Steamboat Pilot & Today

• Share this Email, Facebook, Twitter
• Discuss Comment

The Nordic combined team competition will officially begin at 11:30 a.m. MST.

It appears like it will be a seven team race for the three medals, with Austria, Germany, Norway, Japan, Finland, France and the United States battling it out.

Austria is the defending Olympic champion and leading the FIS Nation Cup standings. They have four athletes in the top 22 of the World Cup standings.

Germany won silver at the 2009 World Championships.

Norway won bronze at the 2009 World Championships but will be without Ole-Christian Wendel, who had to go back to Norway with a virus.

Japan won gold at the 2009 World Championships

Finland — who has been on the podium the last three Olympics in the team event — and France, which includes World Cup leader and gold medalist from the normal hill event, Jason Lamy Chappuis.

Some quotes from the U.S. team Todd Lodwick "It’s almost week in and week out that we have three in the top 10," he said. "We’ve got high expectations, but these expectations are realistic. They’re nothing far fetched."

"There’s probably more pressure on us than ever and we like it," he said. "We know that every nation is scared right now, and they know the we know."

Johnny Spillane "Everyone has to jump and ski their best," he said. "Nobody has to perform any miracles. There is a big difference between being a medal hopeful and a medal contender. We’re not just hoping for a medal, but we have to go out and do our best. "

The jumping start list will look like this 1. Brett Camerota 2. Todd Lodwick 3. Billy Demong 4. Johnny Spillane

The cross-country start list won't be determined until after the jumping portion.