Combined Meet to Finish Sunday (Maybe)
KLINGENTHAL, Germany (Jan. 19) - Gusting, high winds Saturday forced an 18-hour postponement to the conclusion of a mass start nordic combined World Cup competition. "We're in good shape for the jumping, if the winds die down and we can hold it," U.S. Coach Lasse Ottese said. Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) was third after a 10K race with Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) fourth going into the jumping.
In a mass start event, skiers begin a 10K race together. At the end of the race, a ski jumping meet is held, based on reverse order of the race finishers. After one round of jumping, the field is cut to 30 skiers for the final round.
Originally, Saturday was to be a traditional nordic combined individual event, i.e., two rounds of jumping before a 15K race. When winds forced cancellation of the routine trial round, organizers agreed to stage a mass start event. "They were hoping for a break in the weather so we could jump later in the day, but when we completed the race, the winds still were too bad," Ottesen said.
Warm weather and rain earlier in the week created soft snow conditions. Demong and Spillane skied to third and fourth place, respectively, behind Hannu Manninen of Finland, the defending combined World Cup champion. The new schedule calls for completion of the mass start with two rounds of jumping Sunday, starting at 8:30 a.m. CET (2:30 a.m. ET). Shortly thereafter, there would be a sprint event, which takes one round of jumping and a 7.5K race.
Ottesen suggested using a one-round format to complete the mass start, but organizers said they would try for two rounds plus a third round to start the sprint. "If we can only get one round of jumping, that will be considered good enough to finish the mass start," he said. "The guys are ready, but we need some help now from Mother Nature."
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Combined Meet to Finish Sunday (Maybe)
