U.S. Biathlon CEO Max Cobb says that it took four or five years for his organization to get on its feet after splitting from modern pentathlon in 1980 -- but that whatever route U.S. Nordic Combined takes, the good news for them is that they have proven success and that direct fundraising tools have entered a whole new realm in the past few years.
Taylor Fletcher is not a master blaster, but the 24-year-old U.S. Nordic Combined skier does like to get out for a hard, group road ride a few times a month. Here's an example of a 2 to 2.5-hour workout, or race, depending on your viewpoint, called Wednesday Night Worlds.
More on U.S. Nordic Combined's predicament after its program lost direct USSA funding earlier this week. We caught up with both Fletcher brothers as well as USSA Vice President Luke Bodensteiner to hear more about the decision and what it means for the sport in the U.S.
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association dealt U.S. Nordic Combined tough news on Monday when it informed them funding would cease after July 31, 2014, according to head coach Dave Jarrett, who's now searching for alternative financial solutions.
In three Olympic competitions in Sochi, U.S. Nordic Combined didn't end up with the fairy tale some had come to expect after the 2010 Vancouver Games. But with icons in Billy Demong and Todd Lodwick likely in their last Olympics, the story was more about the team closing one book and opening another.
While U.S. Nordic Combined undoubtedly has its work cut out for its four-man team, Thursday marks the day they've been looking forward to at this Olympics: the 4 x 5 k team event.
After two Americans finished in the top 30 of the first nordic-combined competition at the Sochi Olympics, the team is looking for better performances in today's large hill/10 k -- of which Billy Demong is the defending Olympic champion.
From seven years of chemotherapy and a treatment-induced stroke, to being nominated to his first Olympic Team, Bryan Fletcher has overcome the odds to be one of the best athletes in the world. He will be joined by his brother, Taylor, in Sochi to partake in the quest to reach Olympic greatness and achieve their ultimate goal: an Olympic medal.
U.S. Nordic Combined's Bryan Fletcher and Billy Demong post season-best results at the first-ever Nordic Combined Triple in Seefeld, Austria, this past weekend from Jan. 17-19. "I think that the best is yet to come,” Demong says.
One last video from the final day of the Seefeld Triple on Sunday, with thoughts from U.S. Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett, Bryan Fletcher, who notched a season-best fifth overall, and Billy Demong, who skied the third-fastest time to end up 11th in the first cumulative event of its kind in nordic combined.
On the second day of the inaugural three-day Nordic Combined Triple, several top skiers, including Jason Lamy-Chappuis, Akito Watabe, Tino Edelmann, and Mikko Kokslien, chat on camera and dish about their favorite U.S. athletes.
A broken pole couldn't keep Billy Demong from skiing to his best result of the season in eighth on the first day of the Nordic Combined World Cup Triple, and he talks all about it on camera after Friday's individual jump and 5-kilometer prologue. Teammate Bryan Fletcher led the U.S. Nordic Combined team in sixth, also a season best.
Get up close and personal with three members of U.S. Nordic Combined and Canadian Wesley Savill as they share their first oh-so-cold experience with cryotherapy -- essentially a cold sauna at temperatures around -110 degrees Celsius (-166 Fahrenheit).
It was a spectacular weekend for sprinting as the World Cup continued in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic with both a individual and team sprint. FasterSkier was also on site at the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships in Midway, Ut., which concluded with a classic sprint on Friday.
Todd Lodwick crashed Friday during the provisional round at a World Cup event in Chaux Neuve, France, and injured his shoulder. Lodwick, who recently qualified to compete in his sixth Olympic Winter Games next month in Sochi, Russia, now heads back to Park City, Utah where he will get further evaluation and begin rehab on his shoulder with the goal of being ready to compete next month.
Todd Lodwick hadn’t felt nerves like he experienced last Saturday in a long time. The U.S. Nordic Combined veteran was about to see if he could make his sixth Olympic team at the U.S. Olympic trials on Dec. 28. He came out on top of the individual 10-kilometer competition in Park City and made history as the first American to qualify for six Winter Olympics. "If I touch one kid to help them achieve their dream, then I consider my career a success," Lodwick says.
Check in here for everything you missed in the racing world. This weekend was all about classic sprinting as World Cup racing continued in Asiago, Italy. Nordic Combined also continued in Schonach, Germany.
Wondering why Billy Demong was competing at the Continental Cup this week in Utah? Things are definitely not derailing for the U.S. Nordic Combined veteran or his teammates back in Europe -- in fact, they're right on track. On Thursday, Demong secured the team's fifth World Cup quota spot.
From the cross-country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, to U.S. Nordic Combined's best finish in a team sprint in Ramsau, Austria, to five straight days of biathlon races in Annecy, France: here's everything you didn’t get to read about over the weekend.
Extraordinary performances are becoming ordinary for the North American contingent this year as new stars emerge, historic results accumulate, and expectations continue to grow. FasterSkier was on site in Davos, Switzerland, where five USST members raced to the top 30 in Saturday's distance races and six made the heats in Sunday's sprints.