Nayoro, Japan (Friday, January 23, 2004) - Olympic champion Samppa Lajunen of Finland out-sprinted Germany's Sebastien Haseney to win by a second Friday in a nordic combined World Cup individual event opening a three-event swing through Japan. Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) finished fifth and Johnny Spillane (also Steamboat) was 20th with Carl Van Loan (Webster, NH) 28th.

Lajunen was sixth after the two rounds of 90-meter jumping and moved in among the leaders on the third of the four laps in the 15K race. He skied with teammate Hannu Manninen and Germans Ronny Ackermann and Haseney. Manninen finished third and took the World Cup points lead from Ackermann, who was fourth.

Lodwick, third in jumping, led early in the race before falling off the pace. He finished 1:27.3 behind Lajunen with Spillane 3:39.5 back and Van Loan five minutes behind.

The next combined events are a mass start competition Sunday and a sprint Tuesday in Sapporo.

WARSTEINER NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP
Nayoro, JPN – Jan. 23
K90/15K FR
1. Samppa Lajunen, Finland (6/3)
2. Sebastien Haseney, Germany, (8/2) 1.0 seconds back
3. Hannu Manninen, Finland, (11/1) 1.8
4. Ronny Ackermann, Germany, (5/5) 3.2
5. Todd Lodwick, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (3/19) 1:27.3
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20. Johnny Spillane, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (20/23) 3:39.5
28. Carl Van Loan, Webster, N.H., 5:06.2