Tara Geraghty-Moats winning Sunday’s normal hill/5 k Gundersen at the 2018 Women’s Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. (Photo: Romina Eggert/FIS)
Two North Americans posted impressive results at nordic events in Germany and Norway over the last week, with Vermont native Tara Geraghty-Moats racing to first overall in the first-ever Women’s Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix and Quebec’s Alex Harvey placing second, fifth and 10th in three races at the Toppidrettsveka rollerski series.
Geraghty-Moats 1st and 2nd at Inaugural Women’s NoCo Grand Prix
Brand new to nordic combined as well as the jump hill in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, Geraghty-Moats took the inaugural women’s Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix by storm this past weekend, placing first and second in two competitions. That tied her for first place in the overall Grand Prix standings, alongside Russia’s Stefaniya Nadymova — the defending champion of last winter’s inaugural women’s Nordic Combined Continental Cup.
On Sunday, Geraghty-Moats, 25, of USA Nordic and the New York Ski Education Foundation (NYSEF), handily beat Nadymova and the rest of the 10-woman field after starting the 5-kilometer Gundersen rollerski race in second, four seconds behind Germany’s Jenny Nowak. While Nowak had posted the best jump of 96 meters on Oberwiesenthal’s 106-meter “normal” hill, Geraghty-Moats tied for the second-best-scoring jump (94.5 meters), with Austria’s Lisa Hirner (95 meters). From there, Geraghty-Moats dropped Hirner, Nadymova and Nowak on the first of three laps in the rollerski race and went on to finish in 11:04.8. Nowak ultimately placed third, 1:29.2 behind Geraghty-Moats.
“I was really satisfied by how my first weekend of being a nordic combined-er went, and I think the patience of waiting to be a nordic combined-er really paid off,” Geraghty-Moats told the International Ski Federation (FIS) after. “I struggled with the jump a little bit the first couple days. I had never jumped this hill before, and I sort of figured it out today so I got to ski a little bit easier than yesterday, but I was also happy that yesterday I was able to have a good fight and ski fast to my potential and end up on the podium.”
The women’s individual normal hill/5 k Gundersen podium on Saturday at the 2018 Women’s Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix, with Russia’s Russia’s Stefaniya Nadymova (c) in first, American Tara Geraghty-Moats (r) in second, and Germany’s Jenny Nowak (l) in third in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. (Photo: FIS/Silke Tegethof)
“It was a dream come true to finally be able to compete in women’s Nordic Combined on an international level,” Geraghty-Moats told FIS on Saturday. “I’m using this weekend to learn the level I have to be at to have success in Nordic Combined. I made some mistakes today and learned a lot but I came away with a good result and having had a huge amount of fun competing with small but strong field.”
Eleven women competed in Saturday’s normal hill/5 k.
Alex Harvey (l) on the podium with Roman Furger (c) and Simen Hegstad Krüger (r) at the 2018 Toppidrettsveka rollerski festival in Norway last Thursday, Aug. 16. (Photo: Alex Harvey/Instagram)
At the Toppidrettsveka rollerski festival in Norway, Canada’s Alex Harvey raced to second in the 15 k skiathlon last Thursday in Orkdal, missing out on first by just 0.6 seconds to Switzerland’s Roman Furger, who won in 30:43.3. Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger, the reigning Olympic skiathlon champion, finished third, 1.5 seconds back. In a stacked international field of 125 men, Canada’s Evan Palmer-Charrette placed 75th in that race (+2:14.4), Bob Thompson was 84th (+2:32.7), and Scott Hill 89th (+2:52.5).
Canada’s Alex Harvey (2) gunning for first in the men’s 15 k skiathlon on Aug. 16 at the Toppidrettsveka rollerski festival in Orkdal, Norway. (Screenshot: NRK broadcast)
Heidi Weng beat her cousin Tiril Udnes Weng by 0.7 seconds in the women’s 10 k skiathlon that day, finishing in 22:52.1. Norway swept the top five of the women’s race, with Anne Kjersti Kalvå reaching the podium in third (+1.3), and national-team members Kathrine Harsem and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen placing fourth (+1.4) and fifth (+1.5), respectively, out of 43 women.
