February 21, 2015 (Falun, SWE) – Germany’s Johannes Rydzek picked up his first-ever gold medal yesterday at the Nordic World Ski Championships in a close battle with Italy’s Alessandro Pittin in the Nordic Combined 10 km Individual Gundersen. Pittin was the only skier able to bridge the gap from the chasing group finishing at 1.3 seconds behind. Rounding out the podium was Jason Lamy Chappuis from France at 5.0 seconds back.

Johannes Rydzek © Nordic Focus

The win puts an end to Rdzek’s silver streak as he previously had earned second place three times at a the 2011 World Championships in Oslo in addition to picking up another silver in Sochi in the Team Event.

A strong day of jumping for the USA’s Billy Demong in 10th didn’t hold up as soft snow conditions hampered his ability to move up in the 10km cross country. Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) led the USA in 19th at 1:32.5 back.

Bill Demong © USA

In the early going of the 10k cross country event – four laps through the stadium – Demong started moving up as did Taylor Fletcher, joining together with brother Bryan. Frenzel lead a pack of six leaders with two chase packs quickly coming together into one, but still 40-50 seconds behind the leaders.

As the race progressed, Taylor Fletcher continued to move up and the chase pack cut down the margin. Pittin was the first to bridge, sprinting out of the chase to catch the leaders going into the final lap. But the gap was too much for the chase pack to manage, struggling in soft snow that was boot-top high at some points.

“This is historically my type of conditions, same as Liberec, Vancouver and Sapporo (where he medaled),” said Demong. “You have to be fit to be fast in this type of snow. I felt pretty good for the first couple laps. But when I had to follow other people, I fell apart a bit.”

Taylor Fletcher © USSA

“Normally I’m pretty comfortable in these conditions,” said Taylor Fletcher. “But today I didn’t feel like myself. I think I was trying a little too hard in some sections and paid the price. But I gave it everything I had. Definitely have to be smarter and smoother.”

A positive on the day was the performance on the jump hill, especially important going into Sunday’s team event.

“We really showed that we’re jumping well,” added Taylor Fletcher. “Things are getting better and better. I’m comfortable and we’re improving day by day. A couple more meters and it would have been a different story today. I wouldn’t have to try to hard at the beginning to get into the groups.”

Full results here.

With files from FIS and USSA.