Subject: Spillane Wins Nordic Combined World Cup B

Date: Sunday, December 10, 2000 4:53 PM

 

U.S. Ski Team News Bureau

http://www.usskiteam.com

 

Sunday, Dec. 10, 2000

 

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SPILLANE WINS NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP B

Dayton Takes Third

 

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah (Dec. 10) Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO),

looking to solidify his chance for World Cup starts, came out of eighth

place after jumping Sunday and won a nordic combined World Cup-B event

in snow on the 2002 Olympic cross country trails. Matt Dayton

(Breckenridge, CO) was third.

 

 Spillane was eighth Saturday in the 90-meter jumping at Utah Olympic

Park and started 2:38 behind Norway's Amund Johnsen. However, he quickly

moved to the front of the pack and went on to win by 23.5 seconds over

Denis Tishagin of Russia.

 

 Dayton, who won Friday's sprint event - the first of three World Cup-B

contests in Utah before the tour moves to Calgary at midweek, was 28th

in jumping, starting 3:58 behind Johnsen. rocketed to third place, just

39.6 back of Spillane, who had competed a week ago in a World Cup

contest in Finland and been 22nd before coming home when poor snow

forced cancellation of four World Cup competitions in Ramsau, Austria,

and Predazzo, Italy.

 

Kristoffer Erichsen (Steamboat Springs, CO) was 14th and Carl Van Loan

(Webster, NH), a distant 51st in jumping, 5:03 out, finished 18th.

Dayton had the fastest 15-km of the day; Spillane had the third-fastest;

Van Loan was the fourth-fastest; and Erichsen was seventh-fastest.

 

 "It was a good race for all of us," the winner said. "I was tired

[Saturday] from all the travel, but I felt so much better today. It was

snowy and raining, but the track was good and fast.

 

 "I was gonna go to the start and see how I felt, all the time moving

into it [the 15-km]. But i was fourth after the first [5-km] lap - I

caught a lot of people quick," Spillane went on, "and I just kept going.

I knew I had a chance to do well, and when I was able to keep up my

tempo, I got to work my way into the race and keep going."

 

 The schedule concludes its opening World Cup-B weekend with a one-day,

mass-start 10-km race and 120-meter jumping Tuesday before heading to

Calgary.

 

NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP-B

Soldier Hollow, UT - Dec. 10

(K90 jumping/15-km racing)

1. Johnny Spillane, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (8/3)

2.Denis Tishagin, Russia, (6/6) 23.5 seconds back

3. Matt Dayton, Breckenridge, Colo., (28/1) 39.6

4. Jochen Strobl, Italy, (30/2) 1:00.6

5. Ivan Rieder, Switzerland, (19/5) 1:15.9

6. Michal Psenko, Slovakia, (2/27) 1:24.3

7. Remi Trachsel, France, (17/9) 1:24.4

8. Andrej Jezersek, Slovenia, (14/11) 1:25.7

9. Jens Gaiser, Germany, (10/21) 1:56.3

10. Chris Holland, Canada, (16/18) 2:13.6

 -

14. Kristoffer Erichsen, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (33/7) 2:16.6

18. Carl VanLoan, Webster, N.H., (51/4) 2:36.1

27. Jed Hinkley, Proctor, N.H., (55/10) 3:45.6

33. Nathan Gerhart, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (22/39) 4:22.3

39. Alex Glueck, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (54/34) 5:27.6

42. Morgan Goodwin, Keene, N.Y., (38/46) 6:02.6

50. Matt Cook, Saranac Lake, N.Y., (72/15) 7:10.0

 

 - Best in the World! -