PRAGELATO, Italy, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Felix Gottwald came from 54 seconds behind Tuesday to win the Nordic combined sprint and continue an amazing Olympics for Austria.
The event is made up of one jump off the large hill, followed by a 7.5-kilometer dash on the cross-country course.
Georg Hettich of Germany, who won the longer version of this event earlier in the Olympics, had the best jump and a 5-second head start on the field. Gottwald was 12th after the jump and began the cross-country race 45 seconds behind.
By the time he had reached the fourth of six check points, however, Gottwald had caught up and he won the gold medal in 18 minutes, 29.0 seconds -- five seconds faster than Norway's Magnus Moan. Hettich, who fell back as far as sixth place late in the race, came back to finish third.
It was the second gold of the Olympics for Gottwald, who was a part of Austria's triumph in the Nordic combined team event.
Gottwald's gold Tuesday was the eighth of these Olympics for Austria, two more than it had ever won before.
Americans Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane finished ninth and 10th.
