January 27, 2004 – Jason Myslicki put himself in the hunt for his best result of the season, but a mental lapse at the finish line dropped him down the standings, at a nordic combined World Cup sprint event in Sapporo, Japan on Tuesday.

Myslicki, 26, of Thunder Bay, Ont., was ranked 24th after the ski jumping portion of the event, and started the cross-country ski race 1:49 behind the leaders. In the last few seconds of the race, there was confusion at the finish line as Myslicki lost all his momentum, and had to settle for 33rd place.

“This trip to Japan has shown a lot of positives for my racing and I'm feeling good about where I am now. In each cross-country race, I have been getting stronger and stronger,” said Myslicki, who has already posted one top-30 result in his first World Cup season. “I had a moment of weakness in the last five seconds that cost me some more World Cup points, but overall, I'm happy with my effort today.”

Three nations known for their powerful nordic combined athletes occupied the podium today. Finland's Hannu Manninen won gold in a time of 18:50.6. He was followed by second-place finisher Petter Tande, of Finland, at 18:57.1. The bronze medal went to Austria's Christoph Bieler, who posted a time of 19:01.0.