March 12 (Oslo, Norway) – Petter Tande of Norway took charge midway through the 15K race yesterday and rolled to a 17.2-second victory in a Nordic combined World Cup meet as part of the Holmenkollen Ski Festival. Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) had the top U.S. result, coming home 14th in a photo finish.

Tande, a former Junior World Championships gold medalist who narrowly missed an Olympic medal last month, was third in jumping and started 33 seconds behind jumping leader Jason Lamy Chapuis, who was born in Missoula, Mont., but skis for France. It was Tande‚s second win of the season and Lamy-Chapuis‚s second-place showing was the best result of his young career.

Demong, 27th in jumping, had the 10th-fastest 15K and moved up more than a dozen places, losing the photo finish to German Thorsten Schmitt; they were four-tenths of a second behind Swiss Ronny Heer in 12th.

Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO), the four-time Olympian who has said he will retire after Sunday‚s combined sprint, was 27th with Johnny Spillane (also Steamboat) 31st.The combiners have a sprint Sunday and then complete their season March 18-19 in Sapporo, Japan, host of the 2007 World Nordic Ski Championships.

WARSTEINER NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP
113th Holmenkollen Ski Festival
Oslo, NOR – March 11, 2006

Individual LH (HS134)/15K
1. Petter Tande, Norway, (3/12)
2. Jason Lamy Chapuis, France, (1/22) 17.2 seconds back
3. Anssi Koivuranta, Finland, (2/26) 32.8
4. Bjoern Kircheisen, Germany, (19/2) 39.9
5. Magnus Moan, Norway, (17/3) 45.2
–
14. Bill Demong, Vermontville, N.Y., (27/10) 2:04.2
27. Todd Lodwick, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (20/23) 2:55.0
31. Johnny Spillane, Steamboat Springs, Colo., (32/19) 3:16.8

For complete results:

www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=17908&cal_suchsector=NK