CHAIKOVSKIY, Russia (AP) — Tim Hug of Switzerland took advantage of a weakened start field to claim his first career Nordic combined World Cup victory on Saturday.
Hug was 10th after the ski jump portion on the normal hill but worked his way up the field in the 10-kilometer cross-country race to finish in 27 minutes, 44.9 seconds. Bjoern Kircheisen of Austria was 5.7 seconds back in second place and Miroslav Dvorak of the Czech Republic came another 2.6 behind in third.
Most of the top medal contenders for the Sochi Olympics skipped the meet in Chaikovskiy, a town in the Ural mountains more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) east of Moscow.
Evgeniy Klimov of Russia led after the ski jump but couldn’t keep up in the cross-country race and finished 39th.
