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5-Hills SuperTour: Westby WI Results & Final Standings Technical glitch delayed results from Feb 5-6 tournament ... now available Official results and final standings from Westby WI can now be accessed via a link on our Schedule & Results page. Additional info on the 5 Hills series available via the Expanded News link at left. SuperTour finals in Brattleboro VT Feb 13-14. details Olympics Open Friday February 12 in Vancouver US team strong in Nordic Combined, young and hopeful in ski jumping The USA has one of the strongest Nordic Combined teams in the world, with three world champions on the squad. Each has been on multiple Olympic teams and ranked high in this year’s World Cup standings. Our young jumping squad has one former Olympian and two first-timers, both of whom have shown promise in international competition this year. Read more about these athletes below and on our “Expanded News” page(s). Ski Jumping ... click for schedule & results Feb 12-13: Normal Hill (K95) quali Fri a.m., comp Sat a.m. Feb 19-20: Large Hill (K125) quali Fri a.m., comp Sat a.m. Feb 22: Large Hill team comp Mon a.m. The two hill sizes are referred to as “normal” (NH) and large (LH). The “par” distance on the NH is 95 meters, about 312 feet. It’s designed so good jumpers will fly that far ... or farther. A jumper gets 60 points for jumping to that spot, known as the K point. This jump may also be called a “K95” hill. Jumpers get two points ADDED to the 60 point score for every meter they fly BEYOND the K point. They’ll LOSE 2 points for each meter they land short of the K point. The “par” distance on the large hill is 125 meters, or about 410 feet. They’ll get 60 points for flying that far, and 1.8 points per meter added or subtracted from their score for going beyond (or landing short of) 125 meters. There are judges, too, who can award up to 60 points for technique. Most of the good jumpers get between 16 and 19 points for technique from each judge (X 3 judges), which is a maximum of 60 per jump. Realistically, a good jumper will probably get about 55 points per round from the judges, and about 65 points for flying a bit beyond the K point, or 120 points total per jump. In a two-jump competition, a score of 240 is good. The best jumpers will get many more points because they’ll fly far beyond the K point; the best often score near 300 points, because the distance points are unlimited. Nordic Combined ... click for schedule & results Feb 14: NC indiv NH/10K comp Sun a.m. Feb 23: NC team 4x5 relay comp Tues a.m. Feb 25: NC indiv LH/10K comp Thurs a.m. Nordic Combined athletes have to be good at ski jumping AND cross-country racing. They have a round of jumping, and the distances they jump are converted to a time differential for the start of a cross-country race. The athlete who jumps farthest is the first to start the race, and each athlete’s start time is some seconds (and fractions of seconds) behind the leader. Often the best jumpers aren’t the best racers, and vice versa, which makes for some thrilling finishes to the race portion. So watch the jump round, and watch the starting intervals for the race. You’ll see that the US has some guys who can really fly, and really move quickly in the race competition as well. Johnson, Alexander, Frenette on US Ski Jumping Team Quota of 3 based on results from World Cup series ... USST web article Anders Johnson, a 2006 Olympian, will be joined by Nick Alexander and Peter Frenette in Vancouver. They’ll be coached by Jochen Danneberg, an Olympic silver medalist in 1976. They’re members of the independent “Project X” ski jumping development team, formed after the 2006 Olympics when USSA dropped its support of ski jumping. The results from this independent men’s development team over the last few years have encouraging. Fund raising hasn’t been easy, but what money has been raised has ALL gone to ski jumping! We want to point out here that the US VISA Women’s Ski Jumping Team has thrived because it has always been an independent operation, and they’ve always had to raise their own funds. Although their effort to be included in the Olympics reached a dead end with the IOC old boys’ club, they’re one of the best teams in the world. Had they waited for funding from USSA, there wouldn’t be a US women’s team. Much to the credit of Project X, they’re following the same organizational path as the VISA Women’s Ski Jumping Team, and it’s producing results! Congratulations to all our guys for their hard work; good luck to Anders, Nick, & Peter at the Olympics!!! If you love the sport of ski jumping and want to contribute to the US men’s or women’s development programs, you need to do so DIRECTLY ... because if you donate to, or sign on as a sponsor with USSA, you cannot designate your contribution to be applied to a particular sport; it will be divvied up among OTHER sports! Please note that our Nordic Combined team is tremendously strong and successful and is supported by USSA. There’s info below about donating to ski jumping development for US men & women. Lodwick, Spillane, Demong Lead US Nordic Combined Americans having spectacular season in Nordic Combined ... USST web article Todd Lodwick will become only the second American to represent the USA in five winter Olympics games (the first was bobsledder Brian Shimer). The US NC team has had remarkable success this season in World Cup competition, and appear ready to make a strong bid for medals in Vancouver. Lodwick, who won two gold medals at the 2009 FIS World Championships, will be joined by Johnny Spillane, a 2003 gold medalist, and Billy Demong, who won a gold and a bronze in 2009. Johnny and Billy have both been on three previous Olympic teams. Brett Camerota, who was on the 2006 team, and newcomer Taylor Fletcher, will be working hard in training to fill the fourth spot in the individual and team events. They’re coached by Dave Jarrett, and will be training in the US until the Olympics begin, skipping several upcoming World Cup events. *** For PREVIOUS articles, click the link in the left column for “Expanded News.” PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING OUR US MEN’S and WOMEN’S SKI JUMPING DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS ... WE SUGGEST THAT YOU SPLIT YOUR CONTRIBUTION BETWEEN THEM! MEN WOMEN