U.S. Olympic Ski Jumping And Nordic Combined Teams Announced

Olympic ski jumping veteran Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, Utah) will lead a team of four men and three women at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. U.S. Ski & Snowboard Thursday (Jan. 25) announced its selections for the 2018 U.S. Olympic Ski Jumping Team that will compete at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 beginning February 9. The selections will be confirmed by the United States Olympic Committee when it formally names Team USA this Friday (January 26).

Hendrickson and Michael Glasder (Cary, Ill.) earned their spots as winners of the Olympic Trials Dec. 31. The remainder of the team qualified through World Cup results

"It's exciting to see an entire group of first time Olympians head to South Korea," said Men's Jumping Director Clint Jones. "It was great to see Mike Glasder secure his spot at the Olympic Trials. The other three athletes are young and making quick progress in the sport. Even though they are relatively inexperienced, we are hoping for big things."

"Going into the second Olympic Winter Games in history for the ladies, I am excited to see two first-time Olympians join the team alongside veteran Sarah Hendrickson," said Women's Jumping Director Alan Alborn. "Nita Englund and Abby Ringquist are both competing for their first time in the Olympics and have been working hard to secure that opportunity for many seasons."

The opening is set for February 9. Men's ski jumping has its normal hill qualifying round a day earlier, on Thursday, February 8. The first medal event is Saturday, February 10. The women will have one jumping event on the normal hill on Monday, February 12.

TEAM FACTS

Sarah Hendrickson is the only ski jumping athlete with Olympic experience. She jumped number one in the women's debut at Sochi in 2014.
Hendrickson, Abby Ringquist and Will Rhoads are products of the 2002 Olympic Legacy, growing up in the shadow of the ski jumps in Park City, Utah.
Olympic Trials winner Michael Glasder and Kevin Bickner both came out of the Norge Ski Club in the northwest suburbs of Chicago - one of America's oldest clubs dating back to the early 1900s.
Kevin Bickner set a new U.S. distance record in 2017 soaring 244.5 meters
The men are jumping this weekend in Zakopane, Poland with the women competing in a World Cup at their European training base of Ljubno, Slovenia.

Olympic Trials winner Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) will lead a team of five nordic combined skiers in PyeongChang. U.S. Ski & Snowboard today (Jan. 25) announced its selections for the 2018 U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined Team that will compete at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 beginning February 9. The selections will be confirmed by the United States Olympic Committee when it formally names Team USA this Friday (January 26).

Fletcher, a childhood cancer survivor who won his sport's prestigious King's Cup in 2011, earned his second Olympic Team spot as winner of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Dec. 30. The remainder of the team qualified through World Cup and Continental Cup results.

"We are very happy we will have a full team at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games," said Nordic Combined Coach Martin Bayer. "It’s a relatively young team with great chemistry between them and a group of highly motivated athletes."

The opening is set for February 13 with two individual events and a team event on the Games program.

TEAM FACTS

Olympic Trials winner Bryan Fletcher is a childhood cancer survivor. As a young boy, ski jumping on Steamboat Springs' Howelsen Hill was a vital distraction as he underwent treatment. 2018 is his second Olympics.
Brother Taylor Fletcher, who is known as one of his sport's best cross country skiers, will be making his third Games appearance.
Four of the team members came out of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, with Ben Loomis from the Flying Eagles Ski Club in Eau Claire, Wis
Ben Loomis was a silver medalist in the Youth Olympic Games in 2016 at Lillehammer, Norway.

2018 U.S. OLYMPIC NORDIC COMBINED TEAM