Jan Schmid of Norway tallied his second Nordic Combined World Cup victory of the season in Lahti, Finland, on Saturday, the third-last event on the circuit this year.

Schmid skied the seventh-fastest 10 k after placing 12th in the jumping portion. Tino Edelmann (GER) was second by 4.3 seconds after starting in second, but fell to 21st in the race. Another German, Johannes Rydzek notched his first podium of the season in third.

American Bryan Fletcher finished seventh (+16.5), missing the podium by about 11 seconds. He was coming off the fourth-best jump and ranked 20th in the ski.

“Close to the Podium again today,” Fletcher tweeted after the race. “I need to work on my strategy… Two more shots next week!”

Taylor Fletcher was 26th (+1:51.4) with the 15th-fastest race split, and Nick Hendrickson finished 50th for the U.S.

The final weekend of competition kicks off March 9-10 in Oslo, Norway.

Complete results

Bryan Fletcher (USA) raced to a career-best fourth in Nordic Combined World Cup action in Liberec, Czech Republic on Sunday.

Fletcher, who sat in 6th after the jump finished 54 seconds behind winner Akito Watabe (JPN) and 27 seconds off the podium.

Jason Lamy Chapuis (FRA) was second, unable to overcome Watabe’s 26 second advantage after the jump. Lamy Chapuis, who leads the overall World Cup, but is being challenged by Watabe, was 18 seconds back.

Mario Stecher (AUT) was third.

Billy Demong (USA) had his second consecutive strong day on the tracks. On Saturday he posted the 2nd fastest time on his way to 10th overall, while today he was 5th fastest, placing 8th, 11 seconds behind Fletcher.

Taylor Fletcher also had a strong result, placing 20th on the strength of the 7th fastest ski time.

Johnny Spillane was 39th, Nick Hendrickson 44th and birthday boy Brett Denney 47th for the US.

Wesley Savill (CAN), the lone Canadian, placed 49th in the 50-skier field.

Complete Results

Jason Lamy Chapuis (FRA), the overall Nordic Combined World Cup leader, was back on top of the posium in Klingenthal, Germany, using a solid jump and the second fastest ski time to take the 10km Gundersen format event.

Lamy Chapuis started the cross-country in 11th, and quickly moved up thorugh the field, ultimately outdistancing second-place finisher Bernhard Gruber (AUT) by 15 seconds.

Tomas Slavik (CZE) was third one second behind Gruber, and just ahead of Francois Braud (FRA).

Billy Demong (USA) bounced back from a mediocre day on the tracks in Saturday’s competition to post the fifth fastest ski time and place 10th overall. Demong jumped to 20th place.

Because of heavy snow and win, it was impossible to jump on Sunday, so results from Saturday’s provisional round were used instead.

Bryan Fletcher had another solid day for the US, using consistency across both disciplines to place 15th, finishing in the middle of a large pack. Fletcher was 13th fastest on the tracks after starting in 19th.

Johnny Spillane and Taylor Fletcher rounded out the US field, placing 24th and 29th respectively. This was the second day in a row that the US placed four men in the top-30.

Spillane did struggle in the cross-country again, posting just the 31st best time.

World Cup racing continues next weekend in Liberec, Czech Republic.

Complete Results

Akito Watabe (JPN) started the day with the longest jump and easily held position in the cross-country winning the 10km Gundersen event in Klingenthal, Germany.

Overall World Cup leader Jason Lamy Chapuis (FRA), in fifth after the jumping was only able to shave 4.5 seconds off of Watabe, but did overtake everyone else to place second on the day.

Lamy Chapuis caught Austrian Bernhard Gruber early, and bided his time before attacking in the stadium.

Gruber couldn’t respond, but crossed the line just behind in third.

It was a mixed day for the US. Usually very strong on the trails, and weaker on the jump, the team generally flipflopped today.

Johnny Spillane jumped to 11th and Bryan Fletcher 14th, with Billy Demong solid in 20th and Taylor Fletcher a bit back in 31st.

All four were in position to post good overall results with a solid day on the track, but such performances were not in the cards.

