The Nordic combined venues for Salt Lake City's 2002 Winter Games are already offering a "home field" advantage for local athletes.
An American captured the first-ever international Nordic combined competition staged at Utah's future Olympic sites. Matt Dayton, a 23-year-old from Breckenridge, Colo., crossed the finish line of Friday's 7.5K cross-country race first despite starting more than a minute behind the race's beginning competitor.
The competition marked the opening day of the four-day Nordic combined FIS World Cup B event being held at Utah Olympic Park and Soldier Hollow. While most of the world's top Nordic combiners compete on the "A" circuit, many participating in this second-tier event will likely earn their way into the elite ranks by the 2002 Winter Games.
Called the "decathlon of skiing," Nordic combined blends two winter sports — jumping and cross country — into one competition. The jumping portion is generally held first. The top jumper is then the first athlete to start the cross country race. He's followed by the rest of the competitors according to their order of finish in the jumping using what's called the Gunderson handicap method. The first skier across the finish line wins.
Friday's competition was a "sprint" event, where athletes jump and race on the same day. The "individual" competition begins Saturday with the 90-meter jump portion held on the new jump hill at Utah Olympic Park, followed by a 15K cross country race Sunday at Soldier Hollow.
Tuesday's "mass-start" competition reverses the format, beginning with a mass-start 10K cross country race at Soldier Hollow, followed by jumping on the 120-meter hill at Utah Olympic Park.
Dayton was tied for 32nd place following the 90-meter jump portion — yet finished the cross country race first with a time of 17:27.6. Jochen Strobl of Italy and Denis Tishagin of Russia finished second and third, respectively.
Americans John Spilliane, Kristoffer Erichsen and Carl Van Loan all enjoyed top-10 finishes. Seventy-five athletes from 18 nations competed.