Taylor Fletcher won the U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined Trials on Friday to lock up a spot on his fourth Olympic team, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Fletcher, 31 and the top U.S. male Nordic combined skier since older brother Bryan retired in 2018, made up 56 seconds in the 10km cross-country ski after placing fourth in the ski jump.
Fletcher owns the best individual American finish on the World Cup in this Olympic cycle -- 19th place.
Only the winner on Friday qualified for the Olympics, but the U.S. is currently in line to qualify a full team of five men in the event. Fletcher will likely be joined by, among others, 2018 Olympian Ben Loomis, who has one more World Cup point than Fletcher this season.
Trials took place at the 1932 and 1980 Olympic venue of Mt. Van Hoevenberg near Lake Placid, N.Y. Ski jumping trials will be there on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com).
All of the U.S. Olympic Nordic combined medals came at the 2010 Vancouver Games -- Bill Demong‘s gold, Johnny Spillane‘s two silvers and a team silver.
Fletcher is the last member of the 2010 roster still competing (though he wasn’t selected to compete in the team event in Vancouver).
MORE: U.S. athletes qualified for 2022 Winter Olympics
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