KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) - It was a clear, sunny day in the mountains at the Sochi Olympics on Sunday, which may have been a factor for the high number of Nordic combined athletes who opted out of practice on the large hill ski jump.
German team officials confirmed their star athlete, World Cup leader and normal hill gold medalist Eric Frenzel, wouldn’t go to the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center for the second day of training.
Also missing were normal hill silver medalist Akito Watabe of Japan and bronze winner Magnus Krog of Norway.
Training for the 10-kilometer cross-country portion of Nordic combined was optional on a course adjacent to the ski hill. Further training sessions are scheduled for Monday ahead of Tuesday’s final.
Evginiy Klimov, one of the leading jumpers in Nordic combined, also took the day off - with good reason.
Klimov has been drafted provisionally into the Russian team for Monday night’s regular ski jumping final on the large hill, replacing the injured Mikhail Maksimochkin.
Maksimochkin broke two ribs in a training fall on Wednesday and spent two nights in the hospital. Klimov was listed as the leadoff jumper for Sunday night.
Only 33 of 55 scheduled starters jumped in Sunday’s first round of Nordic combined training, 36 in the second and just 30 in the third, when American veteran Todd Lodwick of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, finished in fourth position.
Coming back from a left shoulder injury that curtailed his Olympic preparations, the 37-year-old Lodwick, who carried the U.S. flag in the opening ceremony, was a member of the U.S. team that won the team silver at Vancouver.
Another member of that team, individual large hill defending champion Billy Demong of Park City, Utah, improved from 18th to 13th on subsequent jumps.
“That’s was better,” Demong said after his second jump. “It’s slowly coming together.”
The Fletcher brothers - cross-country specialists Bryan and Taylor, both from Steamboat Springs - jumped all three rounds. Bryan Fletcher’s best produced an 11th placing, while his younger brother Taylor was 24th in the third round.
“I need a good jump to keep close and then the cross-country race should come naturally,” Bryan Fletcher said. “Obviously I would like to be in medal contention but realistically the top 10.”
Using the Gundersen method, the top finisher in ski jumping starts the 10-kilometer race on his own, with the chasing skiers given staggered starts based on their placing on the jump hill.
Bryan Fletcher thinks Frenzel, who has a big lead in the World Cup standings after winning seven of the 11 events he has entered, can be beaten.
“He can certainly be stopped,” Fletcher said. “Winning is easy, it is harder to stay at the top once you are there. You are your worst enemy … I think he may crack and come down at some point.”
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