Fast XC times move Demong, Fletcher move up in standings

Nordic Combined

Sat, Nov  26, 2011 - By USSA

KUUSAMO, Finland (Nov. 26) - The weatherman dealt a tough break to the Americans Saturday. High winds forced cancelation of the nordic combined jump, with officials reverting to Friday's provisional round for seeding. Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) and Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) moved up in the cross country race to finish 19th and 20th in the second event in Kuusamo Saturday. Germany's Tino Edelmann took the win. Demong was 30th and Fletcher 25th in the provisional jumps, both starting over three minutes back, but had the 11th and 12th fastest cross country times to move up. World Cup action now heads to Lillehammer, Norway for a pair of events next weekend.

QUOTES

Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett
We had another solid day. All of the guys had a solid race. Taylor had a good race and was just barely out of the points. Our skis were good and the guys felt good.

The weather today was nasty and they made the right call not to jump today. However the conditions yesterday were also challenging but that is the way it goes sometimes.

We are moving forward to Lillehammer knowing that we were top 20 with jumping that is not representative of the level the boys are at. We know with our normal jumping and racing we can fight for the podium.

RESULTS

Official Results
http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=NK&raceid=1535