More gold for U.S. Nordic skiers

Bill Demong made up in gold for both things he had lost in the last three days.

The missing bib number that led to his disqualification -- and that of his teammates -- from the Nordic combined team jumping event Thursday at the world championships in Liberec, Czech Republic.

And the substantial amount of time he lost based on the results of the jumping phase of the individual large hill event this morning.

The result was another gold medal for the astonishing U.S. Nordic combined skiers, giving them three golds (the other two by Todd Lodwick, who returned to the sport last summer after a two-season absence) and a bronze (Demong) at the 2009 worlds.

"Everything did come together the way we envisioned it. It's more validation because we always thought these results were possible," U.S. Nordic combined coach Dave Jarrett said.

Those four medals are as many as U.S. teams in all Nordic disciplines had won in all the previous  worlds added together.  Nordic combined skiers Demong (2007, silver) and Johnny Spillane (gold, 2003) had accounted for half those earlier medals.

"Todd coming back has made a huge impact on our team,'' said Demong, 28, of Lake Placid, N.Y.  "To have a teammate be the guy who was unbeatable has been amazing.

"When I think about these championships, I knew going in we could do it, but there's a million ways to have it go. We carried our momentum well and were fighting for the win the entire time."

Demong started the 10-kilometer cross-country phase of the event in eighth place, 52 seconds out of the lead, and he finished with a 12.8-second margin over Bjorn Kircheisen of Germany.  Lodwick, who had won the mass start and small hill events, finished 10th.

"I owed this to them," Demong said, referring to his teammates. "Thursday was rough. After it happened, it was odd, I actually needed my team's support. I really felt that I let them down, so today is dedicated to them.''

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Bill Demong, left, holds off Bjorn Kircheisen of Germany for the gold today. Credit: Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images 

That Nordic ski power ... the USA? ... does it again*

   

Todd Lodwick, left, and Bill Demong in a history-making moment for U.S. Nordic skiers (Matthias Schrader / Associated Press)

This is getting ridiculous.

I mean, the United States atop the gold-medal table and tied with Norway in overall medals at the Nordic skiing world championships?

And Todd Lodwick, the man who wondered three days ago if he ever would win a world or Olympic medal, now 2-for-2 golds in Nordic combined?

That is the situation after Sunday's action at the 2009 Nordic worlds in Liberec, Czech Republic, when Lodwick and Bill Demong went 1-3 in the Nordic combined small hill event.

"I think the most important thing about today, and probably the coolest, is that I am able to share this podium with a teammate,'' Lodwick said.

With Lindsey Van's gold in women's ski jumping, the USA now has four medals.

Never before have U.S. Nordic athletes won more than one medal in the same worlds. But the Nordic combined team has been doing well for several seasons in the World Cup, and both Demong (silver, 2007) and Johnny Spillane (gold, 2003) had won medals in recent editions of the biennial world meet.

Now these veteran athletes (Lodwick is a 4-time Olympian; Demong, three; and Spillane, two) will be favored to break the U.S. medal ice at the Olympics, where the best previous finish in Nordic combined is fourth in the team event in 2002. (An earlier version of this article said Demong was a two-time winner.)

"We knew going into it that we had the potential to do this,'' Demong said. "It's about the program. We've really built up a lot of success over the years, and I think we're relaxed and in shape and we're taking advantage of it.''

Lodwick's Sunday win was more significant than Friday's in the mass start event, since this event (100-meter jump hill, 10-kilometer ski) also is on the Winter Olympic program.

The 32-year-old from Steamboat Springs, Colo., won the jumping phase of the competition and took third in the cross-country.

"I've been jumping really well all week and had a good feeling coming from Steamboat,'' said Lodwick, who retired after the 2006 Olympics but decided last summer to try again. "The hill in Steamboat and the hill here in Liberec are similar, and I knew if I was jumping well in Steamboat that I could come here and do well."

-- Philip Hersh

Nordic gold rush for U.S. skiers

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

Now it's on to Vancouver

Welcome back to the LAT Olympics blog as it shifts from the Beijing Summer Games of last August to the Vancouver Winter Games, set for Feb. 12-28 of next year. Instead of Ticket to Beijing, it now is Ticket to Vancouver.

We will be posting throughout the year on Olympic news, but particularly as it relates to the Vancouver Games.  All of the Beijing posts can be accessed through the "Beijing Games" category link in the right rail of the blog.

Many of our Summer Games bloggers will be back for the Winter Games, including LAT columnist Helene Elliott and Philip Hersh, a veteran of Olympics coverage who writes for the LAT and the Chicago Tribune.

Many of the features created for Beijing will still be accessible, including photo galleries and videos.

Though we will be updating the look of this blog as we go, you can catch Olympic news right here. That will include blogging from the World Figure Skating Championships next month by LAT staff from Staples Center.

-- Debbie Goffa

Photo: Last week the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games cauldron burned brightly at Canada Olympic Park,  marking the one-year countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Credit: Jeff McIntosh / Associated Press