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**truebluefan** · 12-18-2007, 12:26 PM

RAMSAU, Austria (Dec. 14) - Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) collected his fourth World Cup top-10 of the season Saturday night, finishing 10th in a nordic combined mass start event. Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) was 15th behind Germany's Bjoern Kircheisen.

The mass start reverses the traditional jumping-then-racing format of nordic combined. Kircheisen, who was fifth in the 10K ski race, tied for best jump in the second round and finished with 265.0 points. Bernhard Gruber of Austria was second at 261.5.

Demong was 10th and Spillane 13th after the 10K race. Demong tied for 20th in the two rounds of jumping on Ramsau's 98-meter hill and finished with 245.2 points. Spillane was 25th in jumping and had 232.0.

After five World Cup events, Kircheisen is first overall with 334 points. Demong, who picked up the third win of his career a week earlier in Trondheim, Norway, is sixth at 232. Spillane, who opened the season with his first podium in five years, stands eighth with 170 points.

Sunday, the combiners have their final pre-Christmas competition, a sprint event involving one round of jumping on the 98m hill and a 7.5K race.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

2008 WARSTEINER FIS NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP
Ramsau, AUT - Dec. 15, 2007
Mass start (10K/98m jumping)
1. Bjoern Kircheisen, Germany, (5/2T) 265.0 points
2. Bernhard Gruber, Austria, (9/1) 261.5
3. Petter Tande, Norway, (6/2T) 257.0
4. David Kreiner, Austria, (4/7) 254.2
5. Jason Lamy Chappuis, France, (2/9T) 252.7
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10. Bill Demong, Vermontville, NY, (10/20) 245.2
15. Johnny Spillane, Steamboat Springs, CO, (13/25)

**truebluefan** · 12-18-2007, 12:27 PM

RAMSAU, Austria (Dec. 16) - Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) turned in the second-fastest 7.5K race Sunday and moved up 14 places in a World Cup hurricane start sprint event. He was sixth behind Germany's Bjoern Kircheisen, who couldn't catch Demong as he won his third World Cup in a nordic combined individual competition a week ago.

In the hurricane start, skiers form a coil at distances behind the jumping leader based on a handicap formula from their jumping. They uncoil as everyone starts together.

Kircheisen, who was third in the one round of jumping on Ramsau's 98-meter hill, finished 3.1 seconds ahead of teammate Ronny Ackermann. Demong, 20th after jumping, charged through the three-lap course and finished 11.8 seconds back in a photo finish with Austrian Christoph Bieler among a group of a half-dozen skiers.

Demong and Norway's Magnus Moan skied together most of the race, pulling each other to the front. Moan had the fastest 7.5K to finish fifth and Demong was second-fastest as he climbed to sixth place. After six events, Demong is fourth in the pverall standings behind Kircheisen.

Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) had his worst jumping day of the season, finishing 37th in the one round, but moved up to 28th during the 7.5K sprint.

"The race obviously went pretty well. We had some dead air during the jumping and the TD [technical delegate, who oversees any competition] decided to keep the speeds low on the in-run, so nobody was jumping far," Demong said. "We're struggling a bit with our jumping on smaller hills, so we're going to work on that during the holidays. For me, Lake Placid has a great hill to train on, so I'm psyched to get home and get some practice jumps."

The World Cup schedule resumes Dec. 30 in Oberhof, Germany, with the annual German Grand Prix, the three-event series within the series of World Cup competitions. Schonach will hold two events Jan. 5-6.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

2008 WARSTEINER NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP
Ramsau, AUT - Dec. 16, 2007
Hurricane Sprint (HS98/7.5K)
1. Bjoern Kircheisen, Germany, (3/9)
2. Ronny Ackermann, Germany, (2/12) 3.1 seconds back
3. Tino Edelman, Germany, (5/6) 8.7
4. Petter Tande, Norway, (7/7) 11.0
5. Magnus Moan, Norway, (25/1) 11.3
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6. Bill Demong, Vermontville, NY, (20/2) 11.8
28. Johnny Spillane, Steamboat Springs, CO, (37/13)1:40.3

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