Oslo, Norway – American Bryan Fletcher capped a breakout World Cup season with a career first victory in the FIS Nordic Combined season finale at Holmenkollen in Oslo on Saturday.

Fletcher, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., whose previous best came last month in fourth, jumped to third and skied a strong and strategic cross country race to take a 2.3-second win over Norway’s Mikko Kokslien. France’s Jason Lamy Chappuis held on to take the season title ahead of Japan’s Akito Watabe.

Billy Demong, of Vermontville, N.Y., was fourth.  Fletcher’s win was the first for the USA since Demong in Val di Fiemme, Italy, in January 2010 and came in the Super Bowl of his sport, the annual Holmenkollen Ski Festival. He’s now only the fifth American to win a Nordic Combined World Cup.

“This is a dream come true. To win in Holmenkollen is every nordic combined athlete’s dream,” Fletcher said. “To have it be my first makes it even better. After having such a great season and for this to be the stamp to it is amazing. Just going into today I was thinking that the only goal I didn’t accomplish this season was a podium. I spoke too soon! This is unbelievable.”

Fletcher reflected on his life in Steamboat and the road that brought him to Nordic Combined.

“I was born and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I grew up there jumping and skiing just starting out as a hobby,” he explained. “I am a cancer survivor so for me nordic combined was a thing to keep my mind off the chemo treatments when I was young. I fell in love with it and have been doing it ever since and I don’t think I would change a thing about it.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Nordic Combined World Cup
Holmenkollen Ski Festival – Oslo, Norway – Mar. 10, 2012
Men’s Gundersen LH HS134/10.0 K