A longtime staple and accomplished veteran on the U.S. Nordic Combined Team, Johnny Spillane announced Thursday that he was retiring from the sport. In a letter to Steamboat Today, Spillane, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., cited family as his main reason for leaving the national team and life as a professional skier before the 2014 Olympics.

“My desire to be at home with my family outweighs my desire to pursue another Olympic medal,” he wrote. “In addition, I’m at a point in my personal life where I cannot afford to take the risk involved with professional athletics. I have a family for which I provide, and an injury or poor season can make it incredibly difficult to do so. While I will miss the sport, I will not miss the travel and the weeks away from home. It is difficult to watch your daughters grow up on Skype.”

Spillane, 32, racked up three Olympic silvers at the 2010 Vancouver Games and an individual gold at the 2003 World Championships.

“I am very proud of what our team accomplished while I was a member,” Spillane continued. “When I started, we had no Olympic or World Championship medals. Now the team boasts of three World Champions [Spillane, Billy Demong and Todd Lodwick], two Olympic individual medalists [Spillane and Demong] and one Olympic champion [Demong].”

He also thanked the Steamboat community for its support and intends to remain settled there.

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VAL DI FIEMME, Italy — After placing fourth in the past two World Championships, the Americans made a point to land on the podium on Sunday in the normal hill/4 x 5 k team event and make history for U.S. Nordic Combined.

Starting in fifth about a minute behind Japan, which had the best jumping team score, the U.S. (Taylor Fletcher, Bryan Fletcher, Todd Lodwick, Billy Demong) rose to second early in the second leg with a strong performance from Bryan Fletcher. Austria’s Wilhelm Denifl had broken away a few kilometers into the race, and Fletcher tagged off to Lodwick in third, 23.3 seconds behind Austria and and less than a second behind Norway.

Lodwick worked with Norway, France and Japan to catch Austria’s Lukas Klapfer, positioning the U.S. in fourth at the last exchange.

Early in the final leg, Demong surged up front to lead Japan, France, Norway and Austria. With less than 2 k to go, he was still in the lead, followed closely by Norway’s Magnus Moan and France’s Jason Lamy Chappuis. On the final climb, Moan and Chappuis attacked and dropped Demong.

While Lamy Chappuis outsprinted Moan to the finish by 0.4 seconds to win gold for France, Demong held off Japan’s Yusuke Minato and Austria’s Mario Stecher on the downhill into the stadium and placed third, 4.2 seconds behind.

Results

Germany demonstrated their strength in depth Sunday in Sochi, Russia, winning the men’s HS140/4×5 k team event by a commanding margin of 2.7 seconds over the second placed French team.

The German team consisted of Johannes Rydzek, Björn Kircheisen, Manuel Faisst and Eric Frenzel.  Frenzel had to subdue the charge of Frenchman Jason Lamy Chappuis, a close rival in the overall Nordic Combined standings.

Manuel Faisst (GER), started off proceedings with a strong first leg which allowed subsequent runners Johannes Rydzek (GER) and Björn Kircheisen (GER) to set up Frenzel for the expectant showdown of Frenzel and Chappuis (FRA).

Frenzel precluded any late heroics by Chappuis by skiing away from his rival; Germany finished in a time of 51:23.3.

Austria completed the podium, trailing in in a time of 51:32.6, 9.3 seconds behind the winning time of Germany.

The United States skied to a seventh-place finish in a time of 53:14.2, 1:51.1 behind Germany.

Results

Bernhard Gruber (AUT) interrupted Eric Frenzel‘s lavish run of recent form to take the win earlier today in Sochi, Russia.  Gruber jumped well through tough, foggy conditions, beginning the skating portion of the Gunderson HS 140/10km competition in 2nd place.  He quickly overtook compatriot Mario Seidl (AUT), a diminutive 20 year old that destoryed the field away in the jumping but lacks skiing speed.  Gruber finished in a combined time of 28:19.7.

Frenzel (GER), had a less auspicious jump (5th), but showed strong skiing form, though it wasn’t enough to overtake Gruber (AUT).  Frenzel notched a second place finish in 28:33.8, 14.1 seconds in arreas.

Wilhelm Denifl (AUS) posted a 3rd place finish after a 4th place jump.  He held off a strong challenge from Taiei Kato (JAP) to finish in 28:35.2, a mere 0.3 seconds ahead of the Japanese.

A few seconds later Taylor Fletcher (USA) broke the line for a 5th place finish.  Of the top  5 finishers his result is notable in that he overcame a large deficit after jumping 15th.  Taylor was just 18.2 seconds behind winner Gruber (AUT), finishing in 28:37.9.

Brother and countryman Bryan Fletcher (USA) finished farther back in 15th after a promising 10th place jump.  He posted a time of 29:24.6.

Bill Demong (USA) also tested out the Olympic venue, finishing 28th in 31:05.3.

Results

Nordic Combined action continues with the Team HS140/4x5km competition Sunday.

At the moment, no one can touch Eric Frenzel (GER) when he’s on form.

Frenzel (GER) took his 4th straight victory in Klingenthal, Germany today, this time in the penalty race.  The german finished in 23:21.1, 22.4 seconds ahead of country man Tino Edelmann (GER).  Frenzel (GER) performance was superior, jumping to a first place finish and then steadily extending his lead in the 10km ski race

Perhaps on the strength of home advantage, the Germans swept the podium, with third place secured by Johannes Rydzek (GER) in a time of 23:55.5.

Brian Fletcher (USA) returned another strong performance, finishing in 8th place after a 7th placed jump.  He finished in a time of 24.02.5.

