More gold for U.S. Nordic skiers

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Bill Demong made up in gold for both things he had lost in the last three days.

The missing bib number that led to his disqualification -- and that of his teammates -- from the Nordic combined team jumping event Thursday at the world championships in Liberec, Czech Republic.

And the substantial amount of time he lost based on the results of the jumping phase of the individual large hill event this morning.

The result was another gold medal for the astonishing U.S. Nordic combined skiers, giving them three golds (the other two by Todd Lodwick, who returned to the sport last summer after a two-season absence) and a bronze (Demong) at the 2009 worlds.

‘Everything did come together the way we envisioned it. It’s more validation because we always thought these results were possible,’ U.S. Nordic combined coach Dave Jarrett said.

Those four medals are as many as U.S. teams in all Nordic disciplines had won in all the previous worlds added together. Nordic combined skiers Demong (2007, silver) and Johnny Spillane (gold, 2003) had accounted for half those earlier medals.

‘Todd coming back has made a huge impact on our team,’’ said Demong, 28, of Lake Placid, N.Y. ‘To have a teammate be the guy who was unbeatable has been amazing.

‘When I think about these championships, I knew going in we could do it, but there’s a million ways to have it go. We carried our momentum well and were fighting for the win the entire time.’

Demong started the 10-kilometer cross-country phase of the event in eighth place, 52 seconds out of the lead, and he finished with a 12.8-second margin over Bjorn Kircheisen of Germany. Lodwick, who had won the mass start and small hill events, finished 10th.

‘I owed this to them,’ Demong said, referring to his teammates. ‘Thursday was rough. After it happened, it was odd, I actually needed my team’s support. I really felt that I let them down, so today is dedicated to them.’’

-- Philip Hersh