Sapporo, Japan (Saturday, January 25, 2003) - World Cup leader Ronny Ackermann of Germany moved up during jumping from fourth after a mass-start 10-km race Saturday to win a nordic combined World Cup event with teammate Georg Hettich in second place. Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) was seventh and Todd Lodwick (also Steamboat) 24th.

Finland's Samppa Lajunen led the mass-start 10-km race but couldn't hold out-jump Ackermann, who won with 253.6 points; it was his second consecutive victory. Hettich had 251.4 points after his jump and Lajunen 243.6.

Spillane was 16th in the ski race but eighth-best in the jumping to move up to seventh. Lodwick was ninth in the race but sputtered in the one-jump competition and tumbled to 24th. Spillane and Lodwick remain 7-8 in points behind Ackermann after 11 events.