US Nordic Combined Team seems to be making a pattern of improving on the second day of a World Cup weekend. Bryan Fletcher finished 26th in Lillehammer Sunday, after a 44th place on Saturday.
The Americans faced a tough day both on the hill and on the course during Saturday’s Nordic combined WC in Lillehammer. Mikko Kokslien (NOR) won, ahead of Jason Lamy-Chappuis (FRA) and Felix Gottwald (AUT) in third place. Brett Camerota in 40th place was the top US skier. Taylor Fletcher was 41st, Bryan Fletcher 44th and Bill Demong 45th.
Coming off Bryan Fletcher’s best ever World Cup result with an 18th place at the Kuusamo WC opener last weekend, the US Nordic Combined team is looking to keep building this weekend, and bring the rest of the crew up to standard.
Bryan Fletcher skied into a solid 18th place in the second World Cup competition this season, a career best for the 24-year-old from Steamboat Springs, Colo. Felix Gottwald (AUT) won the race, working from 28th place after jumping to beat Mikko Kokslien (NOR) who started in 21st place.
The US Ski Team nordic combined crew delivered a mixed bag of results at the provisional round in Kuusamo, Finland.
For the US nordic combined team, the FIS World Cup opener in Finland leaves room for improvement. Demong was 32nd, Taylor Fletcher was 35th and Bryan Fletcher was 37th. Brett Camerotta was 40th after the jumping, but did not start the cross-country leg.
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...
OBERWIESENTHAL, Germany – The first of the two final nordic combined Grand Prix competitions of the summer was completed on Friday in Oberwiesenthal. Norway’s Magnus-H. Moan took home the win, while Olympian Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) crossed the line with a career best finish in 14th and first for the U.S. Moan captured the third of four Grand Prixs this summer, finishing with a time of 28:30.00. Germany’s Johannes Rydzek found himself nine seconds...
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...
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...
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...