DPS & PHANTOM Glide Enlist Billy Demong For Product Development

PHANTOM Glide announces the hire of former World Cup Nordic Combined champion, Billy Demong, as head of strategic product development. Demong, who has been an active PHANTOM Glide tester since its invention more than seven years ago, will formally join fellow recent hire, Ted Ligety, as an integral part of the design, development, and business strategy teams across the two sister companies of DPS Skis and PHANTOM Glide.

“Billy Demong is a legend of American Nordic skiing and we’re lucky to have him on our DPS and PHANTOM Glide product teams. Billy has just the right mix of experience, curiosity, and engineering prowess to help us push the limits of what is possible with PHANTOM Glide,” says Chico Bukovansky, global sales director for DPS and PHANTOM Glide. “Billy has a real drive to re-think the ways in which we travel over snow in the backcountry and we’re excited to see what he’s able to accomplish in that realm.”

With 18 years on the US Ski Team, Demong was America’s first Olympic Champion in Nordic skiing winning the Nordic Combined event in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. In addition to being an athlete on the U.S. Ski Team, Demong was head of the USA Nordic National Teams for two Olympic cycles, 2018 and 2022. 

"PHANTOM Glide and DPS are leaders in innovation in the ski world and I’m excited to bring my expertise to the table. Maximizing your ski or snowboarding experience with consistent, premium glide is no different than in the Nordic world where glide is everything,” says Demong. “Having used PHANTOM Glide for nearly a decade and being a superfan and proud rider of DPS, I am really stoked to join this incredible team and play a larger part in contributing to their legendary design and innovation here in my Wasatch backyard!”

Demong’s extensive experience analyzing and testing glide and relying on PHANTOM Glide lends legitimacy to the efficacy of the product. Demong has gone so far as to substantiate that PHANTOM Glide replaces the need for typical Nordic ski prep, which is multiple layers of glide wax and hot-boxing. Demong will be a key player in refining PHANTOM Glide’s offerings ahead of the continued product innovation in the pipeline today.