Taylor Fletcher will compete at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in Nordic combined alongside his brother, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced on Thursday. Bryan Fletcher was already named to the team by virtue of his win at Olympic Trials in December.
This won’t be the Olympic debut for either Fletcher brother. Bryan, a cancer survivor, made his first team in 2014. Taylor, the younger of the two Fletchers, competed at the 2010 and 2014 Games. Taylor matched one of the Olympic selection criteria after he landed on the podium with a bronze medal at a Continental Cup in Norway last weekend, the same day the selection period closed.
“It wasn’t an easy road to get to the Olympics this year as I have had some struggles with jumping and have had some bad luck that made it challenging until the last weekend of qualifying,” Fletcher said, according to U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “I would like to think I got that out of the way and I can focus now on performing at my highest level during the Games.”
Other members of the five-man Nordic combined team include Ben Berend, Jasper Good, and Ben Loomis.
The Fletchers, plus Berend and Good, came out of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club in Colorado. Loomis comes from the Flying Eagles Ski Club in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and he earned a silver medal at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Norway.
“The Olympics are something I have always dreamed of and to go at such a young age is extremely exciting,” Loomis said. “For me, the Olympics will be all about the experience. I am hoping to take it all in and use this experience in future. I look forward to sharing my first Olympic experience with Jasper Good as well as veterans Bryan and Taylor Fletcher.”
All the team selections will be confirmed by the U.S. Olympic Committee on Friday, when the team is formally named.
2018 U.S. OLYMPIC NORDIC COMBINED TEAM
- Ben Berend, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
- Bryan Fletcher, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
- Taylor Fletcher, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
- Jasper Good, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
- Ben Loomis, Eau Claire, Wis.