Home

Steamboat Springs — Bill Demong picked up another top-five World Cup finish in Klingenthal, Germany, on Sunday in a rare World Cup doubleheader.

With the weather wreaking havoc, Saturday's mass-start competition was pushed back to Sunday. Organizers held one round of jumping Sunday morning to complete the event. A short time later, they rolled into the scheduled sprint event, staging one round of jumping before a 7.5-kilometer ski race.

Germany's Eric Frenzel had the second-best ski jump and won the mass start, with teammate and World Cup leader Ronny Ackermann placing second. Demong, who had been third Saturday in the 10-kilometer, held on to fourth place despite an ordinary jump. Steamboat's Johnny Spillane finished 14th.

In the sprint, Demong had the third-fastest race to finish 14th, while Spillane finished 19th. Ackermann finished first in the sprint, with Frenzel second.

"It was a pretty rugged weekend," Demong said in a U.S. Ski Team news release. "We were up early today to get in whatever we could complete. I was a little disappointed because I definitely jumped better in training this week than I did in the comps. But we got two competitions in, which is better than no competitions."

With the finishes, Demong held on to second place in the overall Nordic combined standings.

"The winds were all over the place today," Demong said.

"I definitely was pushed down by a tailwind on my second jump, but we held something for them, so that was good. It wasn't ideal, but at least they got to see some competition."

The next stop for the Nordic Combined World Cup schedule is in Seefeld, Austria, with a sprint Saturday and an individual event Sunday.