Spillane struggled mightily on the skinny skis, dropping all the way back to 30th place while posting an uncharacteristic 35th fastest ski time.

Bryan Fletcher held onto 17th place overall, but was only 26th fastest in the cross-country while Demong moved up one spot to 19th with the 23rd best time.

Taylor Fletcher had the best day on the track skiing up to 23 on the strength of the 16th best time.

Ski times can be deceiving as skiers may end up in large packs with tactics dictating a slower pace. The field was fairly well spread out, making attempts to bridge between groups risky.

Norwegian Miko Kokslien posted the fastest time on the day, plowing through the field to finish 6th after starting 19th.

Norway placed five skiers in the top-10 led by Kokslien.

Competition continues on Sunday with an identical event.

Complete Results (Note: at the time of publication text results are not displaying – use the dropdown menu in the upper right to view a PDF version if this persists)..

U.S. Nordic Combined veteran Billy Demong charged ahead in Sunday’s 10 k race at Val di Fiemme, Italy, to post the fastest time of the day and finish third overall for his best World Cup result this season.

Demong ranked 17th in the jump and started 17 spots behind eventual winter Akito Watabe of Japan. He finished 3.9 seconds off Watabe’s winning time of 28:27.8. Mikko Kokslien (NOR) won silver (+3.0).

After Demong, American teammate Bryan Fletcher placed seventh (+18.6), tying his previous best World Cup result from December in Seefeld, Austria. His brother, Taylor Fletcher, went from jumping 33rd to skiing the fifth-fastest split on Sunday for 14th overall. Johnny Spillane also finished in the top 20 in 19th.

Sunday’s overall results

Norway’s Mikko Kokslien and Magnus Moan captured gold in the team sprint on Saturday in the Nordic Combined World Cup competition in Val di Fiemme, Italy, winning the 2 x 7.5 k race in 36:25.1.

Mikko Kokslien (NOR) leading the pack in the first leg of the men's 2 x 7.5 k team sprint at the Nordic Combined World Cup in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on Saturday. He and Magnus Moan won the event in by 9.6 seconds. (Photo: Fiemme2013)

Mikko Kokslien (l) and Magnus Moan (r) after claiming gold for Norway in the team sprint at the Nordic Combined World Cup in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on Saturday. (Photo: Fiemme2013Maxime Laheurte and Jason Lamy Chappuis of France were second, 9.6 seconds behind, and France's second team of Francois Braud and Sebastien Lacroix was third (+11.0).

The Americans had two teams in the top 10 of 16 teams, with Bryan Fletcher and Billy Demong placing sixth (+19.6) and Johnny Spillane and Taylor Fletcher finishing 10th (+1:50.4).

U.S. head coach Dave Jarrett wrote in an email that the day was an overall success with an exciting race and great jumping from all four athletes, especially with Spillane battling a sickness and not feeling 100 percent.

“Both teams were in the hunt halfway through the race,” Jarrett wrote, adding that they ran into some trouble in the narrow and crowded exchange zone.

“Billy was there at the end for the podium, but couldn’t quite match the short burst up the last hill and got dropped a bit,” he wrote. “Still two in the top 10 is a good. We know we are putting ourselves in position to podium almost every weekend but haven’t had things line up quite right yet. It is coming.”

Germany was fourth overall with Eric Frenzel and Fabian Riessle (+12.2) and Japan edged the U.S. in fifth (+18.3).

Complete results

Bryan Fletcher led the USST in Val di Fiemme, Italy on Friday with a 14th-place showing in the new penalty format race (134 m High Hill/10 k). Billy Demong was 18th and Johnny Spillane 22nd. Current World Cup leader Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) added another victory to his list of accomplishments this season.

1. Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) 26:58.6

2. Bjoern Kircheisen (GER) 27:03

3. Mikko Kokslien (NOR) 27:04.0

4. Eric Frenzel (GER) 27:04.9

5. Akito Watabe (JPN) 27:11.5

…

14. Bryan Fletcher (USA) 27:46.4

18. Billy Demong (USA) 28:07.9

22. Johnny Spillane (USA) 28:39.9

Results.