Oslo 2011: Nordic Combined Aiming for Podium in Team Comp

With all of the US Nordic combined athletes proving they are in peaking shape for the cross-country – posting the fastest times on the course in Saturday’s individual competition – all that’s needed is attention to detail to make it all the way to the medals for the team competition.

The US crew for the team competition consists of Bill Demong, Johnny Spillane, Todd Lodwick and Bryan Fletcher. Demong, who had the fastest time of the day Saturday, has jumped well in practice, as have Spillane and Lodwick, who both had a slow start to the season due to injuries and illness. Bryan Fletcher has made huge strides and showed consistent improvement this season and was tenth after the jumping on Saturday. Fletcher dropped some spots on the course, which is normally his strongest side. Alas, the podium is within reach if the team puts all the pieces together on the same day.

“We are excited to compete on Monday,” head coach Dave Jarrett said to FasterSkier.

“We know if we focus on the things we can control the results will be there,” he said.

“We are recovered from yesterday and ready for tomorrow. We plan on being right in position to fight for medals, and that is all you can ask for,” Jarrett said.

The normal hill team competition starts with jumping at 11:30am local time (5:30am EST) and continues with team relay at 3pm local time (9am EST).