Krasnaya Polyana, Russia – Steamboat Springs, Colo.’s Taylor Fletcher continued his strong surge on Saturday, posting the second fastest cross country time to finish fifth in the first Olympic test event of the 2014 Nordic Combined venue.

Fletcher survived a raging blizzard during the jump to finish 15^th, starting 1:16 behind in the cross country portion. The course was characterized by grueling uphills with athletes skiing five laps of a 2k loop. Taylor Fletcher quickly caught brother Bryan at the 2k mark, skiing together until tough conditions forced Bryan back to 15th. Taylor led the chase pack the entire race, closing the gap to eight seconds with two kilometers to go before Austria’s Bernard Gruber and Germany’s Eric Frenzel exploded to take first and second, respectively, snapping Frenzel’s four-event win streak.

“I skied a tactically a pretty good race,” Taylor Fletcher said. “We had a strong group coming up ahead of us trying to catch us so I decided to take the lead. I’ve been racing pretty well so I was able to ski away.

The Sochi Olympic venue is unique in that the cross country event will literally be in the same stadium as the jump, with the finish sharing the outrun.