Demong back on podium

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February 7, 2012

Anonymous Press-Republican The Press Republican Tue Feb 07, 2012, 02:23 AM EST

VAL DI FIEMME, Italy — Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong was back on the World Cup podium after making up a minute and 22 second deficit to finish in third, less than four seconds behind Japan's Akito Watabe, at the FIS World Cup Nordic Combine Sundayu.

Demong, from Vermontville, 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, Italy in Jan. 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," Demong said. "It's been two years, and same location. It's good because it's the site of the World Championships next year.

"(Sunday) I was a little more patient and made it happen. 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. (Sunday) finally was a good race from the start to the finish. I'm really happy now."

Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) matched his career best World Cup finish with seventh, moving up two spots after jumping to ninth. Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO), fresh off a Continental Cup win, earned his highest World Cup result after jumping to 33rd and finishing 14th.

Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) was 19th, battling sickness this week.

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