The men's team large hill/4 x 5 km Nordic combined competition for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada was held at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia on 23 February.[1] The Austrian team of Michael Gruber, Christoph Bieler, Felix Gottwald, and Mario Stecher were the defending Olympic champions.[2] Gruber retired after the 2007-08 season.[3] Gottwald originally retired after the 2006-07 World Cup season, but came out of retirement in May 2009 to compete for the 2009-10 World Cup season including the 2010 Games.[4] The defending world champions were the Japanese team of Yūsuke Minato, Taihei Kato, Akito Watabe, and Norihito Kobayashi.[5] The last World Cup event prior to the 2010 Games in this format took place on 12 December 2009 in Harrachov, Czech Republic, but that event was cancelled on 4 December 2009 to warm weather and lack of snow.[6] A team normal hill event took place prior to the 2010 Winter Games in Schonach, Germany on 24 January 2010 and was won by the German team of Georg Hettich, Eric Frenzel, Björn Kircheisen, and Tino Edelmann.[7]
| Team large hill/4 x 5 km at the XXI Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Venue | Whistler Olympic Park | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 23 February | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 40 (10 teams) from 10 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | Team jump: 479.9 Ski time: 48:55.6 Final time: 49:31.6 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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ResultsEdit
Ski JumpingEdit
Each of the four team members performed a single jump that was judged in the same format as the Olympic ski jumping competition. The scores for all the jumps each team were combined and used to calculate their deficit in the cross-country skiing portion of the event. Each point difference between teams in the ski jumping portion in this event resulted in a 1.33 second difference in the cross country part of the event (i.e. one minute cross country from 45 points in ski jumping).[8] At the previous Olympics in Turin, the point-time differential was one point equaling one second. The ski jumping portion took place with a trial round at 10:30 PST and the competition round at 11:30 PST.[1] Finland's Ryynänen had the longest jump in the ski jumping part of the competition with 138.5 m, which helped the Finns have a two-second advantage over the Americans at the cross-country portion of the event.[9]
| Rank | Bib | Country | Distance (m) | Points | Time difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  FinlandJanne Ryynänen Jaakko Tallus Hannu Manninen Anssi Koivuranta |
138.5 129.5 130.0 136.0 |
507.0 134.2 120.3 120.5 132.0 |
0:00 |
| 2 | 6 |  United StatesBrett Camerota Todd Lodwick Bill Demong Johnny Spillane |
133.5 136.5 131.5 134.0 |
505.8 122.3 132.2 123.8 127.5 |
0:02 |
| 3 | 10 |  AustriaMario Stecher David Kreiner Bernhard Gruber Felix Gottwald |
130.5 126.5 136.0 125.0 |
479.9 121.7 114.7 131.0 112.5 |
0:36 |
| 4 | 2 |  JapanDaito Takahashi Akito Watabe Norihito Kobayashi Taihei Kato |
136.5 125.0 124.0 132.5 |
475.9 132.2 112.0 110.0 121.7 |
0:41 |
| 5 | 8 |  FranceFrançois Braud Sébastien Lacroix Maxime Laheurte Jason Lamy-Chappuis |
128.5 123.5 128.5 135.0 |
474.7 117.7 110.3 117.7 129.0 |
0:43 |
| 6 | 9 |  GermanyTino Edelmann Johannes Rydzek Björn Kircheisen Eric Frenzel |
123.0 129.0 132.0 129.5 |
473.3 109.0 119.0 124.5 120.8 |
0:45 |
| 7 | 7 |  NorwayEspen Rian Jan Schmid Magnus Moan Petter L. Tande |
128.0 121.5 131.5 131.5 |
468.4 117.0 105.8 122.8 122.8 |
0:51 |
| 8 | 4 |  Czech RepublicAleš Vodseďálek Miroslav Dvořák Tomáš Slavík Pavel Churavý |
123.0 124.0 125.5 132.0 |
457.3 109.0 110.5 113.3 124.5 |
1:06 |
| 9 | 1 |  SwitzerlandTim Hug Seppi Hurschler Tommy Schmid Ronny Heer |
123.5 121.0 131.5 117.0 |
