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.
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.
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,...
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...
Just over two weeks ago, the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team set foot in France and immediately hopped on their road bikes. From there, they embarked on a weeklong cycling camp and watched two stages of the Tour de France along the way. In all, they rode more than 600 kilometers and tallied some 14,500 meters of climbing, including a team time trial up L’Alpe d’ Huez. The team’s youngest A-team member, 22-year-old Taylor Fletcher...
Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA), the overall World Cup winner last winter, was back on top of the podium on Sunday for the second day of Nordic Combined competition in Ramsau, Austria. “Of course I’m very happy that I can wear the yellow bib again, it’s a familiar feeling,” said Lamy Chappuis to the FIS media after his win. The 25-year-old has been on the World Cup podium 42 different times, and has stood at the top...
Last weekend in Lillehammer, Billy Demong’s 11th place was discounted due to a penalty lap miscounting error in the new Nordic Combined pursuit format. In Saturday’s Gundersen format World Cup in Ramsau, Austria, he remained consistent with 11th place—improved, if you consider that last week he would have finished further back if he’d done a fourth penalty loop. Norway’s Jan Schmid won on Saturday with his first career World Cup victory. Two of Schmid’s teammates...
If the U.S. Nordic Combined Team got together for Thanksgiving, there might be less football watching and more talk about the kids. That’s the way life is for almost half of the seven-man squad, with each of the “Big Three” aged 30 or older and with at least one child. “It’s a different dynamic than it has been in the past,” said head coach Dave Jarrett, who has two kids of his own. “But it’s...
FasterSkier Performances of the Year The FasterSkier Performance of the Year Award is presented in three categories – cross-country, biathlon and nordic combined, with men’s and women’s in the first two. We will start with cross-country. XC Performance of the Year (women): Kikkan Randall (USA/USST) In some ways this is the easiest of the Performance of the Year awards – there is no question that it will go to Kikkan Randall. The challenge is picking...
FasterSkier Nordic Combined Skier of the Year With Canada supporting a small, and young Nordic Combined team, focus remains on the US squad. And it was an interesting year for the team. Coming off an Olympics with three individual medals, including gold, and a silver in the team competition, it would be easy to understand high expectations, especially with the trio of Billy Demong, Todd Lodwick, and Johnny Spillane returning for another year. But Spillane...
The most successful group of nordic athletes the US has ever seen? Unquestionably. With a grand total of nine individual Olympic and World Championship medals the trio of Billy Demong, Johnny Spillane and Todd Lodwick have more hardware than all other US cross-country, nordic combined and biathlon athletes combined. With the World Cup season coming to a close in Lahti, Finland two weeks ago, the questions have begun – is the band breaking up? The...
The US Nordic Combined team travels around the world with the usual gear: skis, boots, poles, race suits, iPod. …And a sewing machine.
Second chances are few and far between in professional sports, but with the International Ski Federation adding a second Nordic Combined Team event to the 2011 World Championships, Germany had just that. After taking the silver in the first team competition on Monday, Germany extended an impressive streak of five straight World Championships finishing second. The extra opportunity would not change the results however, and the Germans once again came up short, this time by...
After just missing the medals in the first two competitions at the 2011 World Championships, an American-born athlete was back on top of the nordic combined podium on Wednesday. Billy Demong? Nope. Todd Lodwick? Guess again. Maybe Johnny Spillane? Or the two flying Fletcher brothers, Bryan and Taylor? No, no, and no. Instead, it was Jason Lamy Chappuis, a French citizen born in Montana, who took the win in the individual large hill competition in...
Five years ago, a fourth place finish for the Americans in a nordic combined team event at World Championships would have been tough to swallow, since U.S. medals at major competitions had been few and far between. But in the season following the 2010 Olympics, which saw U.S. athletes take three silvers and a gold, collecting the “wooden medal” in their first of two team events in Oslo was merely a mild letdown. “Considering I’m...
Monday features a team competition on the normal hill, and the US Nordic Combined team is looking to improve on their first race at the 2011 World Championships.
While the Americans posted some of the best cross-country legs – in fact, the fastest time of the day belonged to Bill Demong who ended up in seventh place and was the top American – the jumping left room for improvement across the board.
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...