TRONDHEIM, Norway | Bill Demong of the United States captured a World Cup Nordic combined event Saturday, outsprinting Bjorn Kircheisen of Germany at the finish to win by 0.7 seconds.

Demong covered the 15-kilometer ski race in 38 minutes, 54.9 seconds and finished eighth in the morning ski jump. It was his third World Cup victory and fifth top-three finish.

Bill Demong is from Vermontville, New York. He’s been a three-time Olympian and a world championships Nordic combined silver medalist.

Congratulations, Bill and you make your country, the US, proud. Hehe.

Source

Post from: EveryJoe

US Captures World Cup Nordic Combined

Gottwald’s victory bring Austria’s Gold Medal tally to 8 (the rest are 5 Silvers and 3 Bronzes). Most of Austria’s Gold Medals are won in events where skiing is an important element: Alpine Skiing, Nordic Combined, and Ski Jumping.

Gottwald thanking the heavens after crossing the finish line
(Source: NBC)

Gottwald had to overcome a huge 54-second deficit after placing poorly in the morning Ski Jumping portion. Gottwald was strong and, according to himself, “in good shape.” Sprinting past the early starters in dominating fashion, he was on his own by the time he reached the last leg of the event.

The event’s favorite Hannu Manninen of Finland failed to win any Gold Medals in what could be his last Winter Olympics.

Nordic Combined Individual event Gold Medalist, Georg Hettich, is the third place winner (18 minutes 38.6 seconds) in this event.

Post from: EveryJoe

Gottwald (AUT) GOT the Gold!

… We are opening the site up as a true community endeavor.
… We have invited a variety of other networks to participate as well.

So if you want to write about the games, please feel free to register at the site and we’ll get you all setup. Don’t forget to put in your country (”Extended Profile” under “Users”) and a link to your site (as it will go in every post you write).

So .. Pick a sporting event .. SIGN UP … and start blogging!!

All times are local Torino time (subtract 6 hrs for ET)

Curling
* 09:00 – Men – Canada vs Great Britain
* 09:00 – Men – Finland vs New Zealand
* 09:00 – Men – Sweden vs Norway
* 14:00 – Women – Sweden vs Great Britain
* 14:00 – Women – Italy vs Russian Federation
* 14:00 – Women – Japan vs Norway
* 14:00 – Women – Denmark vs United Sates
* 19:00 – Men – United States vs Italy
* 19:00 – Men – Great Britain vs Norway
* 19:00 – Men – Canada vs Switzerland
* 19:00 – Men – Germany vs Finland

Nordic Combined
* 10:30 List – First Round – LH Team
* 11:35 List – Final Round – LH Team
* 15:00 Team 4×5 km

Ice Hockey (Men’s Preliminary Rounds)
* 11:35 Kazakhstan vs Sweden
* 13:05 Italy vs Canada
* 15:35 Switzerland vs Finland
* 17:05 Germany vs Czech Republic
* 20:05 Russian Federation vs Slovakia
* 21:05 Latvia vs United States

Alpine Skiing
* 12:00 List – Ladies Downhill

Freestyle Skiing
*14:00 List Men’s Moguls Qualification
* 17:30 Men’s Moguls Finals

Luge
* 16:00 List – Doubles’ Run 1
* 17:20 Doubles’ Run 2

Speed Skating
* 17:00 List – Ladies Team Pursuit Preliminaries
* 17:31 List Men’s Team Pursuit Preliminaries
* 18:21 Ladies Team Pursuit QuarterFinals
* 18:52 Men’s Team Pursuit QuarterFinals

Short Track Skating
* 19:30 List Ladies 500m Quarterfinal 1
* 19:33 List Ladies 500m Quarterfinal 2
* 19:36 List Ladies 500m Quarterfinals 3
* 19:39 List Ladies 500m Quarterfinals 4
* 19:57 List Men’s 1000m Heat 1
* 20:01 List Men’s 1000m Heat 2
* 20:05 List Men’s 1000m Heat 3
* 20:09 List Men’s 1000m Heat 4
* 20:13 List Men’s 1000m Heat 5
* 20:17 List Men’s 1000m Heat 6
* 20:21 List Men’s 1000m Heat 7
* 20:44 Ladies 500m Semifinal 1
* 20:47 Ladies 500m Semifinal 2
* 21:05 List Men’s 5000m Relay Semifinal 1
* 21:14 List Men’s 5000m Relay Semifinal 2
* 21:38 Ladies 500m Final B
* 21:41 Ladies 500m Final A

Post from: EveryJoe

Busy Day Today – February 15, 2006

25 Medals for Canada? Where are we going to get 25 medals?

I should say that in my general community of friends and online contacts, sure – we are proud of ALL our Canadian Athletes (maybe a little more with the 5 Winnipeggers in Torino) and we are quite happy if they just perform to the best of their abilities to what they can! But, yah ~ there’s a side of us that also want’s them to Kick Butt! ;-) …

I was looking around at the CBC olympic site to see what events Canada is predicted to bring in medals .. The medal predictions kind of stopped in the events starting with “S” .. so, I had to combine the mostly CBC predictions with a little Sports Illustrated predictions for Canada ..

Before trying to compare these predictions to how our athletes have been competing in the events, here follows a “rough” estimate of the medals predicted to be had by Canada .. Maybe at the end of the Olympics I will come back and compare these to “reality”!

Alpine Skiing – Women’s Giant Slalom – Bronze
Alpine Skiing – Men’s Super-G – Bronze

Biathlon – None

Bobsleigh – Men’s Two-Man – Gold
Bobsleigh – Women’s Two-Man – Bronze

Cross Country Skiing – Women’s 10km – Bronze
Cross Country Skiing – Women’s Pursuit – Silver
Cross Country Skiing – Women’s Team Spirit – Solver
Cross Country Skiing – Women’s Sprint – Gold

Curling – Men’s – Gold
Curling – Women’s – Gold

Figure Skating – Men’s – Bronze

Freestyle Skiing – Men’s Aerials – Gold
Freestyle Skiing – Men’s Aerials – Silver
Freestyle Skiing – Men’s Moguls – Bronze
Freeystyle Skiing – Women’s Moguls – Silver

Ice Hockey – Men’s – Gold
Ice Hockey – Women’s – Gold

Luge – nothing

Nordic Combined – nothing

Short Track – Women’s 3000m Relay – Gold
Short Track – Men’s 5000m Relay – Silver
Short Track – Men’s 500m – Silver

Skeleton – Men’s – Gold
Skeleton – Men’s – Bronze
Skeleton – Women’s – Silver

Ski Jumping – nothing

Snowboard – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom – Silver
Snowboard – Men’s Snowboardcross – Silver
Snowboard – Women’s Snowboardcross – Bronze

Speedskating – Men’s 500m – Gold
Speedskating – Women’s 1500m – Silver
Speedskating – Women’s 3000m – Bronze
Speedskating – Women’s Team Pursuit – Silver

Okay then! According to the above, that looks like 30 medals to me … did I count correctly?
Gold – 10
Silver – 11
Bronze – 9

What do you think of these predictions?

Go Canada Go!

What are the predictions for your country?

Feel free to link them in the comments below!

Post from: EveryJoe

Canada’s Olympic Medal Quest

Hettich beat out a surging silver medalist Felix Gottwald of Austria, while Norway’s Magnus Moan took home the bronze in a photo finish.

Post from: EveryJoe

Gold Number Two For Germany – This Time in Nordic Combined