Mention the name 'Peter Hale' and you'll be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn't think he was one of the nicest, most giving people in the U.S. nordic industry -- and it wasn't because he was a salesman. In fact, making money might have been least important to Hale; he was in it for the athletes.
Billy Demong put himself in fighting position and went on to win Sunday's 10 k rollerski at U.S. Nordic Combined Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., holding off the Fletcher brothers for his ninth national title.
Billy Demong’s in for a big weekend. A short detour to his old stomping grounds in Lake Placid, N.Y., for the US Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships this weekend will be followed by a Monday morning flight to Europe for his team’s final overseas training camp in Austria and Germany.
When Taylor Fletcher jumps just a bit farther on the hill it will be a frightening day for nordic combined world. In the penultimate World Cup of the season on Friday in Oslo, Norway, the 22-year-old skied the fastest 10 k time of the day by 17 seconds to move from 23rd after the jumping competition to fifth at the end of the cross-country race. Fletcher led three Americans in the top 15.
The U.S. Nordic Combined team of Taylor Fletcher, Bryan Fletcher, Todd Lodwick and Billy Demong rose to bronze on Sunday for a historic World Championships medal in a team event. Relieved and excited, they also had a lot of fun.
After a not-so-hot day on the normal hill in Predazzo, the U.S. Nordic Combined Team relied on Bryan Fletcher to capture a top 15, which he did in 14th, while Demong settled for 23rd, Taylor Fletcher was 25th and Todd Lodwick placed 35th.
With at least six World Championships under their belts, the U.S. Nordic Combined veterans know what to expect in Val di Fiemme, and jumping coach Chris GIlbertson said it's going to take big performances to reach three medals in four events.
Be grateful it wasn’t you weren’t crouched on top of the ski jump in Sochi, Russia, on Saturday fighting for a starting place in the 10 kilometer skate race to follow. Chances are, your nerve would have abandoned you. Brothers Bryan and Taylor Fletcher have no such reservations. Although even they admit the conditions for jumping today were rather unnerving. “The jumping today was really foggy,” Bryan Fletcher said. “Its was definitely a challenge to...
Taylor Fletcher kept on rolling in Seefeld, Austria, on Sunday with a third place in the Gundersen normal hill competition. It was his first career World Cup podium finish.
The top American result to come out of Europe on Saturday? Taylor Fletcher's career-best fifth-place finish in Seefeld, Austria. With a jump that put him in 28th going onto the cross-country course, Fletcher skied within two seconds of the podium, posting the fastest course time by 18 seconds in the process.
The most successful member the US Nordic Combined Team so far this season, Bryan Fletcher shares some insight on Kuusamo, Finland, and what went down on the second weekend of World Cup competition.
Note: This preview has been updated to include comments from Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane. The way U.S. Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett sees it, why tweak something that works? Last year was a success by many measures with four athletes interchangeably placing in the top 20, some often in the top 10. Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong hit the podium in his comeback season after taking some time off to raise a baby,...
The U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team strives for a lot of things – medals, depth, continued improvement – but flying under the radar isn’t one of them. Anyone who followed the team and one if its racers, Taylor Fletcher, for the past 10 days in Europe could tell you that. The younger of two brothers on the team, Taylor, 22, ran around in a full-body Captain America costume throughout the trip from Oct. 15-25, which...
At the biggest international competition of the summer, hardly anyone could blame the Americans if their heads weren’t totally in it. It’s not that they weren’t focusing on nordic combined’s International Ski Federation (FIS) Summer Grand Prix. They just had a lot of other things to absorb during their first visit to Sochi, Russia. For veteran competitors like Todd Lodwick, Johnny Spillane and Billy Demong, the new venue was a welcome change to their routine...
In their first collective visit to Park City, Utah, several members of the Norwegian nordic combined team couldn’t get over the place. There was never a cloud in the sky, and even unseasonably cold days weren’t that bad. People were nice, the motorists were considerate, and the training possibilities were endless. Following a three-week camp with the U.S. nordic combined squad last month, Norwegian A-team member Mikko Kokslien wasn’t the only one considering buying a...
In order to legally compete in any event sanctioned by the International Ski Federation, there are 47 pages worth of rules regarding equipment that athletes must comply with. Within these pages, collectively of the Specifications for Competition Equipment and Commercial Markings, certain equipment is forbidden (like collapsing poles) and a ski’s minimum weight is limited (to 750 grams per pair for cross-country). Four whole pages of that document are dedicated to the fabric and construction...
Warning: This video was not produced by FasterSkier. The accompanying music contains language which some may find offensive. The 2011-2012 season ended on the highest possible note for the U.S. Nordic Combined team with Bryan Fletcher’s first career World Cup victory in Oslo, Norway. Jon Schafer produced the above year-in-review video from behind scenes, which includes everything from summer training to Holmenkollen.
Bryan Fletcher (USA) saved his best for last, winning the final Nordic Combined World Cup of the season in Oslo, Norway on Saturday. The win marked Fletcher’s first appearance on the World Cup podium, and closed out a successful season in which he went from an up-and-comer to one of the mainstays on a strong US team. The win, while a breakthrough, was hardly a surprise. Fletcher had already cracked the top-10 four times heading...
When Friday didn’t go according to plan for all of the Americans on the Nordic Combined World Cup, they were happy to have Saturday to shoot for better results. When the team sprint went better on the second day of competition in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with the two U.S. teams cracking the top 10, the four members were even more excited for Sunday. If trial and error told them anything, they figured they’d have...
This weekend’s World Cup Nordic Combined competition featured three days of racing in Seefeld, Austria—the resurrection of the Team Sprint event on Friday, and a HS 109/Gundersen 10 k each on Saturday and Sunday. France came away with the most dominant overall performance of the weekend—or rather, Jason Lamy Chappuis did. He teamed up with Sebatien Lacroix to win the team sprint, and then nabbed the top result in both individual competitions. The U.S. put...