Nordic Combined Relay Earns Silver

WHISTLER OLYMPIC PARK, BC (Feb. 23) – The U.S. Nordic combined team took the silver medal in the team relay on Tuesday for its second silver of the Olympics. Anchor Billy Demong held the lead with little more than a kilometer to go, but Austria's Mario Stecher out-sprinted him to victory.

Johnny Spillane, member of the silver medal team.

Having started the relay in third position and 36 seconds behind leaders Finland after the large hill ski jump, the Austrian quartet produced a strong performance in the cross country as third leg Felix Gottwald put his side into the decisive lead.

The United States finished second at 5.2 seconds behind to claim silver, while Germany's quartet, sixth after the ski jump, took bronze at 19.5 seconds.

"This is the greatest moment in Nordic combined history for the USA," said Todd Lodwick. “We've persevered over the last 10 years to get to this point. We feel like we've earned this silver medal and this spot in history."

The U.S. set itself up for the medal push with a second place finish on the jump hill, just two seconds behind Finland.

They opened the relay with Brett Camerota, whose job was to stay with the Finn. Camerota took the lead coming into the stadium after his 5K stint. In the second leg, Lodwick maintained the lead, but faced a formidable challenge from Austria's David Kreiner.

There were some anxious moments for German Tino Edelmann who fell on the second leg, but still managed to hand over with his side ranked fourth at that point.

"It happened pretty fast," he said of the fall. "I don't know what happened, it hasn't happen to me since I was a teenager. There wasn't any opponent doing anything to my skis. I am glad it didn't cost us a medal."

In the third relay leg, normal hill silver medalist Johnny Spillane battled back and forth with Austrian Felix Gottwald. The two built a cushion over the rest of the field, but Spillane was left behind as Gottwald sprinted past him in the last kilometer and built a 14-second lead for Demong to attack on his anchor leg.

Demong charged intently after Stecher and passed him on a climb midway through the 5K course.

Falling snow began to accumulate, however, and Stecher's lighter skis suited the conditions. Stecher took advantage of his superior descending ability and reclaimed the lead late, withstanding Demong's final push at the finish.

"It's always a benefit to draft a little bit, but today I definitely knew I needed to be clear of Mario before we got into that final downhill to have a chance," Demong said. "I was going up that last hill really hard like 'I think maybe I'm getting away,' and then I hit him with my pole right toward the top, I felt him back there and I was like, 'Nope, he's still there.'"

"It looked to me like he had some pretty slow skis and if you don't have fast skis, it makes it that much tougher," said teammate Johnny Spillane. "It just didn't go our way in the end."

It is the second Olympic medal for the U.S., both coming in these Games. Lodwick, Spillane and Demong also competed together to take fourth in Salt Lake and seventh in Torino.

"I think we're really happy with whatever," Demong said. "For sure, we did a really good job today. We knew that gold was possible. I knew it, on the last lap, it was what my goal was, but as a team and as a whole I think we're really satisfied with the show we did today."

Lodwick had a jump of 136.5 meters to lead the team into second place after the first round, trailing Finland by 2 seconds and leading third-place Austria by 34.

"I came out of retirement for two reasons: One, to have a lot of fun, and two, to get some hardware," Lodwick said. "I was hugely successful at World Championships, and now have been over successful here, so it's great."

Spillane said he was more than pleased by his second silver, too, even if it could have easily been gold.

"I had a good race, and you can hold your head up high when you gave it your best effort," he said. "We were hoping to be fighting for the win and we were. Maybe it didn't quite go as we wanted at the end, but you can't complain at all. Every single guy gave 100 percent effort.

"Everybody's jumping well and skiing well, so now we have one more event to try and do well at."

The large hill individual competition ends the Nordic combined schedule Thursday. The competition round begins at 10 a.m. PT, with the race set for 1 p.m.

"I feel good," Demong said. "We did a good training camp before, we did a good break last week, and if I can put down a good jump, I fill like I could be in there for an individual medal on Thursday as well."

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES
Whistler Olympic Park – Feb. 23
Nordic Combined Team 4x5K Relay

Gold – Austria (3, 1), 49:31.6
Silver – United States (2, 4), +5.2
Bronze – Germany (6, 2), +19.5
4. France (5, 3), +39.8
5. Norway (7, 5), +54.3