February 17, 2008 (Liberec, Cze) – The Nordic Combined World Cup stop in Liberec again came up short on Sunday when strong, changing winds forced organizers to cancel a World Cup sprint. Winds had also erased a sprint on Friday. Officials said the events will not be rescheduled for Liberec and there was no immediate word on what the rescheduling may be. Six events are left on the Warsteiner FIS World Cup calendar, with the two weekend events from Liberec on hold. A sprint includes one round of jumping and a 7.5km ski race, but the winds scuttled the jumping.

“We were not able to fulfill one round in the same conditions. The wind changed so much during the round that we could not finish the competition round,” said Uli Wehling, combined competition director for the International Ski Federation .

“When we started the jumping for the second time, the wind directions changed again in the middle of the round so that we were not able to finish it. The conditions changed so much and fast that we did not see any possibility to hold the competition. Therefore we had to cancel the World Cup today.”

The tour heads to Zakopane, Poland, next weekend. Germany’s Ronny Ackermann leads the overall points (1,016) with American Bill Demong in second place (781) with Jason Lamy Chappuis of France third (728). No American has ever finished higher than fourth in the overall.