Nordic Medal History
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
Mon, Mar 5, 2007 - By US Ski Team
SAPPORO,
Japan (March 3) - Bill Demong's silver medal Saturday in the nordic
combined individual (or Gundersen) event at the 2007 FIS Nordic World
Ski Championships is the fifth nordic medal in Olympics or Worlds
competition by a U.S. skier.
A look at each sport:
Cross Country
1976 - Bill Koch took silver in the 30K, the opening men's race in
Seefeld, Austria, the cross country venue for the Innsbruck Olympics.
1982 - Koch, who would go on that season to win the inaugural cross
country World Cup title, was bronze medalist in the 30K in Oslo,
Norway, the opening men's race at the World Championships.
No cigar: Unheralded Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) came out of nowhere to
finish fourth in the 15K classic technique at the 2003 Worlds in Val di
Fiemme, Italy, missing a podium by 2.1 seconds.
Nordic Combined
2003 - Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) surprised three others
in the final 200 meters and skied to the sprint world championship in
Val di Fiemme, Italy.
2007 - Demong, a skiing ambassador for New York's Olympic Regional
Development Authority in Lake Placid, earned silver in a wild finish to
the 15K race concluding the individual event.
No cigar: The combined team was fourth in the 2002 Olympics in Utah and
the '95 Worlds in Thunder Bay, Ont., fifth at the '97 Worlds in
Trondheim, Norway. Todd Lodwick was fifth, 12 seconds off the podium in
the '02 Olympic sprint.
Jumping
1924 - Anders Haugen finished third in jumping at the first Winter
Olympics. A scoring error said he was fourth but a Norwegian historian,
preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Olympics,
found the scoring error - Haugen actually finished third. A
half-century after the competition, in special ceremonies in Oslo,
Haugen received the bronze medal from a family member of the Norwegian
who originally was declared the medalist.
No cigar: Jeff Hastings was fourth in the Olympic large hill (then 90-meter) event in 1984 in Sarajevo, 1.7 points from bronze.
--
Four U.S. men, who were on the 2002 Olympic Team, will go Sunday in the
50K classic, the last event of the championships. Kris Freeman
(Andover, NH) will race along with James Southam and Lars Flora (both
Anchorage, AK) plus Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT). Freeman, Flora and
Johnson also were on the '02 Olympic Team.
Freeman is the reigning U.S. 50K classic champion, having won a year ago in soft snow at the 10th Mountain Division Center in Fort Kent, ME. Flora won the 50K U.S. title in 2004 and '05 when it was competed in freestyle technique.