Demong wins men's Nordic combined

The 29-year-old Demong is also the world champion

Billy Demong stormed to victory in the men's individual large hill to become the United States' first Olympic gold medallist in the Nordic combined event.

Demong, the world champion, finished ahead of US team-mate Johnny Spillane and Austria's Bernhard Gruber.

The 29-year-old crossed the line in 25 minutes 32.9 secs, four seconds ahead of Spillane, having gone into the race in sixth place after the jump.

For Spillane, it was his third silver of the Vancouver Games.

Gruber had a 34-second head start after jumping the furthest off the large hill but finished 10.8 seconds behind.

Demong's victory was thanks in part to dreadful weather conditions that sidelined most of his serious rivals.

Wind and rain meant leading contenders such as Magnus Moan of Norway and Jason Lamy Chappuis of France could only put in poor jumps while Demong, Spillane and Gruber were able to jump earlier in more favourable conditions.

"It's a joke," complained Moan. "It's like a lottery. Some guys got good conditions, some others terrible conditions," added World Cup leader Chappuis.

It was the eighth gold medal of the 2010 Games for the US and their 30th in total.

A delighted Demong said it had been the result of years of hard work.

"I think it has been building over the past five to 10 years. We knew we had three guys who could medal on any given day," said Demong.

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