about how close the athletes are in points. Adams start time was 1:48 back. Our next best was Michael Ward in 28th, staring 2:06 back, then Erik Lynch was in a 5 way tie for 32nd, starting 2:14 back. Tyler Smith placed 41st and started 3:00back. So, Adam & Michael placed “well” while Erik & Tyler were a bit behind the jumps they knocked down in training. Still, the guys are typically faster in cross country so we were looking for them to move up. After a quick lunch and bus ride, the teams arrived at the cross country venue at 12:45 for a 2:00pm race start. While the air temperature was -9C to start the day and snow temps were -11C, the sun popped out and started to heat things up which started to change the conditions rapidly, in total contradiction to the forecast. All of the teams were scrambling to make last minute adjustments to the skis just before the start as the air temp had moved to +4C and the snow was getting moist. Also, the snow on the race course was pocked with rocks and strips of dirt. So, the athletes had to be cautious where they put their skis. Dirt on a ski base will slow the skis dramatically. The cross country course consisted of four 2.5 km loops for 10KM. Adam left the start gate like a man possessed and started to pass racers right away. From the start in the stadium, the terrain was flat for about 70 meters before a slight right hand turn and into the first climb of around 250 meters, then into a slight downhill, across a flat section near the wax cabins and into the biggest climb of 650 meters to the high point of the course. At the top of the climb, Adam had already passed 5 races and was in 18th! Michael Ward also started fast and improved to 25th by the top of the big climb. Erik was in a very long train of athletes that stretched from 28th thru 39 racers. Then there was a 15 second gap to the group that Tyler was in. All of the guys started well and were moving up. From the top of the big climb, there was a long downhill that dropped all the way back to the stadium level, then turned back up a shorter hill of about 100 meters, made a u-turn and dropped back to the stadium to lap through and start the next lap. Adam continued to ski strong. He was racing with 2 other fast guys who were really moving up. Michael maintained his pace and his spot around 25th. Erik was still in the train and didn’t look like had had the zip to move past the group. Tyler started to fade a little. At the top of the big climb on the 3rd lap, Adam had moved into the top 10 with another group of 6 races just ahead. Michael started to make a move as well. Erik was still hanging in the big train but he was near the back outside 35th. Tyler was skiing on his own in 42nd. The final lap was dramatic. Some of the athletes from other nations that jumped well started to fall out of the top 30, suffering from the high altitude and slow skis and simply pulled it over to save energy for the next day. Adam kept charging hard and crested the big hill in 4th place! He was still in a group of 5 so he had to keep the pressure on with the final kilometer to go and hung on for 5th and had the 2nd fastest race time, another great finish. Michael had moved into 23rd and maintained that spot to the finish line. Erik put in a strong kick passed the train of guys he was with and moved into 31st. He just didn’t quite have the legs to pass one more racer and just miss scoring points. Tyler cruised in 42nd. It was a great day for Adam, a solid day for Michael, and a disappointing comp Erik & Tyler. That is how ski racing goes some day. Day 2, similar format, different day. The weather was warmer in the morning and would get warmer during the day. The wind was volatile at the jump hill. The Chief of Competition is responsible to attempt to deliver as fair of a competition as possible. There is a traffic light system used to delay athletes if wind conditions are unfair. The COF, however, ran the clock at exact intervals without regard to wind conditions and once again, some athletes had great air conditions and some didn’t. Many coaches put in formal complaints to the FIS about how the jump comp was conducted. The athletes in the comp on day 2 were Adam, Michael, Erik & Cliff Field. These competitions were also serving as a qualification for the World Junior Team. In short, athletes that score COC points qualify. (If we have more than 5 athletes that score points, then the top 5 qualify). Cliff Field had not yet scored any points so he was really motivated to have a big day. Cliff took advantage of favorable winds to put down a jump of 97.5 meters, one of the longest of all of his training jumps and that was good for 17th place, starting 1:08 back. Michael placed 29th soaring 94.5, also in head wind conditions to start the race 1:38 back. Adam Loomis placed 33rd with a jump of 93.5 meters and a start time of 1:48 back. Sadly, Erik was in a group of guys that had a strong trail wind and could only manage of jump