Liberec, Czech Republic  - Bill Demong turned from villain to hero with a Nordic combined gold and Justyna Kowalczyk became the queen of cross-country skiing with a second world title on her own at the Nordic skiing world championships on Saturday.

Demong beat Germany's Bjoern Kircheisen for the Nordic combined normal hill crown, two days after he failed to find his bib in the team event which led to his disqualification and ended the US medal hopes.

"I said I would get over it. But it was always a little bit in the back of my head," said Demong, who also praised his team-mates for helping him get over the embarrassment.

Kowalczyk skied away from her rivals on the final kilometre to add the 30km gold to the pursuit title and 10km bronze, winning from Russia's Evgenia Metvedeva and Valentino Shevchenko of Ukraine.

Kowalczyk has one gold less than Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, but the Finn won the team sprint and relay with the help of others after the 10km gold (and pursuit bronze), which prompted former star and organizing committee head Katerina Neumannova to rate Kowalczyk slightly higher.

"She is a queen but they are on the same level. The pursuit and 30km are the most difficult races," said Neumannova.

In the day's third event, Austria redeemed itself after a medal-less large hill individual event with a third straight team title.

Demong attacked Kircheisen on the final climb of the 10-kilometres cross-country pursuit and again just before the home straight to give the US a third Nordic combined gold and the fourth overall in Liberec in 23:36.6 minutes, to go with his 2007 silver and normal hill bronze in Liberec.

Kircheisen trailed by 12.8 seconds in the end as Germany missed out on gold yet again at the championships with an eighth silver.

Frenchman Jason Lamy Chappuis, who won the morning jumping portion and started the skiing 52 seconds ahead of Demong, had to settle for third, 31.4 seconds off the pace, after being caught by Demong and Kircheisen with 3km left.

"I like to hunt. Eighth after the jump was good for me," said Demong. Kircheisen said he tried his best but that Demong was "a little bit stronger."

Todd Lodwick had won the other two Nordic combined events for the US earlier in the championships. The US also won the women's ski-jump from Lindsey Van and are level with Norway on four golds.

"We have learnt to be relaxed and then the results come. You become really dangerous when you ski as if you don't care but you do care," said Demong.

World Cup leader Anssi Koivuranta was placed second after the jumping but then withdrew due to an illness which had already sidelined him for the team event. The Finn left Liberec empty-handed having placed fourth in the normal hill and mass start events.

Kowalczyk clocked 1 hour 16 minutes 10.6 seconds in a fast-paced 30km race. Medvedeva was 8.8 seconds behind and Shevchenko trailed by 9.3 seconds.

"I am delighted with my second gold. It was my dream and now it has come true," said Kowalczyk. "I wanted to attack on the last climb and the tactics worked out well."

Saarinen finished outside the medals in seventh place, 16.5 seconds behind Kowalczyk, as she failed to medal for the first time. Compatriot title holder Virpi Kuitunen withdrew during the race after falling behind early on. Kuitunen won the 2007 title when the race was held in her preferred classic style.

Normal hill world champion Wolfgang Loitzl had the longest jumps of 131 metres and 136m in each round as he won together with Olympic champion Thomas Morgenstern, Martin Koch and World Cup leader Gregor Schlierenzauer for Austria with 1,034.3 points.

Norway came second with 1,000.8 points and Japan were surprise third-place finishers with 981.2 points.

Victory was sweet for Austria as it came the day after the nation came up empty-handed in the large hill individual event won by Switzerland's Andreas Kuettel.

"I am very satisfied with the worlds. I wanted a medal, in the team and on my own. It worked out perfectly," said Loitzl, who now a total six world titles.

The world championships end Sunday with the men's 50km cross-country ski race. (dpa)