Austria edges US for gold in Nordic combined relay

WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) For the second straight race, the American Nordic combined team had a gold medal in its grasp only to watch it slip away on the final straight at Whistler Olympic Park.

Billy Demong picked a set of skis unsuitable for the snowstorm that hit the race and watched Mario Stecher overtake him to give Austria the victory in the 4x5-kilometer team relay Tuesday.

Ten days ago, Johnny Spillane was unable to hold off Jason Lamy Chappuis of France in the normal hill 10-kilometer race.

"To be second is fine with us because the only reason you can be disappointed with second is if you didn't give your all," Spillane said. "And every single one of us gave 100 percent effort today."

Before these games, the Americans had not reached the podium in 86 years in Nordic combined - a ski jump followed by a brutal cross-country race.

"To put yourself in a position to win a gold, to win a medal anyway, that's what you come to the Olympics for," U.S. coach Dave Jarrett said. "So, we have no regrets."

Coming into Canada, the only medals won by the Americans in Nordic sports - biathlon, ski jumping, Nordic combined and cross-country skiing - were a silver by cross-country skier Bill Koch in 1976 and a bronze by ski jumper Anders Haugen in 1924 - and even he had to wait 50 years to receive it after a historian discovered a scoring error that had put him in fourth place.

But the Americans were emboldened by their dominance of the world championships last year, when they won three titles.

"We came here to be one of the best in the world and two events, two medals," said Todd Lodwick, the only five-time Olympic U.S. skier, who came out of retirement for these moments.

"Of course, after the jumping we thought we had a chance at gold - and we did. We pushed the pace, and we kept it high and kept everybody else away. All my teammates and myself left everything out there."

Now, the U.S. has silver medals in each of the two Nordic combined events held so far, and Spillane, Demong and Todd Lodwick are all threats to win Thursday's finale, another 10K race that will follow a jump off the large hill.

Stecher and his teammates, Felix Gottwald, David Kreiner and Bernhard Gruber, defended Austria's title from the Turin Games with a winning time of 49 minutes, 31.6 seconds, 5.2 seconds ahead of the U.S.

Germany won bronze, finishing 19.5 seconds back.

"I had a little bit more speed," Stecher said, "and the skis were a little bit better, too."

Demong erased a 14.1-second deficit he inherited from Spillane on the final exchange, but it took a lot out of him and he knew he didn't have the right skis to win unless he could shake Stecher on the final uphill.

He couldn't.

"At the beginning of the second lap I realized I had the better skis," said Stecher, who stayed in Demong's slipstream until the last downhill into the stadium, when he easily overtook him.

Demong said he selected the wrong skies based on a weather forecast that predicted snow after, not during, the race.

"I picked my skis based on the assumption that it was not going to snow," Demong said.

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