Val di Fiemme, Italy – Steamboat Springs, Colo.’s Bryan Fletcher led the Americans Friday, finishing 14th after jumping to 10th and incurring one penalty lap in the new-this-season World Cup nordic combined skiing format as France’s Jason Lamy-Chappuis redeemed himself with a victory after the tour’s last stop in Chaux-Neuve in mid-January left him disappointed in front of a hometown crowd.

Fletcher’s teammates Billy Demong, of Vermontville, N.Y., and Johnny Spillane of Steamboat Springs closed 18th and 22nd, respectively, each making up two penalty laps at the site of the 2013 World Championships in a competition that served as a make-up fro the races canceled in Zakopane, Poland, in late January. Steamboat Springs’ Taylor Fletcher, coming off a successful Continental Cup with a first and third in Klingenthal, Germany, did not make the cut to competition after the provisional competition round.

Americans have had success in Val di Fiemme when Spillane was crowned World Champion in 2003 and Demong won a World Cup there in 2010.

The penalty race format is new this season. Athletes are given a number of penalty laps from 0 to 4 to be completed during the cross country portion of the competition based on how far they are able to jump. Jumps are based just on distance in the penalty race format.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Nordic Combined World Cup
Val di Fiemme, Italy – Feb. 3, 2012