In the men’s 24 k classic mass start aroundAure/Brekka on Friday, Harvey finished fifth, 19 seconds after Krüger, who won in 59:57.5. Norway’s Hans Christer Holund placed second in that race (+2.6), Norway’s Magnus Stensås was third (+13.0), and Switzerland’s Dario Cologna fourth (+17.1). Also for Canada, Palmer-Charrette finished 61sth (+2:30.9), Hill 78th (+4:02.3), Thompson 86th (+5:40.3), and Maks Zechel 88th (+7:01.4) out of 125.
Heidi Weng repeated in first in the women’s 24 k mass start, finishing in 1:10:02.4 hours, while Tiril Udnes Weng again placed second, 25.4 seconds back, and Jacobsen reached the podium in third (+27.7).
Later on Friday in Aure, Norway’s Sondre Turvoll Fossli topped the men’s freestyle sprint final ahead of four other Norwegians, including Pål Trøan Aune in second and Jan Thomas Jenssen in third, and Switzerland’s Furger in fifth, while Harvey did not qualify for the heats and ended up 37th overall. Palmer-Charrette was once again 61st in qualification, Hill 107th and Thompson 109th out of 121.
In the women’s sprint, Norway’s Mathilde Myhrvold won the final in 2:56.54, 1.05 seconds ahead of Slovenia’s Katja Visnar in second. Heidi Weng placed third in the final (+1.97), ahead of Tiril Weng (+2.64) in fourth, another Norwegian Anna Svendsen in fifth (+2.76), and another Slovenian Alenka Cebasek in sixth (+3.73).
In the final race of the series, the classic pursuit on Saturday, Harvey started second, 10 seconds behind Furger in first. The Canadian went on to place 10th, 4.2 seconds out of first, in the 15 k race, while Stensås took the win in 37:45.5 after starting seventh. (Furger slipped to 55th and 1:55.5 behind at the finish.) Norway’s Mikael Gunnulfsen rose from eighth to second (+0.7) and France’s Jean-Marc Gaillard made it all the way up to third (+1.7) after starting 15th.
Palmer-Charrette finished the pursuit in 59th (+2:04.2), Thompson placed 80th (+2:55.2), Hill 87th (+3:41.5), and Zechel 93rd (+3:48.9) out of 105.
Jacobsen ended the weekend as the women’s 12 k mass start winner, after the entire women’s field (of 33) started at the same time. She crossed the line first in 34:20.8, 0.4 seconds ahead of Heidi Weng in second and 1.2 seconds ahead of Kalvaa in third.
Taylor Fletcher (26) racing to the fastest time on the day and several overall at the Summer Grand Prix in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. (Photo Sandra Volk/FIS)
End of August. It’s not quite transition season yet. Leaves are green, there’s still the possibility of sweltering humidity, and if you’re inclined to fly off 100-meter ski jumping hills sans snow, the International Ski Federation (FIS) Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix has you covered.
Last weekend, Oberwiesenthal, Germany, hosted the two-day opening round of the Summer Grand Prix. Although months away from on-snow events, jumping and racing on rollerskis against some of the best in the world is an incomparable way to size up dryland training.
Saturday featured a team sprint (teams of two) with a combined score jump followed by a 15-kilometer (2 x 7.5 k) race. Host Germany took the top prize. Germany I, with Björn Kircheisen and Eric Frenzel, placed first. Norway I (Jan Schmid and Magnus Moan) took second (+18.8), and Austria I (Bernhard Gruber and Philipp Orter) finished third (+19.7).
The U.S. entered two teams: Taylor Fletcher and Ben Berend for U.S. I and Jasper Good and Stephen Schumann for U.S. II.
Fletcher and Berend finished the jumping round in 14th; Good and Schumann ranked 19th. U.S. I held its 14th place after the ski portion, finishing 2:24.5 behind the winners. U.S. II ended the day in 18th overall.
Sunday’s normal hill/individual 10 k was a new day for U.S Nordic Combined’s reigning national champ Taylor Fletcher. (Of note: The race weekend featured half of the Fletcher clan. Taylor’s older brother Bryan remained in Park City, Utah, as he and his wife were expecting their first child. They welcomed their baby girl, Ellery Ardene Fletcher, on Monday, Aug. 29.)
