Val di Fiemme, Italy – Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong was back on the nordic combined skiing World Cup podium Sunday after making up a minute and 22 second deficit to finish less than four seconds behind Japan’s Akito Watabe.

Demong, of Vermontville, N.Y., was 17th after the jump but posted the fastest cross country time to land on the podium. It was his first World Cup podium since a win in Val di Fiemme, the site of the 2013 World Championships, in January 2010.

“It feels good to be back on the podium. I hadn’t really thought about it until we got to the press conference and realized the last time I was on a World Cup podium was when we were in Val di Fiemme in 2010 right before the Olympics,” said Demong. “It’s been two years, and same location. It’s good because it’s the site of the World Championships next year.

“Today I was a little more patient and made it happen,” he added. “At the end of the race I had enough energy left to keep pushing. On Friday I started very, very hard and yesterday I was really tired. Today finally was a good race from the start to the finish. I’m really happy now.”

Bryan Fletcher, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., matched his career best World Cup finish with seventh, moving up two spots after jumping to ninth. His brother Taylor, fresh off a Continental Cup win, earned his highest World Cup result after jumping to 33rd and finishing 14th. Johnny Spillane, also of Steamboat Springs, was 19th after battling sickness this week.

“All of our guys jumped really well, but we have to take out hats off to Akito Watabe who pretty much schooled everyone on the jumping hill and had a big lead,” acknowledged Dave Jarrett, Head Nordic Combined Coach of the U.S. Ski Team. “We just knew that this was getting more and more into the wheel house of where we can attack the podium. They did a really good job pacing and not doing too much at the front to help other people. They were in control the whole time. We’ve been putting a lot of energy into getting it going now and hopefully we can keep it rolling.”

The U.S. Team will now take a week’s break and rejoin the World Cup in Klingenthal, Germany Feb. 18-19.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Nordic Combined World Cup
Val di Fiemme, Italy – Feb. 5, 2012
Men’s Gundersen LH HS134/10.0 K