With crew consisting of some real veterans, some seasoned racers and a rookie, the US Nordic Combined Team is ready and excited for the normal hill competition at the 2011 World Championships Saturday. On a good day, it could go all the way to the podium.
Capping the World Cup weekend in Chaux Neuve (FRA) with all four team members in the top 30 is a good indication for being on track for the 2011 Worlds in Oslo. Now it’s all about polishing the details.
CHAUX-NEUVE, France (Jan. 23) – Olympic silver medalist Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) jumped third and hung on in a hotly contested battle to finish eighth in a nordic combined World Cup in Chaux-Neuve in the Jura mountains near Geneva. All four U.S. skiers finished in the top-30 points as France’s Jason Lamy-Chappuis wrapped up the World Cup title with a dominating win. While the podium still eluded the USA, it was another steppingstone event...
CHAUX-NEUVE, France – Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) turned in yet another strong performance, moving up from 25th in the jump to finish 21st in a nordic combined World Cup in France. Austrian David Kreiner spoiled the day for fans of French World Cup leader Jason Lamy-Chappuis as he took the win. Lamy-Chappuis was fourth. The race also marked the return of Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) to action following the birth of his baby boy Liam a week...
The upcoming nordic combined World Cup races in France, represent the last chance to get international points before the World Championships in Oslo in February, and the US Nordic Combined racers are eager to collect.
Taylor Fletcher was the top American in the Nordic Combined World Cup event in Seefeld (AUT) Sunday, posting a 29th place.
Todd Lodwick posted a 23rd overall after jumping to 17th, while Bryan Fletcher was the second American in 28th place in the World Cup individual competition. Fletcher was 14th after the jumping in Seefeld (AUT) Saturday.
The US Ski Team posted a solid seventh place in Seefeld (AUT) Friday, and head coach Dave Jarrett was satisfied with the overall as well as individual performance, knowing that the team can build on the experience.
With Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane joining the US Nordic Combined team in Europe, the crew will split into two groups for the upcoming race weekend. One group will head to the World Cup in Seefeld (AUT) while the others aim for the COC races in Klingenthal (GER).
An American team entering a winter as a favorite in a nordic sport is kind of like the Detroit Lions somehow starting an NFL season with good odds to win the Super Bowl. But here’s the U.S. Nordic Combined Team, its members entering the 2011 season with targets on their backs. After winning four medals at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the squad’s “Big Three” are back, and will headline the American presence at...
If one of his athletes was forced to endure a serious injury, U.S. Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett would probably prefer that it happen to Johnny Spillane. Earlier this week, Spillane—the 29-year-old triple Olympic silver medalist—was diagnosed with a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee, which will likely require at least four months of recovery. But according to Jarrett, after several injuries over the past few years, Spillane is “a pro at...
With their dominating performances at the 2010 Olympics, Billy Demong, Johnny Spillane, and Todd Lodwick have welded their names to the sport of nordic combined like Bill Koch did to cross-country skiing. But if Head Coach Dave Jarrett has his way over the next few years, they won’t be the only ones people remember. After taking three silvers and a gold from the Games, the team’s main focus for 2011 is winning more medals—they want...
You may not recognize the name Chad Salmela, but if you live in the United States and watched any of the biathlon, nordic combined, or cross-country ski races at the 2010 Olympics, you’ve heard his voice. Along with play-by-play man Al Trautwig, Salmela spent the month of February the band A M Herculis. Now that the dust has settled, we caught up with Salmela to hear what it was like behind the scenes at the...
Performance of the Year This year we expanded the Performance of the Year Award to include three different categories – cross-country, biathlon, and nordic combined. XC Performance of the Year (men): This season featured a number of outstanding performances, and for the first time we breaking out the award into three categories – cross-country, nordic combined, and biathlon. The challenge, like in many of the other awards, is how to weigh Olympic results. The Olympics...
Nordic Combined Skier of the Year In a year in which the US Nordic Combined Team won five Olympic medals, including gold, and when racing a full squad on the World Cup, was a realistic threat to sweep the podium, how do you pick one athlete. Billy Demong won gold and silver at the Olympics, becoming the first US Nordic athlete to bring home a Championship gold. Johnny Spillane left the Games with three silver...
USSA has released nominations for the 2011 US Nordic Combined Team. Led by Olympic medalists Billy Demong, Johnny Spillane, and Todd Lodwick, the team would consist of nine members. Athletes must accept the responsibilities of a USST athlete. The final team will be named later this spring. Demong became the first US skier to win a gold medal in any of the nordic sports this year in Vancouver. Spillane won three silver medals, and Lodwick...
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO – With a total of seven Olympic medals in tow, the U.S. Ski Team’s nordic combined superstars Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY), Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO), Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) and Brett Camerota (Park City, UT) have shipped off to the middle east to visit the troops as part of the 2010 Heavy Medal Tour. The Olympic heroes received a sendoff of gold-medal proportion on Friday as the town of Steamboat...
Oslo, Norway – The Norwegian team gave the home crowd a show as the nation won the nordic combined team event at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival Saturday, the biggest sporting event in Norway. The U.S. Ski Team went with its three individual Olympic medalists, adding 18 year old Nick Hendrickson (Park City, UT) as the fourth for the rare World Cup team event. “Being in the fight at the beginning and in the end, fighting...
Olympic Heavy Medal Tour to visit U.S. military bases in Southwest Asia Washington, D.C. – The 2010 U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined Team takes the helm of the Armed Forces Entertainment (
As Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane strode triumphantly to the podium for the flower ceremony after today’s nordic combined competition, a parade of sullen-looking Europeans was walking through the mixed zone, in the other direction. It was easy to miss them—after all, they weren’t the ones who won medals. But they had an interesting story to tell, too: how Thursday’s weather conditions in the jumping round had ruined their chances for Olympic glory. Big names...