November 28, 2003 – Canada's lone World Cup nordic combined athlete, Jason Myslicki, surpassed all expectations in his first-ever World Cup event, finishing in 27th place out of 49 athletes on Saturday in Kuusamo, Finland.

The Thunder Bay, Ont. native, who is Canada's first-ever athlete on the World Cup A circuit, scored 192.0 points on his K120 ski jump, which had him starting 5 minutes and 18 seconds back for the 15 kilometre cross-country race. He finished that race in 40:03.5 placing him 6:43.3 behind the overall leader.

The 26-year-old, who now resides in Calgary, had to contend with difficult weather conditions including a severe cross-wind and heavy snow. There was also a judging error that forced Myslicki to repeat his first jump after a protest from his coaches.

“I'm thrilled with how I performed today. My goal coming into this season was to get a top-25 finish so to be this strong, this early, is a huge boost of confidence for me,” said Myslicki, who travels with athletes and coaches from the US Ski Team. “I was pretty nervous today skiing against a lot stronger field than I'm used too. After 10 kilometres, I was right up there with the top-20 and my legs started to shake, but they got me to the finish.”

Myslicki is able to compete on the World Cup A circuit after the Federation International de Ski  imposed the nation's quota rule, where any country with an athlete who posted a top-25 result on the World Cup B circuit can compete with the world's best. The rule allows more countries to compete in World Cup events.

Germany's Ronny Ackermann, who started the day with a dominating ski jump performance that scored 271.6 points, won the event. He finished the cross-country race in a time of 38:38.2. Two athletes from Finland joined him on the podium. Hannu Manninen finished 1.00.3 back in second, while teammate Samppa Lajunen locked up third, crossing the finish line 42.9 seconds behind Manninen.

Myslicki will compete again tomorrow in the sprint event which features one jump from the K120 tower and a 7.5 kilometre cross-country race.

 

Men's Results


1. Ronny Ackermann         38:38.2
2. Hannu Manninen          +1:00.3
3. Samppa Lajunen          +1:43.2
4. Daito Takahashi           +2:22.6
5. Felix Gottwald         +3:03.4
6. Sebastian Haseney               +3:07.4
7. Kevin Arnould                  +3:33.4
8. Petter Tande                   +3:39.9
9. Georg Hettich                   +3:49.7
10. Jan Schmid                     +4:06.2
27. Jason Myslicki                 +6:43.3