LIBEREC, Czech Republic — Todd Lodwick of the United States won a Nordic combined event Sunday for his second straight gold at the Nordic skiing world championships.

He pulled away from Jan Schmid of Norway in the final uphill portion of the course and came into the ski stadium alone, raising his arms to celebrate in the final stretch. Lodwick finished in 24 minutes, 22.3 seconds, with Schmid 13 seconds behind and American Bill Demong in third.

"Just another great day," Lodwick said. "I've worked really, really hard for this, it's just absolutely unbelievable."

Lodwick and Schmid formed a two-man group for the last 4 miles of the 10K freestyle race. Lodwick started with a 2-second advantage after leading the ski jump.

The 32-year-old Lodwick came out of retirement last year to aim for a world championship or Olympic title. He achieved that Friday when he won the mass-start event, a format that made its debut at the worlds.

"I have to give credit to my wax team, they worked really hard and I think I had some of the best skis," Lodwick said. "I was very tired on the final hill, but that's what it takes to win the gold."

Demong was only 12th after the ski jump, but had the fastest ski race to add another medal to his silver from 2007 in Sapporo, Japan.