February 26, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Germany’s Eric Frenzel, 22, leveraged his longest ski jump of the day at Midstubakken measuring 109.5 meters, to give him the advantage he needed to win the Normal Hill/10km Nordic combined competition on Saturday as the World Championships continued in Oslo.

The fog showed no signs of clearing for the jumpers earlier today when they took their one competitive jump on the hill. Frenzel from Oberwiesenthal won the ski jump event, followed by Norway’s Haarvard Klemetsen not far behind with a 104-meter leap. World Cup leader Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) was third while the US Ski Team’s Bryan Fletcher was ranked 10th after the first and only jump.

As the cross-country race at the Holmenkollen stadium approached snow began to fall. Frenzel, a former Junior World Champion in 2007, lead the race from start to finish with a time of 25:19.2 on the tough 4×2.5km course that was jam-packed with cheering fans.

Frenzel video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n84fAU6jafk

Chasing Frenzel were popular Austrian veteran Felix Gottwald with Germany’s Tino Edelmann in tow. It was clear that Frenzel would not be caught but Gottwald stumbled as the finish line approached giving the lead over to Edelmann who claimed the silver and a 1-2 finish for Germany as Gottwald settled for the bronze at 18.4 seconds off the winner’s time.

The day proved to be satisfactory for the Americans, who placed all five skiers in the top 30. The US team was led by Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong who surged from 29th at 1:43 behind to finish 7th at 46.2 seconds back. Defending World champion in this event, Todd Lodwick was 8th at 46.9 behind.

Former world champion and Olympic medalist Johnny Spillane was 19th at 1:32.3 behind, while Bryan Fletcher ended up 22nd and his brother Taylor was 26th. So good, in fact, was the US skiing that Demong had the fastest skiing time of the day, with Spillane having the 6th fastest time and Lodwick the 10th best time.

“I started jumping better this week but today was obviously not as good as the last few days,” said Demong in USSA release. “But it’s better than the average for my season so it’s hard to be really disappointed. In the race I just went out to see if I could get the fastest time after having a disappointing jump. If nothing else, it’s given me confidence for the rest of the Championships. Now I just need to relax and get that jumping better.”

Head US Coach Dave Jarrett took the long view about today’s race. “We had a good streak going and now its over. We need to look ahead to the next event here and beyond,” he said.

The lone Canadian entrant was Wes Savill who finished 41st with a time of 29:16.2

Full results HERE.