Holmenkollen NC: Demong remains 2nd in overall

Bill Demong skied back from 26th after the jump to finish ninth in a nordic combined World Cup Saturday at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo. He remained second in the World Cup standings with one event to go.
OSLO, Norway — Bill Demong skied back from 26th after the jump to finish ninth in a nordic combined World Cup Saturday at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo. He remained second in the World Cup standings with one event to go.
    Demong skied his way back into contention with the second fastest cross-country time over the 15 km course at Holmenkollen. The finish left him with a slim 14 point margin over Norwegian Petter Tande, who was fifth, for the second spot in the standings. No American has ever finished higher than fourth in the overall nordic combined World Cup. Todd Lodwick was fourth three times before retiring two years ago.
    He will be challenged in the final event Sunday. He was 43rd in the sprint jump Saturday, going only 93.0 meters and will start 2:20 behind the leaders in the 7.5 km cross country race to end the season.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2008 FIS NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP
Oslo, Norway – March 8, 2008
Holmenkollen Ski Festival
Nordic Combined Individual Gundersen (two jumps/15 km cross country)

(jumping rank/cross country rank, time behind leader>
1. Bernhard Gruber, Austria, (2/8)
2. Christoph Bieler, Austria, (7/5) +39.8 seconds
3. Ronny Ackermann, German, (13/3) +40.2
4. Mario Stecher, Austria, (11/4) +40.6
5. Petter Tande, Norway, (10/6) +1:04.6
–
9. Bill Demong, Vermontville, NY, (26/2) +1:43.2
25. Johnny Spillane, Steamboat Springs, CO, (31/18) +4:43.8