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Demong fastest, finishes 7th

Steamboat Springs — Bill Demong protected his second-place ranking Sunday by finishing seventh in a Nordic combined World Cup sprint in Val di Fiemme, Italy (140m jump hill/7.5K race). He had the fastest time for the third straight race and moved up 18 places after jumping. Steamboat Springs' Johnny Spillane was fifth-fastest and finished 11th.

Germany's Sebastien Haseney, who was two-tenths of a second behind Demong on Saturday in an individual competition, out-skied Jason Lamy Chappuis of France in the sprint. He won by 0.3 seconds, with Austrian David Kreiner third, 2.0 seconds behind the winner.

Demong had a lackluster jump and was 25th, or 70 seconds behind jumping leader David Zauner of Austria to start the five-lap 7.5K race. He churned through the pack, finishing seventh, just 10.8 seconds off the pace set by Haseney, who had the second-fastest time. Spillane moved up 16 places to finish 11th, shaving a half-minute off his deficit with the leaders. He finished 39.5 second behind.

"This has been the story since coming back after Christmas," U.S. Nordic combined head coach Lasse Ottesen said. "They jump OK and then have a great ski race, both Billy and Johnny."

"It's nice to have a good result when we're not on top of our jumping," he said. "When they correct these small things that are making a five-, six- or seven-meter difference in their jumping, they'll be able to fight for the victory, fight for the podium."

After 11 competitions in the Warsteiner FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, Germany's Ronny Ackermann leads with 671 points, and Demong is second with 593. Spillane is 14th.

In World Cup B competition, Park City, Utah's Eric Camerota finished 10th to lead all Americans on Saturday at a Gunderson-format competition (HS 134/15K) in Liberec, Czech Republic. Steamboat's Bryan Fletcher finished 29th, and Steamboat's Alex and Davis Miller finished in 43rd and 48th, respectively. In Sunday's Nordic combined sprint event (HS 134/7.5K), Camerota again led the U.S. men with a ninth-place finish. Fletcher improved to 19th, and two other U.S. athletes - Park City's Brett Camerota and Steamboat's Alex Glueck - made the top-30 scoring cut, finishing in 26th and 30th, respectively. Vermont native Willy Graves finished 31st, and Alex Miller finished 53rd. The U.S. Nordic Combined World Cup B Team travels this weekend to Chaux Neuve, France.

Big boarding finishes

Madeline Schaffrick's pair of open class wins at last weekend's USASA Copper Series halfpipe and slopestyle contests in Copper Mountain was not the only winning performance from a Steamboat snowboarder. Dylan Davidson, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club junior snowboard team coach, said he was pleased with the overall results from his team's riding at the two-day competition, which resulting in a slew of podium finishes for local competitors.

"The team as a whole performed really well - it was the first time competing for a number of our athletes, but everyone supported each other and seemed to have a great few days," Davidson said. "The ability of the athletes to come up with a safety run, that was within their abilities and execute it, during the first heat of the day, allowed a lot of the riders to push themselves and try new tricks and different variation in their later runs."

The list of those top podium finishers, including that athlete's given age category, is as follows: Saturday's halfpipe competition; (youth women, ages 14-15) - 2, Cassandra Wagar. 3, Natalie Geer; (Breaker Girls, 12-13) - 1, Summer Smalley; (Menehune Girls, 10-11) - 1, Arielle Gold; (Menehune Boys, 10-11) - 1, Carter Smalley; (Grommet Boys, 8-9) - 1, Nikolas Baden. 2, Joel Revo.

Sunday's slopestyle competition: (Youth Men) - 2, Grant Murray; (Junior Men, 16-17) - 1, Austin Catevenis; (Men's Jam's, 18-22) - 1, Matthew Wells; (Grommet Boys) - 1, Nikolas Baden. 2, Joel Revo; (Menehune Girls) - 1, Arielle Gold; (Menehune Boys) - 2, Carter Smalley; (Breaker Girls) - 2, Summer Smalley; (Breaker Boys, 12-13) - 3, Keegan Weekslynn; (Youth Women) - 2, Natalie Geer. 3, Cassandra Wagar.