Gold, Silver For U.S. Athletes From Steamboat In Nordic Combined

Posted by Ralph Routon

This time, nobody could catch the Americans in Nordic combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

After settling for second place in the previous two Nordic combined events, U.S. teammates Bill Demong and Johnny Spillane of Steamboat Springs jumped and skied their way to the long-hill individual gold and silver medals Thursday afternoon at Whistler.

Bill Demong

The medals bring the U.S. total up to 30, with another guaranteed in the women’s hockey gold-medal game later this afternoon.

Spillane and Demong, both 29, finished second and sixth, respectively, in the morning ski-jump portion of the event on the long hill. That put them starting 34 and 46 seconds behind the Austrian leader, Bernhard Gruber, in the 10-kilometer cross-country ski finale, with the leaders finishing together.

Demong raced up from his 46-second deficit to win the gold by four seconds ahead of Spillane, with Gruber another 6.8 seconds back. Another Steamboat athlete, Todd Lodwick, wound up 13th.

Spillane now has three silver medals at these Olympics. He was caught near the end of both earlier Nordic combined events, the individual normal-hill competition and the team event.