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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Finns lead Nordic combined, 3 teams on their heels
 Kenji Ogiwara |
9:30- Start
The runaway victory by Japan's Nordic combined ski team at the Lillehammer Olympics is unlikely to occur again in Nagano.
Finland emerged the surprise midway leader in the Olympic team competition Thursday but carries only minimal lead over Austria, Norway and the Czech Republic into Friday's 4 x 5-kilometer cross country leg.
Led by Samppa Lajunen, the Finns landed three 90-meter-plus jumps in the second round and moved from fifth place to top of the standings. They will start Friday's race a mere four seconds ahead of Austria.
Norway, the Lillehammer Olympic team silver medalist, is eight seconds back while the Czechs are another second behind.
Japan's hopes of a third straight Olympic team gold medal were hit hard by a lackluster performance despite ideal jumping conditions on the normal hill in Hakuba. The home team is in fifth place and will start 21 seconds back.
''On the whole, the level of our team has dropped but we did the best we could,'' Japan team leader Takahiro Uesugi said. ''We're only halfway done. Tomorrow is tomorrow.''
Finland's leadoff jumper Jari Mantila sparked his team's climb to the top with a 91-meter leap on his second try under near-windless, sunny skies in the Japan Alps ski resort village.
Hannu Manninen then landed on the 90-meter critical point of the normal hill before World Cup champion Samppa Lajunen sailed for 94.5 meters and the overall lead in the team's final jump.
Lajunen won the silver medal in last week's individual event but appeared uncertain about his team's medal chances.
''Norway is the opponent we fear most,'' he said. ''But we have four very strong skiers too.''
Finland has won Olympic medals in ski jumping and cross country skiing but has yet to do so in the Nordic combined team competition since the event made its Olympic debut in 1988.
The Finns placed eighth at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and were seventh at the Albertville Games in 1992.
In Lillehammer, Japan enjoyed a massive time advantage going into the cross country leg and coasted to a four-minute victory.
Since then, the three-man format has been replaced by a four-man team and a new race formula translates the jumping points into a smaller time advantage in the cross country leg.
The Japanese quartet went into Thursday's competition feeling fully confident about their jumping. But in the end, only one of their eight jumps surpassed the 90-meter critical point, a 90.5-meter effort by leadoff jumper Satoshi Mori.
''Neither of my jumps were satisfying, and I feel miserable about it,'' said Kenji Ogiwara, who was part of Japan's gold-medal squads at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics. ''I still want a medal and I'll just try my best.''
Ogiwara, cheered on by a home crowd of 41,000 around the landing area, jumped 89 and 86 meters.
Austria's Mario Stecher traveled 90.5 meters on his first try, then boosted his team to second place with the day's longest jump of 96.5 meters.
Norway's Bjarte Engen Vik, winner of the individual Olympic title last week, split one of his skis after landing hard during a trial jump earlier in the morning but it did not matter.
After taping the ski, Vik soared for 94.5 and 95.5 meters and posted the highest two-jump points total in the 44-man field. (Kyodo News)
Final results of Nordic combined team after the ski jumping (K-90) leg Thursday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture:
1. Finland (Jari Mantila, Hannu Manninen, Tapio Nurmela, Samppa Lajunen) 226.5 points
2. Austria (Mario Stecher, Christoph Bieler, Felix Gottwald, Christoph Eugen) 225.9, starts 4x5-km relay race 4 seconds back
3. Norway (Fred Lundberg, Kenneth Braaten, Halldor Skard, Bjarte Vik) 225.3, 0:08 back
4. Czech Republic (Marek Fiurasek, Ladislav Rygl, Jan Matura, Milan Kucera) 225.1, 0:09 back
5. Japan (Satoshi Mori, Gen Tomii, Tsugiharu Ogiwara, Kenji Ogiwara) 223.3, 0:21 back
6. France (Fabrice Guy, Nicolas Bal, Ludovic Roux, Sylvain Guillaume) 215.8, 1:11 back
7. Germany (Jens Deimel, Matthias Looss, Thorsten Schmitt, Ronny Ackermann) 215.3, 1:15 back
8. Russia (Alexei Fadeev, Vladimir Lyssenin, Dmitrij Sinitzyn, Valerij Stoljarov) 206.5, 2:13 back
9. United States (Bill Demong, Tim Tetreault, John Jarrett, Todd Lodwick) 201.8, 2:45 back
10. Switzerland (Marco Zarucchi, Jean-Yves Cuendet, Urs Kunz, Andi Hartmann) 199.3, 3:01 back
11. Estonia (Tambet Pikkor, Ago Markvardt, Jens Salumae, Magnar Freimuth) 187.4, 4:21 back
 Gen Tomii |
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun