Lahti NC: American Demong wins 15 km event
World Championships silver medalist Bill Demong of Vermontville, New York, took the lead at the 8-kilometer mark Friday and went on to win the 15 km individual event for the second World Cup nordic combined victory of his career, winning by 6.6 seconds at the Lahti Ski Games. 
LAHTI, Finland — World Championships silver medalist Bill Demong of Vermontville, New York, took the lead at the 8-kilometer mark Friday and went on to win the 15 km individual event for the second World Cup nordic combined victory of his career, winning by 6.6 seconds at the Lahti Ski Games.
It was Demong’s first victory in five years.
Demong was 10th after the jumping and dominated the 15-kilometer cross-country race to win in 39 minutes, 31.9 seconds.
Demong jumped 120.5 and 121 meters and beat Germany’s Sebastian Haseney by 6.6 seconds and World Cup leader Hannu Manninen by 15.6.
It was his second career win after a victory in Liberec, Czech Republic, in 2002.
“The ski jumping was the crucial point to get a decent start,” Demong said. “My cross-country skiing is really stable and I can rely on that. Now, two decent jumps put me ahead of most of the dangerous guys, and that was the crucial difference between finishing fourth, or worse, or on the podium.”
Finland’s Manninen, normally the fastest skier, retained the championship lead and is on course for a fourth straight World Cup title. With three events left, Manninen has 745 points, 107 more than second-place Magnus Moan of Norway.
“I can concentrate on just following Magnus on the track, then I could have the title,” the 28-year-old Manninen said.
American Johnny Spillane was 26th.
The loneliness of the leader
Demong, 1:25 behind jump leader Espen Rian of Norway, started fast, reeling in skiers ahead of him as the six-lap 15 km race opened, and he finished by holding off Haseney, who was another minute behind Demong to start the race.
"Today was good," Demong, a three-time Olympian from the Lake Placid region, said, "because I was out there by myself for the last 7.5 Ks…off the front, on my own. I didn't ski the best tactical race, but this is a hard course. It's an all-new course and it almost bit me.
"I was putting it out during the first five Ks but I was hanging on for the last 10. Well, that's probably a little exaggeration, but it's really tough. When I spit out [No. 2 jumper Austrian Christoph] Bieler, I said 'Let's imagine there's somebody 20 seconds, or maybe 30 seconds, in front and I have to go get him.' Those last five Ks I was digging deep, just kept putting one foot after the other…
"I took three [liquid] feeds and the last one kicked in for that last kilometer, gave me a little bit of juice in the legs," he said.
Demong's coach, Lasse Ottesen, was thrilled with the win.
“Billy showed everyone that the medal he won last weekend in Sapporo [Japan, during the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships] wasn’t a fluke, wasn’t a one-time lucky deal — that he’s the real deal,” said U.S. head coach Lasse Ottesen. “He’s shown that all year, but he just hasn’t gotten to the podium,” a reference to two photo finishes for third place which Demong lost each time.
“Once he took the lead, Billy had control all the way although he said [before going into a press conference] he thought he might have pushed a little too hard on the second lap because he tired at the end as Haseney put on a real effort to catch him.”
New course, ages-old nemesis: hills
Lahti organizers revamped the traditional cross-country layout, he said, which starts in a track and field stadium, climbs up a hill to a series of trails on the second level. But they ran the new trails down a couple of hillsides and back, creating more climb for the skiers.
"There are at least 10 solid climbs over five Ks, three of them are multiple-minute climbs, so it's very challenging," Demong said.
The victory also washes out some of the sour taste Demong had from his 2002 World Cup triumph in Liberec, when he won following a protest over weather conditions when a bloc of skiers refused to compete. "Today was much more satisfying," he said.
Eerie calm for the jumpers
It rained during the night and up until perhaps an hour before the jumping competition and then everything went still, Ottesen said. "I've never seen Lahti this way, no wind whatsoever. It was definitely the calmest jumping competition we've had this year."
Demong and his coaches said Pete Vordenberg, cross-country head coach, and his staff pitched in to test and wax the combiners' skis Friday after combined waxer Snorre Haugland had a death in his family and returned earlier in the week to Norway for the funeral.
"We got it down to one pair apiece, which Johnny, Eric and I wanted to ski on, and we gave our skis to 'Vordy' and the guys. We counted on them for the pure, finishing touch and they did a bang-up job," Demong said, noting combined coach Dave Jarrett also helped with the testing and waxing.
The Lahti Ski Games, at the end of every World Cup season, are among the most prestigious in nordic skiing. The last American combined win in Lahti came in 1983 when Kerry Lynch won what turned out to be the next-to-last unofficial World Cup meet; the combined World Cup officially began with the '84 season — and Lynch was a co-winner in that opening event in Seefeld, Austria.
The combiners have a sprint event Saturday before heading to Norway next week for the traditional season-ending competitions at Holmenkollen in Oslo.
Lahti World Cup nordic combined results
1. Bill Demong, United States, 39 minutes, 31.9 seconds (10-6).
2. Sebastian Haseney, Germany, 6.6 seconds behind (30-1).
3. Hannu Manninen, Finland, 15.6 (26-2).
4. Ronny Ackermann, Germany, 18.8 (18-4).
5. Felix Gottwald, Austria, 31.6 (23-3).
6. Magnus Moan, Norway, 39.1 (22-5).
7. Christoph Bieler, Austria, 51.5 (2-17).
8. Bjorn Kircheisen, Germany, 56.7 (20-8).
9. Anssi Koivuranta, Finland, 57.4 (7-13).
10. Petter L. Tande, Norway, 1:08.5 (9-12).
11. Jaakko Tallus, Finland, 1:08.9 (5-15).
12. Espen Rian, Norway, 1:43.0 (1-25).
13. Ronny Heer, Switzerland, 1:50.0 ( 21-10).
14. Jan Schmid, Norway, 1:52.6 (28-9).
15. Havard Klemetsen, Norway, 1:54.2 (8-20).
16. Tino Edelmann, Germany, 2:05.2 (13-18).
17. Jason Lamy Chappuis, France, 2:08.0 (6-24).
18. Michael Gruber, Austria, 2:17.8 (12-19).
19. Georg Hettich, Germany, 2:23.2 (15-21).
20. Norihito Kobayashi, Japan, 2:33.8 (31-11).
Also
30. Johnny Spillane, United States, 4:29.2 (19-29).
Overall World Cup standings
(After 12 of 15 events)
1. Hannu Manninen, Finland, 745 points.
2. Magnus Moan, Norway, 638.
3. Christoph Bieler, Austria, 593.
4. Jason Lamy Chappuis, France, 536.
5. Felix Gottwald, Austria, 492.
6. Sebastian Haseney, Germany, 442.
7. Anssi Koivuranta, Finland, 439.
8. Ronny Ackermann, Germany, 401.
9. Bjorn Kircheisen, Germany, 380.
10. Peter L. Tande, Norway, 363.
11. Bil
l Demong, Uinited States, 319.
12. Jaakko Tallus, Finland, 258.
About the Author: Pete Rugh
