Park City, UT (Wednesday, May 14, 2003) - Nordic combined World Champion Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) said Wednesday he was having no problems following shoulder surgery and was looking forward to resuming jump training. At the same, Olympic teammate Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY) was pleased to return after missing last winter with a fractured skull.

Spillane, who stunned the World Championships in Italy in February when he won the nordic combined sprint, injured his left shoulder in a fall in Ramsau, Austria, in January. It hurt, he said, "but not enough to stop. I didn't want surgery then" with the World Championships just a few weeks away. "I could deal with it okay..."

He underwent surgery May 1 and is doing modified conditioning training as his shoulder regains its strength. "It's a little different training," he said, "where I can pretty much train two times a day, and I'm doing some weight workouts, although I can't do upper body [strength] stuff...but squats are okay, and I'm getting better quickly."

The Utah Olympic Park at Bear Hollow is expected to reopen June 1 and the combined squad will start its daily jump training within a day or so, if not on the First. Spillane said the surgery also hasn't affected his fly-fishing casting, either.

Meanwhile, who fractured his skull in a fluke swimming pool mishap in Europa last summer, has returned to Park City and is getting set to resume his jump training. He was allowed to continue cross country skiing last winter as a training device, and entered several races, including the renowned American Birkebeiner (he was 14th – and the seventh American in the 52-km race), but no jumping was permitted as doctors carefully monitored his recovery. He took several classes at Colorado Mountain Springs while living in Steamboat Springs and did some carpentry work.

"I'm psyched to be going back. I really missed being with the guys," Demong said, "I've still got to get medical approval but I'm feeling fine and I'm ready to go."

The first formal combined training camp is scheduled for the end of June in Calgary, according to Spillane, "but as soon as the Sports Park [UOP] is open, we'll be there and it'll be just like a camp. We're all anxious to get going."