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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: kuusamo nordic combined

  • On Trip Home, Bryan Fletcher Reflects on Kuusamo World Cup

    On Trip Home, Bryan Fletcher Reflects on Kuusamo World Cup

    The International Ski Federation (FIS) tweeted this photo of the ski jump in Kuusamo, Finland, with the caption “Winter Wonderland.” US Nordic Combined member Bryan Fletcher wrote on his blog it was just that: “Despite rumors of little snow in Kuusamo, by the time we arrived there was plenty of snow, cold conditions and great jumping.”

    Since arriving in Lillehammer, Norway, a few weeks ago, the US Nordic Combined Team has been seeking big things. Well, maybe not right off the bat, but any professional athlete wants good results.

    Bryan Fletcher, 26, led the effort by continuing to improve his, placing 14th in the individual large-hill competition Saturday and ninth with brother Taylor in the team event Sunday. That was up from Bryan’s results in Lillehammer, where he was 22nd in the penalty race and 38th in the preceding normal-hill competition.

    This weekend, the Fletchers were the lone Americans to qualify for Saturday after Friday’s provisional jumping round . Bryan ranked eighth on the large hill and Taylor squeaked by in 47th to make the top-50 standard. Billy Demong was 51st in the provisional round and Todd Lodwick was last in 61st.

    “Not what I was expecting today on the hill,” Lodwick tweeted on Friday, nearly a week after leading the U.S. in 24th in Lillehammer Nov. 24. “As one might say, only up from here!!! Keeping my head up …”

    On Saturday, Bryan ranked 11th on the hill while Taylor was disqualified because of his equipment. Bryan went on to post the 13th-fastest ski time for an overall finish of 14th, 33 seconds behind winner Jason Lamy Chappuis of France.

    “I kicked of the weekend by having the longest jump in the first round of official training,” Bryan wrote on his blog Monday. “I followed that up with two more solid jumps and placed 8th in the provisional comp. This brought my confidence up and I was ready to go for real the next day.

    “Saturday we were fortunate to have decent conditions on the hill and I was able to keep my jumping alive by placing 11th,” he added. “Going into the XC I was a little nervous seeing as last weekend was not my most spectacular racing by any means. After the first lap I found myself fighting for the podium, feeling good like my normal self.  I gave it a valiant effort but was unsuccessful in staying with the group.  I finished a respectable 14th place. I had the 13th fastest time though which shows that the shape is coming.”

    Excited to team up with his brother in Sunday’s two-man event, the two put themselves in ninth after the jump.

    “The snow was a major factor on Sunday, many of the teams struggled with the jumping portion,” Bryan wrote. “Taylor stepped up huge in his jumping and that was a big factor in our placing.”

    In the race, in which teammates alternate laps, the Fletchers were gunning for the top six until the second to last lap.

    “Once we lost contact with the group 9th place was our clear placement,” Bryan explained. “However both Tay and I came into the day with no expectations and to be honest we were surprised to even be in the hunt. There is still a lot of work to be done but at least we know we are on the right track.”

    On Monday, the US Nordic Combined men were flying back to Park City, Utah, where they’ll spend a week training before heading to the World Cup in Ramsau, Austria, Dec. 15-16. (they are skipping next weekend’s World Cup in Erzurum, Turkey).

    “I am excited to continue the momentum [in Ramsau],” Bryan wrote. “Hopefully combine some solid jump results with races just like the first day in Kuusamo.”

  • First-Time Winner at Challenging NoCo Opener

    For the last week, they had been waiting to jump. Really, about 60 nordic-combined athletes from around the world waited all summer for the season to kick off in Kuusamo, Finland.

    Once there, it seemed the only things holding the athletes back were the weather and the ominous large hill itself.

    Billy Demong remembered telling someone in an email: “Sometimes survival is success in Kuusamo.”

    The U.S. nordic combined veteran meant that literally. He was 20th in the World Cup opener on Friday, the second-best American after Bryan Fletcher (18th). His brother, Taylor Fletcher was 33rd. Only 50 were allowed to compete, and that didn’t include longtime U.S. Ski Team member, Johnny Spillane.

