USA Nordic - Men's Ski Jumping & Men's Nordic Combined - Ruka World Cups Recap

Men’s Nordic Combined wrapped up their first World Cup of the season this weekend in Ruka, Finland, with Men’s Ski Jumping competing at a World Cup in Ruka as well.

Men's Nordic Combined

Men’s Nordic Combined started off their weekend on Friday with the Men’s HS142/5km competition. Ben Loomis was able to jump to 109.0 meters for 96.1 points, placing him in 41st place to start the 5km race. Jared Shumate then carded a 106.5 meter jump, giving him 88.1 points, putting him in 44th place for the 5km race. Loomis finished the 5km with a time of 11:41.3, finishing the day in 41st place. Shumate was able to ski up during the 5km, as he finished in 43rd, with a total time of 11:29.9.

On Saturday, the action continued in Ruka with the HS142/10km competition. Loomis jumped to 113.0 meters for 90.9 points, placing him in 42nd place to start the 10km race. Shumate was close behind in 46th place, with a jump of 110.5 meters, totaling 83.4 points. During the 10km race, Shumate was again able to ski up, finishing the race in 41st place, with a total time of 23:54.7. Loomis finished the 10km in 45th place, finishing the course in 25:29.8.

Sunday’s competition started out with a 10km mass start race. Shumate was able to finish the course in 24:31.3, +32.0 behind the leader, putting him in 35th place for the HS142 event. Loomis finished 40th overall in the 10km mass start, finishing the race in 24:42.7, +43.4 behind the leader. On the hill, Loomis jumped to 113.5 meters for 87.7 points, as he was able to end his weekend with a 39th place finish. Shumate then placed 44th overall, recording a jump of 104.5 meters, totaling 67.9 points.

“Jared and Ben kicked off the World Cup season in Ruka this weekend. While we did not have the results that we were looking for, it was great to get the first weekend of competitions underway and for the guys to have three races,” said Men’s Nordic Combined Team Director, Nick Hendrickson. “Jared posted a personal best XC race time on Friday (14th), and broke it again on Saturday with a 13th time rank. Ben also had some quality races, and that’s a good sign for the upcoming weeks. We are looking forward to next weekend in Lillehammer and to have Annika Malacinski, Alexa Brabec, Jasper Good, and Stephen Schumann join us there.”

Men's Ski Jumping

The weekend kicked-off for Men’s Ski Jumping on Saturday with the HS142 qualifications. Casey Larson finished 51st overall, barely missing qualification, as he jumped to 119.0 meters for 104.5 points. Decker Dean finished 55th overall in qualification, jumping to 116.5 meters, for a total of 95.4 points.

During Sunday’s HS142 qualification, Dean was able to finish 36th to qualify for the HS142 individual competition, with a jump of 117.5 meters for 97.3 points. Larson qualified as well, as he placed 37th, jumping to 115.0 meters for 96.2 points.

Moving on to Sunday’s HS142 individual competition, Dean posted a 123.5 meter jump for 107.5 points, finishing the day in 37th place. Larson was able to card a 89.5 meter jump, tallying 55.1 points, as he finished in 46th place.

"It was another interesting weekend for all of us, both Decker and Casey showed some nice jumps during training. The hardest part is to have enough confidence when it comes to the competition jumps,” said Men’s and Women’s Ski Jumping Head Coach, Tore Sneli. “It was tough not making the qualification on Saturday, but they are continuing to learn. They’re doing a great job focussing on the basics, they know what to do and they did a great job preparing for competition on Sunday. Decker was able to place 37th overall, and we are happy to see that he is close to being in the final round and closer to scoring some points. I’m optimistic for this winter, the team is working hard and learning every day."