Best off the jumping hill on Sunday, Aug. 28, was Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber. Taylor Fletcher jumped to 26th place. He started the ski portion 2 minutes and 25 seconds after Riiber.
Reading between the lines, Fletcher made progress in the jump portion. He flew eight meters farther on Sunday compared to his effort the previous day.
“Today was a good step forward,” Fletcher said Sunday about his Day 2 jump in a USSA press release. “I am pleased, for sure, but know I still have my work to do. I have had some really good jumps lately but haven’t had them in the competition yet. Today I put in a great jump after my miss yesterday (in team sprint) so that was a great feeling. I think this will help me relax knowing that with a jump like this I am in the hunt with my skiing, but of course the goal is to make it easier on the cross country side.”
Schumann jumped to 31st, while U.S. teammate Ben Loomis was 33rd.
Making it easier on the cross-country side was Fletcher’s performance trademark of tracking down early starters. On Sunday, he was true to form and strategy.
Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber crosses the line first last weekend for Day 2 of the Summer Grand Prix in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. (Photo: Sandra Volk/FIS)
Fletcher’s 24:28.9 marked the fastest rollerski time of the day, and brought him within 10.2 seconds of race winner Riiber, who finished in 26:43.7 . The hard-charging effort earned Fletcher seventh-place overall.
“I was happy with the weekend for sure,” Fletcher wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “I have been focusing on the jumping way more this year and with the addition of our new jump coach and philosophy I have been able to improve way more. I had pretty solid jumps in Oberwiesenthal but still not my best jumps so that is exciting knowing I can still jump better. I will try to keep those feelings with me as we get ready for competition [on Wednesday] in Villach, Austria.”
Behind Riiber on the podium were Austria’s Mario Seidl (+2.8) in second and Germany’s Kircheisen in third.
For the U.S., Schumann finished 42nd (+3:23.3), Ben Loomis was 45th (+4:11.7), while Adam Loomis did not start the ski portion after being disqualified for a suit violation during the jumping portion.
Asked why the team headed to Europe for the Grand Prix, Fletcher explained the race series provides a fitness litmus test against some of the best in the world.
“We come to Europe for these races to see where our form is at the moment, but also to get some competition and practice in,” he wrote. “These races are no different than the World Cups in the winter with the exception that a few people may be absent. Another reason we come over is for the equipment. All the jumping manufacturers are based in Europe and it is difficult to get equipment sent the USA. Also, every year the rules for jumping are changed and unless you are at a competition, it is hard to know if you bindings, suits, skis, gloves, helmets, undersuits are legal or not. Coming to Summer Grand Prix allows us to check out our equipment with the officials so we know we are inline with the rules and won’t get disqualified for unknown reasons.”
Fletcher elaborated on how jumping differs in the summer compared to jumping in colder, more dense, wintertime air. “The only thing that is different in the summer and winter is the air pressure really,” he wrote. “The surface is different but over time it starts to feel more like snow and the landing and in-run start to feel close. In the summer the temp is high causing the pressure to drop a little, especially in Park City and that makes the jumping a little harder. So without the air pressure, it sometimes feels like you are falling instead of flying through the air. The best jumping happens when the temperature is very cold(-F) as the air is very thick and you feel way more pressure under neath you! The speed is relatively the same as, the slope the hill doesn’t change from summer to winter.”
Bryan Fletcher holding his newborn, Ellery Ardene Fletcher. Fletcher and his wife Nikki welcomed their baby girl on Monday. (Photo: USSA Nordic/Facebook)
On Wednesday in Villach, Fletcher did not start the normal hill/10 k competition and final day of the Grand Prix. His teammate Berend led the U.S. in 33rd after posting the 19th-best jump, Ben Loomis finished 42nd after jumping to 31st, and Adam Loomis was 50th, improving upon his 57th-ranked jump.
Austria’s Seidl won at home with a 12.9-second victory over Germany’s Fabian Riessle, and Norway’s Håvard Klemetsen placed third (+15.1).
Now an uncle, Fletcher planned to head home to Park City after the Grand Prix series and spend the month prior to the start of the winter season training in Europe.
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![Taylor Fletcher racing to the fastest time on the day and 7th overall in Oberwiesenthal, Ger. (Photo Sandra Volk, FIS).](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/08/Taylor-Fletcher.jpg")
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