    After traveling to Kuusamo nearly a week ago, the four Americans attempted to practice on what Demong called a “super-punishing” hill. Officials allowed an open-training session a few days ago, but after a few runs, dangerous conditions forced them to close it again.

    “It was kind of windy,” Demong said. “(A) guy flipped over, rolled downhill, (then it was) like, ‘All right, guess this session’s done.’ … I’ve seen people end seasons here multiple times. It’s really a rugged place to start.”

    The Americans had not taken their turns and were left with one practice jump on Friday. The trial round was quickly followed by a provisional jump and the competition was also moved up earlier to avoid worsening weather. Within about three hours, it was all over before noon.

    Norway’s Magnus Krog won his first World Cup gold after logging the fourth best jump of the day. He started 0:59 seconds behind the top jumper, Tino Edelmann (GER), who went 127.8 meters on the 142-meter hill and ended up third overall.

    Edelmann was 7.1 seconds behind Krog (27:41), and Japan’s Akito Watabe was second (+2.5 after ranking fifth in both the jump and the 10-k ski).

    Spillane never started. Because of a new rule enacted earlier this year, the provisional round (which followed the trials) counted as a qualifier for the weekend’s races. Jarrett said he hadn’t agreed with the nordic-combined committee’s decision then, and he didn’t like it any more when it eliminated Spillane on Friday.

    In the trials, Spillane led the Americans with a jump that ranked 18th of 61 competitors. In the provisional round — which would count as Saturday’s competition if weather canceled the jumping portion —  Spillane was dead last. Not only did he have to sit out Friday’s competition, but he was forced to sit out Saturday’s Kuusamo event.

    “I’m bummed that I’m missing this weekend, but I have been skiing well, and I hope that will show by next weekend,” Spillane wrote in an email. “You have to jump far to be competitive and I didn’t.”

    Demong said he was satisfied with his 20th place (29th in jump; 15th-fastest ski) considering the especially challenging hill.

    “This hill will buck you so bad,” Demong said. “I’ve been everywhere from dead last to the podium here.”

    U.S. head coach Dave Jarrett said the hill was a bit intimidating because of its immense size and relatively windy location. He described the recent weather as “rainy, snowy, windy, warm, cold.”

    “So we had one training jump today in pretty difficult and mentally challenging conditions,” he said.

    That turned out OK for the Fletcher brothers, with Bryan ranking 11th in the jump (103.5 m) then falling slightly to 18th after the ski race (+2:08.7). He was the 34th fastest skier and fell behind on the last lap of the 10 k.

    With the 13th– to 16th-place jumpers pressuring him from behind in the race, Bryan tried to stay with them. Magnus Moan (NOR), 16th in the jump and the fastest in the 10 k, was sixth overall. Another Norwegian, Mikko Kokslein clocked the second-fastest ski time and was 15th in the jump, putting him eighth overall. The third-fastest skier, Bjoern Kircheisen (GER) was seventh.

    “You don’t always know what shape everyone else is in and how you will compare,” Bryan wrote in an email. “It’s definitely a game of give and take.”

    He said there was room for improvement, especially in pacing himself as needed, and hoped the conditions wouldn’t keep prevent jumping on Saturday. In Friday’s provisional jump, Bryan was 25th, Demong was 30th and Taylor was 42nd.

    “Getting to jump again would give me a chance to improve upon that,” Bryan wrote.
    “And for the race my hopes would be to ski a little smarter race and … see if I can ski a top-20 rank time.”

    Demong noted how early it was in the season, and the key was to stay relaxed.

    “It’s a solid start for Bryan. Taylor had a really strong race and I was medium,” Demong said. “If we take it in stride, then we’ll build from here, if we stress it, then we probably won’t. I think everybody’s ready to take today as decent and keep moving forward.”

    Spillane had helped his teammates and wax techs with the skis and was “using some positive energy to kind of get past the fact that he’s got to sit out for the rest of the weekend,” Demong said.

    “I think everyone’s psyched to get going, psyched to get the first comp finished,” Jarrett said. “I hope that if we get the provisional (Saturday), we can have a good race and move on to Lillehammer, (Norway), where we know we’ve been successful.”

    Complete nordic combined results.