January 10, 2003 – Canada's first World Cup nordic combined athlete, Jason Myslicki, finished as fast as his skis could take him at a Sprint nordic combined event today in Seefeld, Austria.

The 26-year-old, from Thunder Bay, Ont., scored 96.5 points from the K90 tower, that placed him in 29th position to start the 7.5 kilometre cross-country race.

“I gave it everything I had, but today's jump scores were all very close and it made for some tight times after the cross-country ski,” said Myslicki, who finished the day in 42nd place. “I'm feeling very confident with my jumping, I had one of the top-five jumps in training and I just need to put one of those down on race day to give myself some room on the cross-country side of things.”

Two podium regulars from Finland finished we'll ahead of the pack on the tracks in Austria. Hannu Manninen, the second ranked nordic combined athlete in the World, finished in the gold medal position after finishing his ski in 17:47.5. His teammate, Samppa Lajunen was only 3.9 seconds behind in second place. Georg Hettich of Germany captured the final medal with a third place finish, 24.9 seconds off the pace.

Canada's Myslicki will compete again tomorrow in Seefeld, Austria, in a Gunderson race, which features two jumps from the K90 tower and a 15 kilometre cross-country ski race.

Men's Results: 1. Finland                 Hannu Manninen  17:47.5 2. Finland                 Samppa Lajunen  +3.9 3. Germany         Georg Hettich           +9.0 —– 42.  Canada                  Jason Myslicki          +3:07.2