of 89 meters, 42nd place and started 2:28 behind. At the cross country course, the snow was trending to moist conditions and it was melting exposing more rocks, dirt & mud. Adam put down another spectacular race and place 11th with the 2nd fastest time once again. Michael had a better day racing and placed 13th, with the 5th fastest time. Cliff, recovering from a severely sprained ankle and missed most of October & November training, hung on for 29th place, scoring his first COC points of the year and is our 4th athlete to qualify for the World Junior Team. Erik raced on his own most of the day, just couldn’t move up and finished 41st. It was great to come to Erzurum, Turkey for the COC comps and we now have four athletes that have scored COC points this year to qualify for World Juniors, Adam Loomis, Erik Lynch, Michael Ward and Cliff Field. Aleck Gantick is in the 5th qualifying spot as the top American at the North American Championships Jan 1-3, but there is still two COC events left coming up this weekend in Szczyrk, Poland. Stay tuned to see how it all turns out. Thank you all for continued interest and support of Nordic Combined! This Week in Nordic Combined - Jan 6, 2012 - by Adam Loomis, National Training Group athlete After a very busy December and then some time to enjoy Christmas with their families, the US Nordic Combined Team is back in action! Participating in the World Cup this week-end in Oberstdorf, Germany will be Billy Demong, Johnny Spillane, Bryan Fletcher, Taylor Fletcher, and Nick Hendrickson. Originally scheduled in Schonach, the event was moved to Oberstdorf due to lack of snow- a common theme this season! In conjunction with the North American Championships on January 1-3, the US World Junior Team trials were held in Calgary, Alberta (northern suburb of the US). This year World Junior Championships will be held in Erzurum, Turkey. Congratulations to the top American finisher, Aleck Gantick of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC). Also competing well were Colton Kissell (Park City, UT), Spencer Knickerbocker (Brattleboro, VT) and Ben Berend (Steamboat Springs,CO). For full NC results, see : Jan 1 10k event- www.altiusnordicskiclub.com/Competition%20Results/AVIVAMenSJNC10kJan1.pdf Jan 3 5k event- www.altiusnordicskiclub.com/Competition%20Results/AvivaJan3MWHS95NC.pdf The NTG (National Training Group) team left Steamboat Springs, CO on Saturday for Turkey, which provides excellent preparation for the WJC later this season. It took six flights and two and a half days for them to reach Erzurum, the site of this weekends Continental Cup. Competing there will be Cliff Field, Adam Loomis, Erik Lynch, Tyler Smith and Michael Ward. All five will compete again next weekend in Szczyrk, Poland. 3 members of the NTG Group (Adam Loomis, Erik Lynch and Michael Ward) have pre-qualified for the Nordic Combined WJC by scoring continental (COC) cup points in Park City, Utah in early December. To view the criteria for the 2012 US World Junior Team, please see http://ussa.org/sites/default/files/documents/athletics/nordic/2011- 12/documents/2012%20NC%20JWC%20Selection%20FINAL.pdf . What do you think of when someone says “ski jumping in Turkey?” Bet it’s not THIS! Click on photos to see larger image! Double-click and slide the middle one over so it doesn’t cover the names. Seefeld World Cups – Dec 16-18, 2011 - by Adam Loomis, National Training Group athlete Seefeld AUT - Official FIS Results: Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 After a much needed snow storm hit Austria midweek, the Nordic combined World Cup continued in Seefeld, Austria. Bryan Fletcher, Todd Lodwick, Johnny Spillane, and Bill Demong all represented the US Team. Demong had a poor provisional jump on Friday and did not make the top 50; as a result, he was not qualified for the individual competitions. However, Fletcher and Demong skied in the 2 man team event to a solid 6th place. Fletcher (pictured at right at US Nationals) skied strong races both days. He had the 3rd fastest ski time on Saturday, although a shorter than usual jump had him starting in 40th; he finished 23rd. Spillane had his best result this year with a 20th place finish on Saturday. On Sunday, Fletcher had a career best 7th place finish - skiing up from 24th to finish just 3 seconds out of 3rd and 10 seconds from 1st. Jason Lamy Chappuis, the American-born French skier, swept the top of the podium for all 3 events. For quotes and more on the races, click to the US Ski Team site here: • http://usskiteam.com/news/team-demong-fletcher-finish-sixth • http://usskiteam.com/news/season-best-finish-spillane • http://nordic.usskiteam.com/news/fletcher-earns-career-best-result-0?destination=node/1235 Another good article: • http://fasterskier.com/2011/12/us-6th-in-team-sprint-fletcher-7th-on-sunday-overall-a-good-weekend-for-noco/ Continental Cup Report - Park City - by Kerry Lynch, Dec 15, 2011 Official FIS Results: Dec 