20 Olympic competitions without a single medal, that was the story for the US going into Vancouver when it came to nordic combined. That changed in a big way when the US won four medals, three silvers and a gold. The US now can boast a medal in each of the three nordic combined events. It will be very hard to top that in Sochi.
Nordic Combined’s Olympic History
Nordic combined is one of the original Winter Olympic events having debuted in 1924 with a single event. That event was the only one until 1988 when a team event was added. A second individual event was started in 2002 and that is how the program remains to this day. There are no women’s events in nordic combined.
16 nations have medaled in nordic combined with Norway leading the way with 26 of the 93 medals. Norway also has 11 of the 31 gold medals while the US has won just four medals, three silvers and a gold, in nordic combined.
How the Nordic Combined Competitions Work
Nordic combined is a combination event of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The ski jumping event will come first with the cross-country skiing following it. The scores from the ski jumping event set the field for the cross-country skiing race with the athletes delayed depending on how far behind the leader they are. The first man across the line is the winner.
The two individual events both feature a 10km cross-country race, they differ in which ski jumping hill is used. One event uses the normal hill while the other uses the large hill.
The team event is conducted using the large hill and four athletes per team. Their combined team score is used to set the field for the relay portion with teams delayed based on how far they are behind the leading team. The teams will race along four 5km legs with the first team across the finish line the winner.
Marcin Chady via Compfight cc
US Team
There are four men on the team and three of them are returning from Vancouver. Two have been on the team ever since Nagano and one was even part of the team in Lillehammer twenty years ago.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
US Nordic Combined
Men:
Bill Demong****
Bryan Fletcher
Taylor Fletcher*
Todd Lodwick*****
* – Was on team in Vancouver
**** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin, Salt Lake City, & Nagano
***** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin, Salt Lake City, Nagano, & Lillehammer
A Sochi 2014 Nordic Combined list on twitter including all of these athletes
US Team’s Olympic History
In 2010 the US team featured three of the four current Olympians. In the normal event Bill Demong finished sixth while Todd Lodwick finished fourth for the US. The large hill event saw Demong do even better with a gold medal, the first ever in nordic combined for the US. Lodwick finished 13th while Taylor Fletcher finished 45th. Lodwick and Demong joined with Brett Camerota and Johnny Spillane in the team event to win another silver medal for the US.
In 2006 both Lodwick and Demong were taking part in the events. The program was not exactly the same as it is now with a sprint event that featured one jump and a 7.5km cross-country portion and an individual gunderson event that had two jumps and a 15km cross-country part. In the sprint event Lodwick finished ninth while Demong was 25th. The individual gunderson event was more of the same with Lodwick in eighth and Demong in 15th. They teamed up in the team event with Spillane and Carl van Loan to finish seventh.
In 2002 Lodwick was again threatening for medals with a fifth place finish in the sprint event and a seventh place finish in the individual gunderson event. Demong was again near the top with 14th and 19th place finishes respectively. Again they were in the team event with Spillane and Matt Dayton this time. The team came in fourth place missing a medal by six seconds.
All the way back in Nagano there was only one individual event, the individual gunderson event. Lodwick came in 20th place while Demong finished 34th. They were again part of the team event with Tim Tetreault and Dave Jarrett their teammates this time. The team came in tenth.
Twenty years ago in Lillehammer Lodwick was the top performing American with a 13th place finish in the individual event. Lodwick was also part of the team that finished seventh along with Ryan Heckman and Jarrett.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Wednesday, February 12th
4:30 AM – Individual Gundersen NH/10 km Competition Round
*7:30 AM – Individual Gundersen NH/10 km Cross-Country
Tuesday, February 18th
4:30 AM – Individual Gundersen LH/10 km Competition Round
*7 AM – Individual Gundersen LH/10 km Cross-Country
Thursday, February 20th
3 AM – Team Gundersen LH/4×5 km Competition Round
*6 AM – Team Gundersen LH/4×5 km Cross-Country
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
The nordic combined world championships are part of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Most recently they were held in Val di Fiemme, Italy in February-March 2013.
In those championships the US had all four of their Olympians in the individual normal hill competition. Bryan Fletcher was the top American finishing in 14th overall. Behind him came Bill Demong in 23rd, Taylor Fletcher in 25th, and Todd Lodwick in 35th.
Three of those Americans took part in the large hill competition. This time Demong was the top Americans with a 15th place finish. Taylor Fletcher was hot on his trail in 17th while Bryan Fletcher was 23rd.
The event featuring the 4x5km relay at the world championships was held using the normal hill. Demong, Lodwick, and both Fletchers teamed up in this event. They were in fifth after the ski jumping but came on strong in the cross-country race to move into third and win a bronze less than five seconds behind the winners.
US Olympic History
The US had never medaled before the Vancouver Olympics but can now say that they have medaled in every Olympic nordic combined event. In the individual normal hill event that was when Johnny Spillane grabbed a silver, in the large hill it was Bill Demong grabbing gold and Spillane getting silver. Meanwhile the team of Spillane, Demong, and Todd Lodwick and Brett Camerota won a silver in the team event.
