December 30, 2007 (Oberhof, Germany) – American Billy Demong knows photo finishes. He may hold some unofficial record for most photo finishes. One of these days the three-time Olympian may win one…but Sunday wasn’t the day as he lost to Norway’s Magnus Moan by a whisker.

Demong made up the 94 seconds he was behind at a Nordic combined World Cup individual event in Oberhof, Germany, and that included 3.9 of the four seconds he trailed Moan at the start of the 15km race. But, the results show despite his epic effort, Demong was one-tenth of a second back of Moan, who has medaled in each of the last three major ski championships.

“What’s that, four centimeters? Five? It must have made a great photo,” U.S. Head Coach Lasse Ottesen said. Demong said it may have been an inch difference, no more than two.

For Moan, it was the seventh win of his career. Demong moved into third in the overall standings with his third podium of the season. Johnny Spillane was 21st and Canadian Max Thompson was 37th.

The individual event is two rounds of jumping and a 15km race. Sunday, they staged it in the fog, which is pretty much routine in Oberhof, which is in the former East Germany. This time, Demong said he couldn’t see the jump takeoff when he was sitting on the bar to start his trip down the in-run.

He was 15th, Moan 14th in the jumping. According to the formula for the race, Moan would begin 90 seconds back of David Zauner, the Austrian who led the jumping. Demong would start 1:34 after Zauner.

Moan and Demong chatted before the race and agreed to work together, pushing and pulling each other through the small pack of skiers ahead of them. After five of the six laps, Demong and Moan were 1-2, just four-tenths of a second apart.

As they came into the final kilometer, Demong called to Moan to take the lead so he could possibly catch his breath before what promised to be a sprint to the finish in the stadium. Moan took the lead…and took off. Ronny Ackermann, who led through much of the first half of the race, got in front of Demong, slowing things as Moan lit out and built a lead.

Demong stayed patient, looking for a chance to get by Ackermann and sensing Moan didn’t have the energy to carry that speed to the finish.

“We caught Ronny with a lap [2.5 km] to go. We passed him but he was with us for the last two and a half km. When Magnus took off, Ronny weaseled his way unexpectedly in front of me. I don’t think Magnus knew because he was taking off,” Demong said. “It was too narrow to get in front of Ronny.

“So, I was stuck behind Ronny on this little uphill, watching Magnus go away,” he explained. He finally passed Ackermann and set out to catch Moan.

He and Moan grabbed lanes for the final sprint and both lunged for the finish simultaneously. Moan got the photo nod for the seventh win of his career. In 2005 and ’07, he was silver medalist in the World Championships sprint; in ’06, he was Olympic sprint silver medal-winner and took bronze in the individual.

The podium moved Demong up a notch into third place in the combined standings. Germany’s Bjoern Kircheisen leads with 463 points to 421 for Ackermann. Demong has 352 and Spillane is 11th (183).

The Grand Prix is an annual series-within-the-series on the World Cup schedule. There are two more events – next weekend in Schonach, Germany.


Results – Individual 140m jumping/15km

1. Magnus Moan (Nor) 14/2
2. Bill Demong (USA) 15/1, 0.1
3. Petter Tande (Nor) 13/3, 9.1
4. Ronny Ackermann (Ger) 2/9, 11.8
5. David Kreiner (Aus) 4/11, 30.2

21. Johnny Spillane (USA) 32/12, 3:09.3

Full results here.