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Teams from 15 nations to compete

IRON MOUNTAIN — A field of 61 skiers from 15 nations, including most of the current Continental Cup points leaders and two members of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team, will challenge Pine Mountain this weekend.

Competitions are slated for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Bellin Health Pine Mountain Continental Cup event, although weather could prompt a change, including the possibility of double competitions if there’s a cancellation. Otherwise, official jumps begin at 1 p.m. each day.

Norway might dominate the leaderboard, with Robin Pedersen, Andreas Granerud Buskum and Marius Lindvik leading a team of six Norwegian jumpers defending a pair of individual titles won a year ago.

Lindvik, who ranks fifth in Continental Cup points, soared a hill-record 472 feet at Pine Mountain in 2018 but fell on the landing. Halvor Egner Granerud of Norway, who joined Lindvik as an individual winner at Giant Pine, is now on the World Cup circuit, ranking 14th.

Pedersen is third in Continental Cup points this winter and Buskum ranks fourth.

Other top jumpers in the Pine Mountain field are Germany’s Pius Paschke and Felix Hoffmann, sixth and eighth, respectively, in Continental Cup points; Slovenia’s Justin Rok, seventh, and Ziga Jelar, ninth; and Poland’s Aleksander Zniszczol, 10th.

Slovenia’s Bor Pavlovcic, who flew a record 476 feet last month at his home hill in Planica, is another major contender. He ranks 12th in Continental Cup points, just behind Germany’s Moritz Baer, who’s also in the Pine Mountain field.

Ulrich Wohlgenannt, ranked 13th, leads a team of 12 Austrian jumpers.

The U.S. will have nine skiers entered, including Olympians Michael Glasder and Casey Larson. In 2016, Glasder, of Cary, Ill., claimed the first American victory at Pine Mountain in nearly 30 years.

Hungary, Switzerland, Canada, China, Japan, Romania, Great Britain and the Czech Republic will be represented as well.

The full list of competitors includes —

— Austria: Thomas Hofer, Ulrich Wohlgenannt, Clemens Leitner, Stefan Huber, Markus Schiffner, Mika Schwann, Jan Horl, Maximilian Steinar, David Haagen, Manuel Poppinger, Maximilian Lienher and Phillip Aschenwald.

— Germany: Pius Paschke, Felix Hoffman, Moritz Baer, Luca Roth, Phillip Raimund and Justin Lisso.

— France: Paul Brasme, Mathis Contamine and Jonathan Learoyd.

— Hungary: Molnar Florian.

— Switzerland: Luca Egloff, Gabriel Karlen and Gregor Deschwanden.

— United States: Casey Larson, Patrick Gasienica, Decker Dean, Michael Glasder, Andrew Urlaub, Greyson Scharffs, Hunter Gibson, Lukas Gasienica and Nathan Mattoon.

— Norway: Thomas Aasen Markeng, Marius Lindvik, Robin Pedersen, Andreas Granerud Buskum, Fredrik Bjerkeengen and Joakim Aune.

— Slovenia: Jaka Hvala, Rok Justin, Nejc Dezman, Bor Pavlovcic, Cene Prevc, Andraz Pograjc and Zak Mogel.

— Japan: Minato Mabuchi.

— Canada: Nigel Lauchlan.

— Poland: Aleksander Zniszczol, Klemens Muranka, Andrzej Stenkala and Przemyslaw Kantyka.

— China: Chao Li and Guang Yang.

— Czech Republic: Vojtech Stursa, Filip Sakala and Tomas Vancura.

— Romania: Hunor Farkas and Daniel Cacina.

— Great Britain: Robert Lock.

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