09 Dec 10 Dec 11 Dec 13 Dec 14 (the last two replace canceled LP events) The opening Nordic Combined Continental Cups are in the books for the 2011 – 2012 Season. After much training and anticipation of getting ready for the events, it was game time. Day 1 - The competitions opened on Friday Dec 6th under clear sunny skis and calm winds. The ski jumping competitions were at the Utah Olympic Park on the Hill Size 100 meter ski jump. The clear winner was Marjan Jelenko from Slovenia soaring an amazing 99.5 meters. Marjan is a very good jumper, but is improving his cross country. He usually can jump near the top in world cup competitions but falls back in the cross country (he won a gold medal in the World Juniors last year though so he is no slouch). The next longest jump was 94.5 meters which converts to a start time gap of 34 seconds. The US athletes didn’t jump as well as we hoped, so they were looking for a big day on the cross country. The cross country races were held at Soldier Hollow, 20 miles away. There was no natural snow, so the cross country course consisted of 100% man made snow. The ski tech crew managed to find great wax. The course was a bit short, 2.14 km times 4 laps = 8.56 km. A shorter cross country course favors the weaker skiers as there is less real estate to make up ground. Officials decided to let the course distance stand for Friday with a plan to correct the distance for the next 10 km race on Sunday. Taylor Fletcher was our top finisher in 2nd place, finishing just 10 seconds behind Jelenko who held on for the win. Taylor had the 2nd fastest race time. If the race length had been a legit 10km, no question Taylor would have been the victor and Jelenko would have had a hard time staying in the top 5. The other US guys did well with Nick Hendrickson in 7th, 24 seconds back, Brett Denney 10th, 37 seconds back, Adam Loomis in 13th, 1:01 back (a personal record) and 19th Erik Lynch (also a PR), 1:24 back. Michael Ward would have been 19th but unfortunately he was disqualified when he had to take a route to the finish that was slightly off course to avoid a collision with another athlete. Cliff Field, still recovering from a severely sprained ankle, placed 44th and Tyler Smith had a crash in the 2nd lap and finished 49th. Day 2 was a very exciting 2-man relay team event. The ski jumping competition was again on the HS 100. USA team 1 was Taylor Fletcher & Nick Hendrickson, USA Team 2 was Brett Denney & Adam Loomis, and USA Team 3 was Michael Ward & Erik Lynch. The Slovenia’s put down the two longest jumps of 93 & 96 meters to take the lead. Austria Team 2 was 2nd with jumps of 89 & 93 starting 34 seconds back. 3rd was Germany Team 2 with jumps of 91 & 91.5, 35 seconds back. USA Team 3 (Michael & Erik), placed 6th, 59 seconds back, USA Team 1 (Taylor & Nick) placed 14th, 1:27 back and Team USA 3 (Brett & Adam) placed 16th, 1:34 back. Many teams were packed close together which made for an exciting race. The cross country course was a 1.8km loop with each athlete skiing 4 laps and tagging off to their teammate after each loop. In the first two laps, team USA 1 made up the 1:27 gap and took the lead. Wax techs are allowed to make adjustments to race skis after each lap. Hind sight is always 20/20 and we decided to leave the skis as is while a few other teams decided to use some spray on enhancers to try to improve speeds. That worked for them. The USA stayed with the leaders on lap 3 but on the final lap, Germany Team 1 was able to pull away and come away with the win, France 1 was 2nd, 10 seconds back, Team USA 1 (Fletcher & Hendrickson) nailed down the bronze 24 back, 4th Germany 2, 47 seconds back, 5th was Austria 2, 1:04 back and 6th was Team USA 3, (Lynch & Ward) 1:06 back, 7th was Team USA II, (Loomis & Denney) 1:08 back. It was another fantastic day for Team USA. Day 3, the third competition in 3 days, was a day for the tough to show up as there is no doubt everyone was fighting fatigue. Once again Jelenko put down the longest jump of 97.5. He is a phenom on the jump hill. The next longest jump was 94.5. Erik Lynch lead the USA placing 17th with a jump of 89.5 meters with many jumpers close behind. Taylor jumped 85.5 meters good for a 3 way tie for 28th with teammate Nick Hendrickson & Sepp Schneider of Austria, to start 1:50 back. Those three are fast so they were expected to move up. Adam Loomis placed 38th & started 2:00 minutes back, Cliff Field was 39th, 2:02 back, Michael Ward, 43rd, 2:08 back, and Aleck Gantick 45th, 2:32 back. The cross country course was 2km, times 5 laps. This time, Jelenko would be hard pressed to hold the lead. The US wax crew nailed the wax and the US guys had great skis. Taylor Fletcher had a fantastic day starting in 28th place after jumping 1:50 back, made up all of the time gap and took the lead on the 4th lap, then pulled away from the field to win by 17 seconds over Mark Schlott of Germany. Taylor had the fastest time of the day! 