Nordic Combined: Lodwick grabs back-to-back podiums
American Todd Lodwick finished today’s World Cup nordic combined competition in Oberhof, Germany in second palace, a feat he accomplished only one day before. The back-to-back podium results prove that his strong return to World Cup competition yesterday, after a two-year hiatus, was no fluke.
American Todd Lodwick finished today’s World Cup nordic combined competition in Oberhof, Germany in second palace, a feat he accomplished only one day before. The back-to-back podium results prove that his strong return to World Cup competition yesterday, after a two-year hiatus, was no fluke.
Topping the podium was World Cup standings leader Anssi Koivuranta of Finland, with his third career World Cup victory. French Jason Lamy Chappuis finished third.
Also in the top ten were Americans Bill Demong in eighth place and Johnny Spillane in tenth. The result pushes Demong into third in the World Cup standings. Today marked the first time three U.S. men cracked the top ten of a World Cup nordic combined event since 2001.
“Johnny is skiing really good and we worked together to get from 28th and 30th up to the front,” Demong told usskiteam.com. “All in all I think it’s really exciting that we can have the depth to put three in the top 10 and also have three different guys that can potentially come through for a podium. It’s awesome.”
Lodwick jumped his way into second and lead in the cross-country portion for the first half of the race.
“It was definitely a hard cross country race today. They groomed the course and it was boot-deep sugar. But, that’s the way it is and we had to deal with it and make due with what we had,” Lodwick says. “I am surprised with my jumping. My confidence started in Vancouver with my Continental Cup jumping. Coming to Oberhof was kind of like an old habit. I’ve been down the in run, I’ve skied here a bunch of times. I wasn’t nervous about the conditions at all.”
With the threesome firing on all cylinders the U.S. Ski Team is doing all it can to cultivate one more skier for a team campaign.
The trio now looks to build on their momentum at the next World Cup event in Schonach, Germany, Jan. 3-4.
| 1 | 2 | 1156 | KOIVURANTA Anssi | 1988 | FIN | 27:22.2 |
| 2 | 3 | 27 | LODWICK Todd | 1976 | USA | 27:29.1 |
| 3 | 7 | 610 | LAMY CHAPPUIS Jason | 1986 | FRA | 27:37.0 |
| 4 | 8 | 1650 | SCHMID Jan | 1983 | NOR | 28:02.7 |
| 5 | 33 | 973 | MOAN Magnus-H. | 1983 | NOR | 28:15.4 |
| 6 | 15 | 351 | EDELMANN Tino | 1985 | GER | 28:16.3 |
| 7 | 17 | 8 | STECHER Mario | 1977 | AUT | 28:17.2 |
| 8 | 28 | 222 | DEMONG Bill | 1980 | USA | 28:17.8 |
| 9 | 13 | 203 | HEER Ronny | 1981 | SUI | 28:19.4 |
| 10 | 25 | 247 | SPILLANE Johnny | 1980 | USA | 28:20.3 |
| 11 | 16 | 1050 | FRENZEL Eric | 1988 | GER | 28:22.7 |
| 12 | 12 | 252 | GRUBER Bernhard | 1982 | AUT | 28:26.6 |
| 13 | 10 | 198 | TALLUS Jaakko | 1981 | FIN | 28:32.9 |
| 14 | 1 | 604 | ZAUNER David | 1985 | AUT | 28:40.4 |
| 15 | 18 | 606 | BRAUD Francois | 1986 | FRA | 28:44.8 |
| 16 | 14 | 215 | CHURAVY Pavel | 1977 | CZE | 28:45.1 |
| 17 | 4 | 591 | KAMMERLANDER Tobias | 1986 | AUT | 28:47.5 |
| 18 | 6 | 609 | LAHEURTE Maxime | 1985 | FRA | 28:54.2 |
| 19 | 21 | 1152 | RYYNAENEN Janne | 1988 | FIN | 28:59.5 |
| 20 | 30 | 1003 | DVORAK Miroslav | 1987 | CZE | 29:03.8 |
| 21 | 34 | 257 | KIRCHEISEN Bjoern | 1983 | GER | 29:07.2 |
| 22 | 39 | 349 | HURSCHLER Seppi | 1983 | SUI | 29:12.9 |
| 23 | 27 | 455 | MARKENGBAKKEN Iver | 1982 | NOR | 29:23.6 |
| 24 | 26 | 592 | KLAPFER Lukas | 1985 | AUT | 29:26.6 |
| 25 | 20 | 590 | RYDZEK Johannes | 1991 | GER | 29:28.1 |
| 26 | 36 | 419 | KLEMETSEN Haavard | 1979 | NOR | 29:34.7 |
| 27 | 35 | 680 | TANDE Petter L. | 1985 | NOR | 29:39.1 |
| 28 | 9 | 1151 | KAMENEV Anton | 1986 | RUS | 29:40.2 |
| 29 | 50 | 1149 | KOKSLIEN Mikko | 1985 | NOR | 29:42.4 |
| 30 | 41 | 768 | MINATO Yusuke | 1985 | JPN | 29:42.8 |
| 31 | 37 | 1029 | PITTIN Alessandro | 1990 | ITA | 29:43.7 |
| 32 | 40 | 205 | KOBAYASHI Norihito | 1982 | JPN | 29:44.6 |
| 33 | 23 | 960 | MASLENNIKOV Sergej | 1982 | RUS | 29:50.9 |
| 34 | 46 | 459 | LACROIX Sebastien | 1983 | FRA | 29:57.4 |
| 35 | 54 | 1192 | DRUML Tomaz | 1988 | AUT | 30:06.0 |
| 36 | 55 | 670 | SCHLOTT Mark | 1985 | GER | 30:11.5 |
| 37 | 11 | 1473 | ASIKAINEN Lauri | 1989 | FIN | 30:14.8 |
| 38 | 45 | 416 | SLAVIK Tomas | 1981 | CZE | 30:17.7 |
| 39 | 48 | 705 | KAEHKOENEN Ville | 1984 | FIN | 30:18.2 |
| 40 | 31 | 981 | CAMEROTA Eric | 1985 | USA | 30:19.2 |
| 41 | 22 | 623 | HUG Tim | 1987 | SUI | 30:25.7 |
| 42 | 29 | 694 | VODSEDALEK Ales | 1985 | CZE | 30:28.2 |
| 43 | 19 | 621 | HOLLENSTEIN Michael | 1984 | SUI | 31:09.0 |
| 44 | 51 | 715 | ORANIC Mitja | 1986 | SLO | 31:30.6 |
| 45 | 44 | 1410 | BAUER Armin | 1990 | ITA | 32:36.4 |
| 46 | 53 | 1444 | SCHMID Tommy | 1988 | SUI | 33:39.5 |
About the Author: Pete Rugh
