December 17, 2006 (Ramsau, Austria) – Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) tore over a flat course covered in soft snow today for the second-fastest 7.5K race as he moved up 10 places in a nordic combined World Cup hurricane sprint.

A disappointing jump (87.5 meters) in the lone round on the 98-meter jumping hill left him in 26th place. But Demong, who is skiing the best of his career in each race, stormed over the meadow loop and moved into 16th place. Norway’s Magnus Moan won by seven-tenths of a second over Jason Lamy Chappuis of France, who was born in Montana when his parents were college students.

Demong, who started the six-lap race 1:42 back of jumping leader Christoph Bieler of Austria, finished 53 seconds behind Moan. Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) was 28th.

“I’m happy with my race…but I still need to get a couple of meters in my jumping,” Demong said, adding he planned to train extensively at Lake Placid when he comes home for the holidays. “I want to get as many jumps on snow as I can, so I’ll be there every day, if I can.”

He said the lack of hills on the course “means not too many people were moving up, so you really had to be hauling. No hills reduced the chance of putting some time on the other guys.”

After spending the holidays at home, Spillane and Demong will return for the German Grand Prix, the annual three-meet World Cup series, which opens Dec. 30 in Oberhof, Germany.

Warsteiner Nordic Combined World Cup
Ramsau, AUT – Dec. 17, 2006
Hurricane Sprint (HS98/7.5K)

1. Magnus Moan, Norway, (8/5)
2. Jason Lamy Chappuis, France, (3/14) 0.7 seconds back
3. Ronny Ackermann, Germany, (5/9) 1.2
4. Anssi Koivuranta, Finland, (6/8) 1.8
5. Petter Tande, Norway, (6/10) 4.2
–
16. Bill Demong, Vermontville, NY, (26/2) 53.0
28. Johnny Spillane, Steamboat Springs, CO, (31/19) 1:33.6

For complete results click here.