Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Norway's Joergen Graabak took gold on Tuesday in the men's Nordic combined large hill event at the Sochi Olympics.
Graabak was sixth after the ski jumps and started the cross country race 42 seconds behind leader Eric Frenzel of Germany. Graabak, though, finished the 10-kilometer race in 22 minutes and 45.5 seconds. That gave the 22-year-old a total time of 23:27.5 for an edge of just 0.6 seconds over countryman Magnus Hovdal Moan.
Moan, who was seventh after the jumps, finished the race in 22:43.1 and took silver, while German Fabian Riessle earned bronze after finishing 1.6 seconds off the lead.
Moan claimed his third career Olympic medal, with the previous two having come in 2006.
Frenzel led after a jump of 139.5 meters and a score of 129.0. That gave him an eight-second head start over Norway's Haavard Klemetsen, but he finished the race at 23:57.9 to end in 10th place.
Frenzel won the normal hill event last week.
Bill Demong won the event four years ago for the first-ever U.S. Olympic gold medal in Nordic combined and teammate Johnny Spillane was second in a shocking result at the Vancouver Games that wasn't repeated.
American medal hopes withered in the jump. Bryan Fletcher was the top U.S. finisher in 27th place and started the cross country race 1:59 after the leader.
He finished the event in 22nd place, two spots back of brother Taylor Fletcher.
Opening ceremony flag bearer Todd Lodwick of the U.S. was 30th after the jumps and did not start the cross country race. Lodwick, competing in his sixth Winter Olympics, suffered a serious shoulder injury in a ski-jumping crash in December and also didn't start the cross country race in the normal hill event last week.
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