Whistler, British Columbia – The US Nordic Combined team will paying overweight on their flight back to Park City. A historic day doubled their Vancouver medal haul, giving them nearly nine pounds of hardware. Billy Demong skied away from teammate Johnny Spillane and Austrian Bernard Gruber on the final climb to claim Olympic gold. With a move of his own, Spillane left Gruber in the dust, too—laying claim to his 3rd silver medal of the...
Whistler, British Columbia – The two skiers swept around the large curve down into the stadium, Billy Demong of the USA in the lead, Austrian Mario Stecher right on his heels, the gold medal waiting, just 200 meters away. Stecher stepped out, tucking past Demong. There would be no sprint for the line. The gap was enough, and Austria champions. The American team, in claiming the silver, made US Nordic Combined history for the second...
After being selected as the fourth member of the U.S. nordic combined team’s relay squad, the pressure was all on Brett Camerota’s shoulders this morning as he took to the top of the jump. He didn’t disappoint, coming through with his best-ever leap on the big hill here in Whistler and setting up the Americans for another podium finish this afternoon, after Johnny Spillane’s silver last week. The team will start the 4×5 k relay...
After Johnny Spillane won a silver medal Sunday afternoon—the first of any color in U.S. nordic combined history—his former coach, Tom Steitz, voiced the rhetorical question on every reporter’s mind here. “How do you boil up 86 years of emotion and frustration?” he asked. The answer? Todd Lodwick’s face. Struggling to explain himself and holding back tears after just missing out on the bronze, Lodwick quivered with feeling: fierce pride for his teammate and friend,...
Used to being on the podium in previous years, Billy Demong started this season fairly slowly by his standards, placing between 8th and 14th in his World Cup finishes. But this Sunday’s World Cup in Val di Fiemme
Today the U.S. Nordic Combined World Cup Team – Billy Demong, Todd Lodwick, and Johnny Spillane – gave a teleconference from Ramsau, Austria, where they are preparing for this weekend’s World Cup events. They gave insights about the upcoming Olympic trials in Steamboat Springs, their World Cup schedule this season, how they’ve come back from summer injuries, what they are doing to prepare for the Olympic Games, and their excitement for the team’s strength as...
VAL di FIEMME, Italy – The Americans struggled on the jumps Sunday in a DKB FIS Nordic Combined World Cup in Val di Fiemme. Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) had the second fastest cross country time to finish ninth, after coming in 21st in jumping, to lead the USA. Norway’s Magnus Moan picked up the win to sweep both events in Val di Fiemme. Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) was 14th, with Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs,...
