March 8, 2008 (Oslo, Norway) – Bill Demong from Vermontville, NY skied back from 26th after the jump to finish 9th 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 15K 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 (Steamboat Springs, CO) was fourth three times before retiring two years ago.

“It was a little bit of a rough day for us,” said Nordic Combined Coach Lasse Ottesen. “Even though Bill had a good day, it was the jumping hill that killed us.”

Weather has forced a number of changes to the jumping schedule. The first of two jumps for Saturday’s individual Gundersen competition was held Friday, with the second Saturday morning. Officials also held the single jump for Sunday’s scheduled sprint on Saturday.

Demong will be challenged in the final event Sunday where he hopes to hang onto second. He was 43rd in the sprint jump Saturday, going only 93.0 meters and will start 2:20 behind the leaders in the 7.5K cross country race to end the season.

“There was a little disappointment for the last comp of the year, especially when Bill’s in the position he is in fighting for second place overall,” added Ottesen. “Bill is outside being able to do anything with the outcome himself so we’re in a situation where we need help from other athletes to have him stay on that podium in the overall.”

It has been one of the most successful seasons in U.S. Nordic combined history, with both Demong and teammate Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) on podiums.

“It’s been a long season. The boys are tired, especially mentally,” said Ottesen. “It’s been a good year, but we always want to finish on a good note and today was a little disappointing. But the boys raced really well so we’ll take that with us.”

Following Sunday’s finale the Team heads back to Park City, Utah for the 2008 backcountry.com U.S. Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships which begin Friday. The combined event is Saturday at the Utah Olympic Park and Soldier Hollow Olympic venues.

Holmenkollen Ski Festival Results
Nordic Combined Individual Gundersen – 2 jumps/15km 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

For complete results click here.