436.6 110.3 105.0 122.8 98.5 |
1:34 |
| 10 | 3 |  ItalyLukas Runggaldier Armin Bauer Giuseppe Michielli Alessandro Pittin |
126.5 114.0 112.5 122.5 |
402.6 113.7 92.0 89.7 107.2 |
2:19 |
Cross-CountryEdit
The start for the 4 x 5 kilometre relay race was staggered, with a one-point deficit in the ski jump portion resulting in a 1.33 second deficit in starting the cross-country course. This stagger means that the first team across the finish line won the event. The start time for the cross country portion of the event took place at 14:00 PST that same day.[1] Top three teams at the start of the cross-country portion of the event were Finland (who would finish seventh), the United States, and Austria. Eventual fifth-place finisher Norway's Schmid had the fastest first leg to propel his team from seventh to sixth, with the top three teams at the first exchange being the United States, Finland, and Austria. David Kreiner of Austria had both the fastest second leg and fastest cross-country leg overall to move his team from third to second, with the top three teams at the second exchange being the United States, Austria, and France (who would finish fourth). Kreiner's teammate, Felix Gottwald, had the fastest leg in the third leg to move past American Johnny Spillane for the lead, with German Eric Frenzel moving his team past France's Sebastien Lacroix for third place at the third exchange. Bill Demong of the United States closed the 14.1 second gap to Austria's Mario Stecher down to a lead heading into the final descent before slipping. Stecher moved ahead to win Austria its second straight gold medal in this event, with Bernhard Gruber replacing Michael Gruber, and Kreiner replacing Bieler. Defending World champion Japan, with Takahashi replacing Minato, finished a disappointing sixth. Germany won the bronze, with Rydzek replacing Hettich. It was the first Olympic medals for Gruber, Kreiner, Camerota, Lodwick, Demong, Rydzek, Edelmann, and Frenzel.[10] The 5.2 second margin of victory was the closest at the Winter Olympics in this event since West Germany's 3.4 second win over Switzerland at Calgary in 1988.[11]
ReferencesEdit
- ^ a b c 2010 Winter Olympics Nordic combined schedule. - accessed 4 November 2009.
- ^ 2006 Winter Olympics Nordic combined team large hill/4 x 5 km results. Archived 2012-05-27 at archive.today - accessed 4 November 2009.
- ^ FIS Newsflash 177 announcement of Gruber's retirement. 30 April 2008.
- ^ 17 May 2009 CTV Olympics.ca article on Gottwald's announcement of coming out retirement to compete for the 2010 Winter Olympics. - accessed 4 November 2009.
- ^ FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 team large hill/4 x 5 km results. - accessed 4 November 2009.
- ^ FIS 4 December 2009 Official Communication on cancellation of the Ski Jumping World Cup events in Harrachov. - accessed 5 December 2009.
- ^ FIS Nordic Combined World Cup Schonach 24 January 2010 HS 96/ 4 x 5 km results. - accessed 24 January 2010.
- ^ 2008 FIS International Competition Rules for Nordic Combined. Archived 2012-10-19 at the Wayback Machine p. 70. - accessed 4 November 2009.
- ^ 2010 Winter Olympics 23 February 2010 Nordic combined team large hill/4 x 5 km ski jumping results. - accessed 24 February 2010.
- ^ 2010 Winter Olympics 23 February 2010 Nordic combined team large hill/4 x 5 km official results. Archived 31 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine - accessed 24 February 2010.
- ^ Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2009). "Nordic Combined: Team". In The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 277.
External linksEdit
- 2010 Winter Olympics results: Team/4x5 km CC (team LH), from http://www.vancouver2010.com/; retrieved 2010-02-22.
- 2010 Winter Olympics results: Team/4x5 km CC (4x5 km relay), from http://www.vancouver2010.com/; retrieved 2010-02-22.