Teammate Bill Demong (USA) improved upon his performance yesterday, finishing the Penalty race in 12th place after a last place jump.  He crossed the line in 24:45.4

No other Americans qualified for the skiing competition.

Results

Eric Frenzel (GER) skied to his third victory in a week, this time in his home stadium in Klingenthal, Germany.  His form has finally arrived, and with it, success.

Frenzel won the ski jumping competition and began the cross country ski race in the first bib.  He would not relinquish his advantage for the duration of the 10km race, crossing the finish line with a comfortable 10.4 second margin ahead of countryman Tino Eldelmann (GER).  Frenzel finished with a total time of 23:13.8.

Third place honors went to Wilhelm Denifl (GER), who showed strong skiing form after a 6th place jump.  He finished in 23:20.

Bryan Fletcher delivered the best US performance on the day, finishing an encouraging 6th place after a 15th place jump; his time was 24:07.8, 54 seconds behind winner Eric Frenzel (GER)

Brother Taylor Fletcher was the next best US finisher; he secured a 17th placed position after a 34th placed jump in a time of 24.49.2.

Johnny Spillane and Billy Demong also took part today, capturing 22nd and 29th place respectively.

Nordic Combined action continues tomorrow with the Penalty Race 140HS/10km competition.

Results

A runner-up on Saturday, Todd Lodwick made it to the top on Sunday, winning the second competition of the FIS Summer Grand Prix in Sochi, Russia.

Lodwick ranked fifth after the large hill (140-meter) jump and used his jets in the 10 k Gundersen start to finish first in 19:39.7, beating Saturday’s winner Bernhard Gruber of Austria by 0.4 seconds. Gruber was first after the jumps and finished second overall. His Austrian teammate Tomaz Druml was third (+47.3).

American Johnny Spillane rose to seventh overall after ranking 15th in the jumps. He had the sixth-fastest race split, and teammate Taylor Fletcher was close behind in 10th.

Other North American results:

21. Bryan Fletcher (USA); 25. Wesley Savill (CAN)

Sunday’s overall results 

Complete results from Sochi

The Grand Prix resumes in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, Aug. 25-26. For a schedule, click here.

U.S. Nordic Combined member Todd Lodwick posted a solid jump and even better race result at the first competition in the FIS  Summer Grand Prix, placing second Saturday in Sochi, Russia.

Lodwick finished 4.3 seconds behind winner Bernhard Gruber of Austria, who ranked first on the 140-meter large hill and had the fifth-fastest race split. Lodwick was ninth after jumping and skied the fastest 10 k in 19:11.8. Teammate Billy Demong had the second-fastest time (19:32.2) and ended up seventh after placing 17th in the jump.

Japan’s Akito Watabe was third overall after posting the second-best jump.

Other North American results:

14. Johnny Spillane (USA);  25. Wesley Savill (CAN)

Complete results

The Summer Grand Prix continues Sunday in Sochi with another large hill and 10 k Gundersen start.

Grand Prix schedule

Billy Demong finished fifth in his third career mountain-bike race on Sunday, the Wilmington/Whiteface 100 near his hometown of Vermontville, N.Y.

Demong completed the 69-mile course in 4:42:32.67, nearly 17 minutes behind fourth-place finisher Phillip Wong of Gloucester, Mass. Justin Lindine of North Salem, Mass., won the race in 4:19:15.97 to qualify for the Leadville 100.

It was Demong’s first mountain bike race of the year, and after crossing over from road racing, he said it wasn’t easy. He told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise parts of the course were so steep that he called one section “crushed hopes and dreams.” He also ran out of water thinking the race would be shorter —  since it was 57 miles last year — and purposely skipped breakfast, according to the Press-Republican.

“It was pretty apparent about 10 miles in I wasn’t going to catch the top guys,” Demong told the Enterprise. “Seeing how the field stacked up after the first 10 miles, fifth was beautiful.”

Spending most of the offseason with his wife and toddler in Park City, Utah, Demong explained he put family first and road biking mostly behind him.

“This type of racing isn’t nearly as dangerous,” he said. “In road racing, you could get hit by a car or really get hurt in a 50-bike pile up. I have a kid now, so I don’t see that for me anymore.”

After Sunday’s race, Demong wasn’t sure whether he’d compete in Colorado’s Leadville 100 on Aug. 11. Last year, he placed 34th in the event, and Lindine will be back in hopes of improving his 28th-place performance.

Bryan Fletcher capped a breakthrough seaosn by winning the 10km Gundersen start format Nordic Combined race at the fabled Holmenkollen Ski Stadium in Oslo, Norway.

Fletcher posted the third best jump and then proceeded to boldly bridge up to Kato Taihei (JPN) at approximately 6k.

The American had been skiing with a large chase group, but the pack could not manage the pace and only Storlien Godmund (NOR) could follow Fletcher up. He couldn’t make it all the way, and Fletcher and Taihei skied together for the next several kilometers attempting to keep the now closing chase pack at bay.

Taihei faltered and slipped to third, while Fletcher held on to claim both his first podium and victory of his World Cup career.

“This is a dream come true. To win in Holmenkollen is every nordic combined athlete’s dream,” Fletcher said after the race. “To have it be my first makes it even better. After having such a great season and for this to be the stamp to it is amazing. Just going into today I was thinking that the only goal I didn’t accomplish this season was a podium. I spoke too soon! This is unbelievable.”

Fletcher’s result headlined a strong last day of the World Cup season. Billy Demong placed 4th on the strength of the fourth fastest ski time, and Johnny Spillane was 15th.

Results