Utah Resident Ben Loomis Places 17th In Men’s Nordic Combined
Feb 11, 2026, 6:27 AM | Updated: 9:54 am
VAL DI FIEMME, ITALY - FEBRUARY 11: Benjamin Loomis of Team United States competes in the Cross-Country of Nordic Combined Individual Gundersen Normal Hill/10km on day five of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Tesero Cross-Country Stadium on February 11, 2026 in Val di Fiemme, Italy. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
MILAN, Italy – Utah National Guardsman Ben Loomis finished 17th in the men’s Nordic combined event at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
Loomis was the first U.S. skier to finish, followed by Niklas Malacinski in 18th.
2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Medal Count
Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro won gold. Austria’s Johannes Lamparter earned Silver and Eero Hirvonen of Finland won bronze.
Loomis has never finished higher than sixth in Olympic competition.
Ben Loomis
Loomis was the 19th of 36 competitors to take the top of the Gunderson Normal Hill for the ski jumping round of the men’s Nordic Combined competition.
He was middle of the pack with a 95-meter jump, earning a 118.9 total score.
The 27-year-old went into the cross-country portion of the day in 16th place and was the top-ranked U.S. athlete.
Army Sgt. Ben Loomis of @UTNationalGuard will represent the U.S. in the @USA_NoCo Nordic Combined event, which combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing team in Milan and Cortina, Italy 2026.
Photo credit: Sgt. Denis Nunez, Vermont National Guard@usarmywcap… pic.twitter.com/t7nzWzGQDl
— Reserve + National Guard Magazine (@reserveguardmag) February 6, 2026
Based on his long ski jump finish, Loomis was forced to begin the staggered-start 10k cross-country race 55 seconds behind the leader, Kristjan Elves, of Estonia.
The large time gap would require a near-herculean effort from Loomis to achieve a medal.
He had fallen to 18th, nearly two minutes behind the leader.
Loomis ended the race in 17th place, 3:39 behind gold.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering the Utah State Aggies, Locals in MLB, and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees, Beehive baseball, and Aggie athletics coverage here.
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