Nordic gold medalist Johnny Spillane undergoes shoulder surgery{mosimage}Turns out nordic combined world champ Johnny Spillane gutted his way through shoulder pain in February to win that sprint gold medal at the World Championships, but now he's rehabbing after left shoulder surgery.

"I hurt it pretty good in a crash in Ramsau (in January)," said Spillane, who had surgery May 1, "but I didn't want to stop because I was skiing pretty good at the time. I could deal with it." He injured the labrum in his shoulder; however, he said he expected to be back jumping on the plastic hills at Utah Olympic Park and roller-skiing by early summer.

Spillane's return dovetails nicely with the bounce-back by Bill Demong, who missed the 2003 season after fracturing his skull last summer in a fluke swimming pool accident. Demong took the winter off from jumping although he maintained his cross-country training and skied in a few races when he wasn't working as a carpenter in Steamboat Springs, Colo., or taking classes at Colorado Mountain College.