LIBEREC, Czech Republic (Feb. 16) – Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) finished sixth Saturday in a nordic combined World Cup mass start event after posting the fastest 10K race time on the 2009 FIS Nordic World Championships venues. He strengthened his second-place standing in the overall points.
One day after strong winds blew out a scheduled Nordic combined sprint, organizers decided Saturday morning to change the schedule for an individual event (with 15K race) to the mass start. Gusting winds prevented early jumping, so the plan was to ski the race and wait for the winds to die down, which “worked perfectly,” according to U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner. “It turned out to be a beautiful day, nice and sunny, and they had a good comp.”
Traditionally, combined events begin with jumping and finish with cross country racing, but the mass start goes from a 10K mass start race to ski jumping. The field is cut to 30 after the first round.
Norwegian Petter Tande, fourth in the 10K, jumped to the victory with 250.8 points. Second was Finn Anssi Koivuranta, whom Demong edged last March for the silver medal in the individual competition at the World Championships in Japan. Koivuranta had 245.9 and World Cup leader Ronny Ackermann of Germany third.