Reigning two-time U.S. national nordic-combined champion Bryan Fletcher shares a cycling workout (which can also be done skiing or running) that he recommends doing once a month. “It works on both your VO2 max zone and Threshold zone," he explains. "Or Level 3/4 zone depending on what system you use."
The youngest of the two Fletcher brothers is doubling up with his second FS Award of 2015, this time in the performance category for his World Cup podium in Sapporo, Japan.
Taylor Fletcher stood on the World Cup podium for the first time since 2013, when he placed third in a 10 k large hill competition in Sapporo, Japan. "My last podium was not a fluke," Fletcher said. After World Championships, he made it clear that he still wants more: "I'm probably the most competitive guy out there."
Bryan Fletcher leapt into contention in the large hill/10 k individual at 2015 World Championships with the 13th-best jump to start the race within 44 seconds of first. In the fight for third until the last few hundred meters, he placed fifth for U.S. Nordic Combined's best individual result at World Championships since 2009.
In the first nordic-combined competition of World Championships, Germany's Johannes Rydzek had some of the best timing all day, attacking late to drop his lone rival before the finish: Italy's Alessandro Pittin. The U.S. saw top-20 jumps from Billy Demong and Ben Berend, and Taylor Fletcher skied up from 25th to 19th.
At 19, Ben Berend made his World Cup debut last month in Schonach, Germany. After a whirlwind trip to Kazakhstan for Junior Worlds and Austria for the last Continental Cup, the Colorado native is set to compete in his first senior World Championships on Friday in Falun, Sweden.
U.S. Nordic Combined named two rookies to its five-man World Championships team earlier this month, which will be competing in four events at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden, over the next two weeks. Adam Loomis, 22, is one of them.
Twenty-eighth in the jump was good enough for Taylor Fletcher, as the 24-year-old U.S. Nordic Combined skier rocketed to an individual podium for the second time in his World Cup career. His older brother Bryan Fletcher placed eighth for his third-straight top 10.
Catch up on what you may have missed this weekend, as nordic competitions across the globe are begging to heat up. Here, we recap everything from biathlon in Austria to the cross country World Cup in Switzerland and everything in between.
Park City hosted the first Nordic Combined Continental Cup of the season last week with jumping at Utah Olympic Park and the 10 k races at the Gorgoza tubing hill, moved there because of a lack of snow. Taylor Fletcher posted the two best U.S. performances in fifth and eighth place, followed by Billy Demong.
While Bryan Fletcher's strategy didn't pan out in Sunday's Nordic Combined World Cup 10 k in Lillehammer, Norway, he was able to earn the second fastest time to place eighth overall. The result was his best since January, 2014.
The first individual IBU World Cup race took place a week ago in Östersund and wrapped up this past Sunday. Here, we recap everything from biathlon in Sweden and at home in Canmore, to the Lillehammer mini tour and nordic-combined competitions, and second U.S. SuperTour stop in Bozeman, Mont.
Before the first stop on the IBU World Cup circuit continues in Östersund on Wednesday, we bring you a synopsis of last weekend's racing action and links to full reports.
Bryan Fletcher earned his first national title Oct. 12 at the U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined National Championships in Lake Placid. Now Fletcher and the rest of the U.S. Nordic Combined team will head to Switzerland for a European training block before the World Cup begins Nov. 29.
Fresh off his wedding day, Bryan Fletcher gives some advice for how to keep your energy levels high, stay productive and get the most out of your workouts even during the busiest of times.
Late last month, Billy Demong spoke on behalf of his sport at the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Foundation trustees' annual meeting. What came out of it was 15 Gold Passes, valued at $10,000 apiece, which U.S. Nordic Combined is currently trying to sell to help pay for its 2014/2015 season.
“If we want to survive we need to take matters into our own hands," Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Canada's director Curtis Lyon explains. He's doing damage control after Own the Podium stopped funding the two sports for 2014/2015.
Back in April, July 31 seemed like dark cloud looming in the distance. But it wasn't that far off, and fortunately for U.S. Nordic Combined, it wasn't all that dreary. "Things are moving forward for sure, and it’s a little bit more hopeful than in April," head coach Dave Jarrett says, explaining that he kept his job and hopes to have two other coaches and two wax techs help him this season.
After July 31 next week, USSA will stop funding U.S. Nordic Combined. Sounds like doomsday, but U.S. NoCo has a plan. Bryan Fletcher explains how they've already teamed up with U.S.A. Ski Jumping to form a unified "U.S.A. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined".
U.S. Nordic Combined's Bryan Fletcher was recently one of three new athlete representatives selected to the USSA Board of Directors. “For me the biggest thing that came out of congress was just knowledge of the positive development in our sport," he explains, adding that his sport's organizational structure is progressing forward each day.