Impressive Day for Bryan Fletcher
FALUN, Sweden (Feb. 26, 2015) - Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) set himself up for success with a strong jump then skied to a top five finish in the large hill nordic combined event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun. It was a career best major event finish for Fletcher, who fell just 16 seconds short of the podium. Austria's Bernhard Gruber took gold over France's Francoise Braud and Germany Johannes Rydzek. Gruber's gold was Austria's first ever individual nordic combined World Championship. It was Rydzek's third medal of the Championships.
Fletcher had been refining his jumping all week, nailing a 123.5-meter ride Thursday morning for 13th, 44 seconds behind jump leader Gruber.
In the cross country race, Fletcher found himself in an advantageous position a second ahead of Norway's Magnus Moan with Rydzek close behind. The group quickly packed up and started moving up through the ranks, within a few kilometers they had the leaders in sight and the race began.
"I knew it could play out a number of ways," said Fletcher. "But one thing I knew for sure was that everyone would come together at least from fourth to 20th, so I wanted to conserve energy but I was also concerned about moving up and staying in a good position in the field."
Fletcher shared the workload with Moan, but couldn't quite maintain the speed on the sprint hills, leaving a gap that he couldn't close.
Rydzek eventually broke out to catch the leaders as France's Jason Lamy Chappuis, second in the jump, and Japan's Akitao Watabe faded on the final lap. In the waning stages, Gruber attacked the steep pitch of Moerderbacken with a passion to win by nearly 12 seconds.
"Overall I wanted to come to this championships to fight for a medal," he said. "Today I did that. I really wish I could have landed on the podium but I am still happy because my goal was to be able to say I put together good jump and a strong race on the comp day, and to know I left it all out on course. Today I did that. I jumped well, skied smart and fast and I cannot ask for much more."
While starters have not been named for Saturday two-man team sprint, Bryan and Taylor Fletcher are likely candidates. The event will be live streamed.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Bryan Fletcher's fifth place finish was the best USA result at World Championships since Todd Lodwick and Billy Demong finished 5-6 in 2011 at Holmenkollen in Oslo.
- Taylor Fletcher moved up from 34th in the jump to take 29th. Billy Demong was 33rd and Adam Loomis 41st.
- Nordic combined wraps up Saturday with the team sprint event on the large hill.
QUOTES
Bryan Fletcher
Overall I wanted to come to this championships to fight for a medal. Today I did that. I really wish I could have landed on the podium but I am still happy because my goal was to be able to say I put together good jump and a strong race on the comp day, and to know I left it all out on course. Today I did that. I jumped well, skied smart and fast and I cannot ask for much more. Hopefully I can do that again on Saturday for the team sprint.
Jumping was strong today, definitely getting closer and closer and today reflected that. Going into the race I knew it could play out a number of ways but one thing I knew for sure was that everyone would come together at least from fourth to 20th and so I wanted to conserve energy but I was also concerned about moving up and staying in a good position in the field. I knew there were a lot of strong guys and it would take a good race to out ski them. I played to my strengths as best as possible and tried to share the workload with Magnus a bit to avoid using to much energy on the front. However at the end on the sprint hills I just couldn't quite maintain the speed of Moan and Rydzek and they got a small gap on me that I couldn't close back up.