Gottwald wins, U.S. puts 3 in top 8

By Published On: January 9th, 2010Comments Off on Gottwald wins, U.S. puts 3 in top 8

Felix GottwaldThe Americans crammed three men into the top eight of a World Cup Nordic Combined meet in Val di Fiemme, Italy, Saturday (Jan. 9) in a race won by Austria’s Felix Gottwald.

Johnny Spillane powered to fourth, Todd Lodwick got sixth and Bill Demong eighth underscoring the strength of the U.S. squad of former World Champions.

Gottwald is making a comeback after retiring in 2007. Today’s win was his first since January of 2007. It was the fourth straight time Gottwald has made it to a World Cup podium this season and he moved into second place on the Cup standings list behind early season sensation Jason Lamy Chappius of France. Chappius finished 10th at Val di Fiemme.

Norwegian Magnus Hovdal Moan won the cross country leg and wound up second on the day with Eric Frenzel of Germany third. Gottwald was relentless on the cross country track, finishing second to Moan and making up for a 21st placing in the jumping leg of the competition. Moan had been 37th in the jumping. After the race he thanked Moan for providing the fast pace he knew he needed.

“I am very happy with my competition jump today,” said Gottwald. “It put me in a good position and I could start to run relaxed. Then, I was happy that Magnus Moan did arrive from behind and that he held the pace high.”

Pacing has become more important with recent jump scoring changes making the sport more strategic than in the past. The U.S. skiers played critical roles. From the start of the cross country leg Lamy Chappius took the lead. Demong worked on closing the gap and took the lead of the first chase group. Two kilometers in, Spillane made a move, picking up 15 seconds over the next kilometer and took the lead of the second chase group.

As Demongs group caught the leaders – about midway through the 10k race – Spillane and Lodwick hooked in with Gottwald’s chase group, with Demong taking the lead. He held that lead through seven kilometers then gave way to Lodwick.

At 8k the bulk of the field had merged with Moan taking over the lead and Gottwald grabbing his tails.

“When it gets down to a train of 15 people and everyone’s stepping on poles instead of skiing, it’s a different race,” said head coach Dave Jarrett. “We need to get better at staking our claim in the pack and not getting knocked around.”

At the finish the two leaders were simply overpowering. “Magnus and Felix are sking at a different level than the rest of the field right now,” said Jarrett.

The new wind adjustment scoring system will not be employed at this season’s Olympic Games.

Alex Miller placed 45th and Taylor Fletcher 56th for the U.S.

Gottwald image by GEPA

Place   Val
di Fiemme
(ITA)
  Discipline   Gundersen HS134/10.0 Km
Date   09.01.2010   Category   World Cup
Race codex   4111   Gender   M
    TD Name   Kumpost Roman (CZE)
       