3rd was another German, Michael Duenkel, 22 seconds back and 4th place was Geoffrey Lafarge of France, 28 seconds back. Jelenko held on for 5th, 42 seconds back, 6th was Brandner of Austria 51 seconds back and in 7th, another personal record was Erik Lynch, 58 seconds back, just barely getting a toe nail in front of teammate Nick Hendrickson (8th) in a photo finish. Michael Ward was 14th, 1:13 back, a PR for him as well. Adam Loomis finished 17th, 1:24 back and Brett Denney 18th, 1:28. Five Americans in the top 18 was a huge day! Cliff Field finished 41st and Aleck Gantick was 43rd. At the conclusion of Sunday’s events, we received word that the Lake Placid COC’s were cancelled due to lack of snow. After much consternation and discussion, it was decided to stay in Park City and have two more competitions on Tues & Weds with just one day break. So with the athletes barely able to catch their breath, it was onto the next set of competitions. Day 4 began with a weather change and 2 inches of new snow which continued through the ski jumping competition. It was hard to keep the in-run track clear and the speeds were slower. The diminished velocity curbed the jump distances. No athlete could dethrone Jelenko and he was the victory on the jump hill once again, but this time he went 92.5 meters. Taylor Fletcher was the top American after jumping placing 23rd at 81.5 meters, with a start time of 1:32. Adam Loomis placed 26th, starting 1:38 back, Erik Lynch placed 32nd, 1:56 back, Tyler Smith placed 34th, 2:02 back, Michael Ward placed 38th, 2:10 back, Cliff Field 39th, 2:12 back, and Brett Denney placed 43rd, 2:28 back. The cross country started at 3:15 with temperatures dropping and snow conditions changing. Taylor Fletcher moved all the way to the front and took the lead with 1K to go. He battled to the finish and placed 2nd under 1 second behind Mark Schlott of Germany. Geoffery Lafarge of France was 3rd, 39 seconds back. Adam Loomis had the 4th fastest time and finished 6th, 50 seconds back, Nick Hendrickson 8th, 1:04 back, Brett Denney 13th, 1:29 back, Michael Ward, 19th, 1:53 back, Erik Lynch, 22nd, 2:05 back, Tyler Smith 45th, 4:43 back and Cliff Field 46th 4:44 back. Day 5 began with the athletes trying to summon the energy to finish the final competition. The sun returned, the skies were calm and temperatures were in the low 20’s. Jelenko was at it again and made it a clean sweep on the jump hill knocking down the longest jump of 96 meters for the win. Adam Loomis had a great jump of 91 meters to place 8th to lead the Americans and started just 48 seconds back. Nick Hendrickson placed 25th, 1:46 back, Tyler Smith, 29th, 1:56 back, Brett Denney 31, 2:02 back, Erik Lynch 23nd, 2:04 back, Taylor Fletcher 36th 2:20 back, Michael Ward, 2:42 back, and Aleck Gantick 42nd, 2:48 back. With the final jump comp over, athletes headed to Soldier Hollow for the final cross country race, and a lot of work to do. US Nordic Combined coaches reminded the US boys to “leave it all out on the course as there was no reason to save anything for the van ride home”. The race started with tired legs and bodies going hard. In the third lap, Adam Loomis was able to take the lead that lasted into lap 4. It was a valiant effort and worth trying, but Mark Schlott of Germany was able to get the lead coming from 15th & 1:12 down to ski away with the win, his second win in consecutive days. His teammate Michael Duenkel was 2nd, 2 seconds back, 3rd went to Geoffery Lafarge of France, 4 seconds back. Adam Loomis held on for 5th, 30 seconds back, Taylor Fletcher placed 7th, once again with the fastest race time, and finished 39 seconds back, Brett Denney was 8th, 40 seconds back, Nick Hendrickson was 10th, 47 seconds back, Erik Lynch 23rd, 1:55 back, Michael Ward, 32nd 2:33 back, Tyler Smith, 38th, 3:18 back, and Aleck Gantick 46th, 6:02 back. It was an epic week in many ways. It was the first time in the history of international racing that there were 5 competitions in 6 days. It was a reminder of why the athletes train so hard, so they are prepared for the unexpected. We would like to extend a special thanks to the staff of the cross country venue at Soldier Hollow and to the Utah Olympic Park for hosting the events which are critical to the continued development of our US athletes. Thanks to everyone for your support and interest in Nordic Combined.

Funding for development program - a critical need! The top level NC team (”A”) receives funding from the US Ski Team but the “B” team and National Training Group (NTG) must find their own funding sources. Please consider making a donation today ... it’s important to support our younger athletes! Learn more ... CLICK HERE Athlete Blogs & Sites A Team ------ Bill Demong Bryan Fletcher B Team ------ Taylor Fletcher NTG (development) Adam Loomis Mike Ward Independent Links: SkiJumpEast.com’s “Billy Watch” page (we’ll post other links as we receive them) US Ski Team Nordic Page