Home

Organizers of the Mountain Resorts Showdown in Steamboat World Cup B couldn't have asked for a much more exciting opening event than they got Saturday.

In the morning, Austrian David Zauner was just three meters short of breaking the K-114 hill record with a 124-meter effort in the jumping event.

In the afternoon, hometown favorite Bill Demong and German Matthias Menz stole the show on the cross-country course, leaving fans at the rodeo grounds sitting on the edge of their seats and yelling at the top of their lungs.

Zauner led both rounds of jumping with efforts of 124 and 123.5 meters. The performance gave the Austrian a 1 minute, 17 second advantage in the cross-country race.

But despite starting more than two minutes back, Demong and Menz quickly caught and passed several skiers, including Zauner.

The two remained neck and neck for nearly all four laps of the 15-kilometer course, setting up a sprint at the finish.

"I was a little bit surprised," Menz said about catching the leader. "But I know that I can ski well, because I trained well this year."

Unfortunately for the American fans, the German skier's training paid off, as he pulled ahead in the final 10 meters to win the race by 0.4 seconds in spine-tingling fashion. But after the race, Demong and the fans who watched the race unfold were anything but disappointed.

"It was a great crowd, and there is a lot of energy in this town," Demong said. "It was a blue-bird day. It was picturesque and cold and as fast as any other World Cup I've ever been at. So today was just another great competition in the history of Steamboat Nordic combined."

Menz's time of 2:38.5 led the field of 66 skiers. Demong was second at 2:38.9, and Norway's Kenneth Braaten, who was 10th after the jumping, finished third at 2:39.5. Braaten won three Nordic combined World Cup B events in Steamboat Springs two years ago. He moved up to the World Cup A tour, but he was ill last season and must once again work his way back to the main tour.

France's Nicolas Bal was fourth, teammate Sebastien Lacroix was sixth, and Norway's Ivar Markengbakken was seventh.

American coach Dave Jarrett was thrilled with his team's showing in the first World Cup B event of the season -- and not just with Demong's second.

The American coach has solid showings from Utah's Eric Camerota who moved from 35th after the jumping to finish in 10th place overall. Twin brother Brett Camerota also skied well, moving from 31st in the jumping to 13th overall.

Steamboat's Alex Glueck was 22nd, Jed Hinkley finished 32nd, and Willy Graves was 39th.

"It's our goal to move skiers up to World Cup A," Jarrett said. "We are looking forward to Sunday, and hopefully, they will get more snow in Lake Placid, and we can hold those competitions, too."

The Nordic combined World Cup B will continue today with the sprint event at Howelsen. Skiers will begin with a trial round at 9 a.m. followed by a one-jump competition. The 7.5-kilometer cross-country race is scheduled to be at 12:30 p.m.

--To reach John F. Russell call 871-4209

or e-mail jrussell@steamboatpilot.com