Lake Placid, N.Y. – Seldom has an athlete been so frustrated and inconsolable after clinching a spot on the Olympic team.
But Courtney Zablocki’s disappointment was obvious in the tears, the sniffles and the time it took the pride of Highlands Ranch to compose herself after Friday’s luge World Cup on historic Mount Van Hoevenberg.
Her sense of loss was an indication of her standing in the sport. It is no longer enough for Zablocki to compete. She expects to contend and believes she can win. Friday represented an opportunity lost.
Zablocki, 24, had the two fastest training times Thursday and thought she was primed for her first World Cup podium, maybe even her first win. She knows every turn and twist of Lake Placid’s 1,130- meter track and she clearly was on top of her game.
But training unfolded under clear, cold conditions. The colder and harder the track, the more it theoretically favors the top sliders and separates the field because the ice requires more precision to slide cleanly.
Then the weather changed. Temperatures rose and a heavy snowstorm pounded upstate New York. Snow accumulated on the track during the race and the ice became more “grippy.” That made it easier to steer, diminishing the supposed advantage for the top sliders.
There was nothing flukish about the winner, Germany’s Silke Kraushaar, who won for the third time in five races this season. German women have won 61 consecutive races going back to November 1997.
But the order of Americans in the race clearly was contrary to form.
Samantha Retrosi, a 20-year-old in her second World Cup season, finished fourth to claim one spot on the Olympic team. World Cup newcomer Erin Hamlin, 19, shocked everyone, including herself, by finishing fifth to claim the second ticket to the Turin Games. Veteran Ashley Hayden finished 12th and failed to make the team.
Zablocki finished 13th but made the team because of her fifth-place finish last month on the track in Cesana Pariol, Italy, where the Olympics will play out. She was devastated.
“The way (training) times were going, the weather was perfect. It was cold, it was fast and my times were awesome,” Zablocki said. “I know you can’t control the weather, but I’m very disappointed. It was a very good chance to medal, to possibly knock the Germans off their winning streak. It’s disappointing when you come down and you know there’s no chance because of other factors.”
Zablocki also was upset because Hayden, who broke into the World Cup with her in 1999, won’t be in the Turin Games. Hayden finished eighth at the Salt Lake Olympics, Zablocki 13th.
“It is sad for her to see a friend not make the team,” said Ron Rossi, executive director of USA Luge.
USA Luge discovered Zablocki in 1993 as part of its “Slider Search,” which travels the country staging street tryouts on wheeled sleds. Having seen a flyer at the Northridge Rec Center, Zablocki and her brother showed up one Saturday and rolled down Plaza Drive, a long, sloping stretch of road just south of C-470 in Highlands Ranch. Then 12, Courtney went back the next day for more. She demonstrated potential, so she was invited to a USA Luge “screening camp,” and she’s been a luger ever since.
She often wonders what she would be doing if she hadn’t seen that flyer at the rec center. She’s halfway through college. Her boyfriend, Mike Kohn, is a bobsledder who was on People’s 2002 list of most eligible bachelors. She almost quit the sport in 2003 because her progress stalled but couldn’t bring herself to walk away.
She’s glad she stuck it out. Her performance on the difficult Cesana track marks her as a legitimate medal contender in February.
“I love difficult tracks,” Zablocki said. “Cesana was very difficult. You’re doing something in every single curve. There’s never a point when you’re like, ‘OK, I’m just going to lay here and let the sled take the line it’s going to take.’ You’re in control the whole time and you’re steering the entire time.”
Rossi says Zablocki clearly is America’s best female luger, and he’s counting on her in the Olympics.
“There’s probably seven or eight girls capable of winning a medal, and Courtney has shown she’s one,” Rossi said. “The track is so new, no one has a real advantage. That makes it a little more wide open.”
John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
