March 5 – Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) finished
eighth Friday but still held onto third place in the overall standings as
the nordic combined World Cup began its final two weekends. World Cup
champion Hannu Manninen, who was shutout at World Championships, won for
the ninth time in 14 World Cups this season.

Manninen, who never has earned an individual medal at the World
Championships was 10th in jumping and posted the fastest 15K race time to
beat Germany’s Bjoern Kircheisen by 2.5 seconds.

Lodwick, sixth in jumping, dropped back to eighth during the race, a
half-minute off the pace on the opening day of the annual Finnish Ski
Games. Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY), the only other American competing,
finished 13th.

The schedule calls for a sprint event Saturday and the season concludes
March 12-13 at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway, with an individual competition
and then a sprint. Manninen leads with 1,226 points to 970 for German
Ronny Ackermann, who won both the sprint and individual gold medals at the
recent FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Lodwick – who has finished in
the top eight for the past seven seasons, including fourth twice – is
third at 596.