Nordic gold rush for U.S. skiers
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Todd Lodwick exults after winning a world title Friday. Credit: Alexander Hasselstein / Getty Images
It’s a heavy metal day for U.S. skiing.
Todd Lodwick added another gold to Friday’s haul -- following ski jumper Lindsey Van -- with a victory in the Nordic combined mass start event at the 2009 worlds in Liberec, Czech Republic.
Lodwick, who returned to the sport this season after a two-year absence, won the cross-country and jumping phases of the competition. It had to be spread over two days and have the individual phases reversed (cross-country is supposed to be second) because weather conditions made jumping impossible Thursday.
It was the first medal in seven world championship appearances for Lodwick, 32, and just the second gold for a U.S. athlete (other than women jumpers) in the history of the Nordic worlds. Johnny Spillane won the Nordic combined sprint event in 2003.
Bill Demong, a world silver medalist in 2007, was fifth Friday.
Also in Liberec: Kris Freeman finished fourth in the 15-kilometer classic style event Friday, matching his performance in the same event at the 2003 edition of the biennial world meet. Those are the best finishes by a U.S. cross-country athlete since Bill Koch’s silver medal at the 1976 Olympics.
-- Philip Hersh