  
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result
 1  21  35 GOTTWALD Felix  1976  AUT   24:44.5
 2  37  973 MOAN Magnus-H.  1983  NOR   24:45.3
 3  9  1050 FRENZEL Eric  1988  GER   24:46.5
 4  16  247 SPILLANE Johnny  1980  USA   24:52.8
 5  18  257 KIRCHEISEN Bjoern  1983  GER   24:58.1
 6  12  27 LODWICK Todd  1976  USA   24:58.5
 7  11  215 CHURAVY Pavel  1977  CZE   24:58.6
 8  4  222 DEMONG Bill  1980  USA   24:58.9
 9  23  1136 WATABE Akito  1988  JPN   24:58.9
 10  2  610 LAMY CHAPPUIS Jason  1986  FRA   25:00.0
 11  8  1156 KOIVURANTA Anssi  1988  FIN   25:06.6
 12  1  727 KATO Taihei  1984  JPN   25:06.6
 13  22  205 KOBAYASHI Norihito  1982  JPN   25:09.7
 14  7  351 EDELMANN Tino  1985  GER   25:11.5
 15  36  8 STECHER Mario  1977  AUT   25:12.9
 16  3  216 TAKAHASHI Daito  1980  JPN   25:13.7
 17  6  606 BRAUD Francois  1986  FRA   25:16.1
 18  13  111 BIELER Christoph  1977  AUT   25:20.4
 19  29  137 KREINER David  1981  AUT   25:37.4
 20  34  1149 KOKSLIEN Mikko  1985  NOR   25:47.3
 21  44  1660 WENDEL Ole-Christian  1992  NOR   25:47.7
 22  15  590 RYDZEK Johannes  1991  GER   25:54.8
 23  42  1029 PITTIN Alessandro  1990  ITA   26:01.8
 24  25  1650 SCHMID Jan  1983  NOR   26:02.2
 25  45  1192 DRUML Tomaz  1988  AUT   26:02.2
 26  19  294 GUENTER Andreas  1988  GER   26:02.6
 27  10  217 HETTICH Georg  1978  GER   26:04.2
 28  20  252 GRUBER Bernhard  1982  AUT   26:13.5
 29  51  680 TANDE Petter L.  1985  NOR   26:24.0
 30  52  467 RIESSLE Fabian  1990  GER   26:24.4
 31  54  349 HURSCHLER Seppi  1983  SUI   26:25.3
 32  27  198 TALLUS Jaakko  1981  FIN   26:36.2
 33  43  416 SLAVIK Tomas  1981  CZE   26:38.5
 34  26  459 LACROIX Sebastien  1983  FRA   26:40.9
 35  5  214 DENIFL Wilhelm  1980  AUT   26:47.8
 36  33  74 ACKERMANN Ronny  1977  GER   26:49.5
 37  38  1164 FELISAZ Jonathan  1985  FRA   27:15.3
 38  35  203 HEER Ronny  1981  SUI   27:19.5
 39  49  1204 MARTIN Nicolas  1989  FRA   27:30.5
 40  48  623 HUG Tim  1987  SUI   27:32.2
 41  55  647 MUNARI Daniele  1983  ITA   27:40.7
 42  57  592 KLAPFER Lukas  1985  AUT   27:50.5
 43  50  768 MINATO Yusuke  1985  JPN   27:54.0
 44  56  1464 RUNGGALDIER Lukas  1987  ITA   27:55.0
 45  39  1068 MILLER Alexander  1985  USA   27:59.2
 46  47  637 BRESADOLA Davide  1988  ITA   28:09.6
 47  46  694 VODSEDALEK Ales  1985  CZE   28:15.2
 48  24  1444 SCHMID Tommy  1988  SUI   28:17.4
 49  58  249 MYSLICKI Jason  1977  CAN   28:24.8
 50  63  722 TRACHUK Volodymyr  1985  UKR   28:35.7
 51  30  1485 NURMSALU Kaarel  1991  EST   28:36.9
 52  40  1418 BERLOT Gasper  1990  SLO   28:37.5
 53  41  357 SOBOLEV Ivan  1983  BLR   28:38.4
 54  31  1228 LEETOJA Aldo  1988  EST   28:49.1
 55  14  1473 ASIKAINEN Lauri  1989  FIN   28:50.2
 56  59  1439 FLETCHER Taylor  1990  USA   28:50.6
 57  60  715 ORANIC Mitja  1986  SLO   28:54.5
 58  61  164 SAVILL Wesley  1989  CAN   29:33.8
 59  64  1540 PARKHOMCHUK Andriy  1988  UKR   30:05.2
 60  32  1689 NABEEV Niyaz  1989  RUS   30:15.3
Did not start
   62  1796 JOHANSEN Truls Soenstehagen  1991  NOR   
   47  1003 DVORAK Miroslav  1987  CZE   
   28  960 MASLENNIKOV Sergej  1982  RUS   
Did not finish
   53  643 MICHIELLI Giuseppe  1985  ITA   
   17  1152 RYYNAENEN Janne  1988  FIN   

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”