Nordic combined
The U.S. nordic combined squad came agonizingly close to winning its first Olympic medal in the team event four years ago, finishing fourth by less than a second on cross country skis that were slow because they were improperly prepared. The U.S. probably won’t contend in the team event this time, but Steamboat’s Todd Lodwick could end his stellar 13-year career with a history-making appearance on the medals stand.
U.S. Olympic team
Todd Lodwick, 29, Steamboat Springs
Johnny Spillane, 25, Steamboat Springs
Bill Demong, 25, Vermontville, N.Y.
Carl Van Loan, 25, Webster, N.H.
Brett Camerota, 21, Park City, Utah
Eric Camerota, 21, Park City, Utah
Sure bet
Hannu Manninen, Finland
Manninen is closing in on his third consecutive World Cup title, but the 27-year-old from Rovaniemi has not won an individual medal at the Olympics or world championships. That figures to change at the Olympic course in Pragelato. Manninen won the prestigious German Grand Prix this season, and the question isn’t whether he will win a medal, it’s how many. Manninen made his Olympic debut at Lillehammer in 1994 at age 15. His parents are gymnastics teachers.
Who to watch
Ronny Ackermann, Germany
The World Cup champion in 2002 and 2003 took a silver medal in the sprint event at the Salt Lake Games – Germany’s first individual nordic medal since East Germany won two in 1980 – two medals at the 2003 world championships and two gold at worlds last year. He tore two ligaments in his left ankle last season but will be a major factor in the Turin Games.
The Austrians
Austria is primarily known as a power in alpine skiing, but Mario Stecher and Felix Gottwald represent a potent one-two punch and Christoph Bieler is a good jumper. Gottwald, 30, won two bronze medals at Salt Lake and will be competing in his fourth Olympics in Turin. Stecher won a silver medal at the 1999 worlds when he was 21.
Todd Lodwick, Steamboat Springs
At the 1996 world juniors championships, Lodwick won a gold medal with Hannu Manninen taking silver and Gottwald bronze. Lodwick has been butting heads with them ever since. Lodwick will retire after Turin, his fourth Olympics. He figures to be fit and feisty after skipping several World Cup races to rest, train and attend the birth of his first child. Daughter Charley Jordan Lodwick arrived Dec. 29.
Did you know?
Nordic combined involves ski jumping and cross country skiing with the results of the jumping competition determining a handicapped, staggered start for the cross country race. After the jumping portion, which requires a relaxed athlete to make precise movements with great finesse, the competition moves to the all-out fury of a race which usually leaves the athletes writhing in the finish area, gasping for air.
Although Lodwick has yet to capture medals at the Olympics or world championships, he has won six World Cup events including the two most prestigious classics in the sport – Oslo’s Holmenkollen (1998) and Schonach, Germany (1998 and 2004) – which attract tens of thousands of spectators annually.
Colorado connection
Steamboat’s Johnny Spillane, a 2003 sprint world champion, separated his right shoulder while jump training in Finland just before the season opener and doctors advised reconstructive surgery. Because of the Olympics, Spillane elected to put off the surgery until after the season. Spillane battled ailments in his back most of last season and injured both shoulders in Norway last summer.
Olympic spirit
Spillane, on putting off reconstructive shoulder surgery to compete in the Olympics:
“The bad news was I need surgery, but the good news is I can wait until spring,” Spillane said in November. “I have to be prepared to deal with the pain, but that’s OK.”
Cross country
The U.S. continues to lag behind traditional powers Norway, Germany, Sweden and Finland. There are small signs of progress, however, and the U.S. Ski Team’s goal of winning one medal in Pragelato is a stretch but not a farce. On a good day, Carl Swenson or Kris Freeman could sneak onto the podium. Encouraging results at the junior level give the team hope for the future.
U.S. Olympic team
Men
Chris Cook, 25, Rhinelander, Wis.
Justin Freeman, 29, Andover, N.H.
Kris Freeman, 25, Andover, N.H.
Lars Flora, 28, Anchorage, Alaska
Andrew Johnson, 28, Greensboro, Vt.
Torin Koos, 25, Leavenworth, Wash.
Andy Newell, 22, Shaftsbury, Vt.
James Southam, 27, Anchorage, Alaska
Carl Swenson, 35, Park City, Utah
Leif Zimmermann, 22, Bozeman, Mont.
Women
Rebecca Dussault, 25, Gunnison
Sarah Konrad, 38, Laramie
Abigail Larson, 32, Bozeman, Mont.
Kikkan Randall, 23, Anchorage, Alaska
Wendy Wagner, 32, Park City, Utah
Lindsey Weier, 21, Mahtomedi, Minn.
Lindsay Williams, 21, Hastings, Minn.
Sure bet
Marit Bjoergen, Norway
Bjoergen, 25, won three individual medals at the 2005 world championships and claimed the World Cup season title. She used to be a classical specialist but now excels at both techniques, at long-distance events and in sprints. Norway’s men have dominated Olympic cross country skiing with 83 medals, but only one Norwegian woman has won an individual gold medal – Bente Skari in 2002. Bjoergen could win six medals (including two relays).
Who to watch
Tobias Angerer, Germany
The 28-year-old has been the talk of the World Cup this season. If he wins it, he will make it three straight seasons Germans claimed the Cup (where have the Norwegians been?). Strong and tall (6-feet-2), Angerer is adept at both disciplines (skating and classical).
Kris Freeman, USA
Maybe Freeman will be the man to end the long medal drought for the U.S. in cross country – now or four years hence in Vancouver. In 2003 he won a gold medal at the international under-23 championships and then finished fourth at the world championships. Freeman is a diabetic who injects insulin up to six times a day.
Beckie Scott, Canada
A former swimmer who turned to cross country racing at age 13, Scott became the first Canadian – and the first North American woman – to win an Olympic medal in cross country in the pursuit event in Salt Lake. She finished the race in third place but received the gold medal after Russians Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova were disqualified for doping. Scott is married to former U.S. racer Justin Wadsworth.
Colorado connection
Rebecca Dussault, Gunnison
Gunnison’s Rebecca Dussault was a promising junior racer who beat Norway’s Marit Bjoergen at the 2000 world juniors championships, but Dussault quit the sport at age 19 with a case of burnout, got married and started a family. After a three-year hiatus, she felt a “calling” and returned to competition in 2004. The deeply religious Dussault travels everywhere with husband Sharbel and son Tabor, and they will be with her in Pragelato.
Best all-time
Bjorn Daehlie, Norway
The incomparable Bjorn Daehlie won a record 12 Olympic medals in the three Olympics of the 1990s, eight of them gold, also a record. The Michael Jordan of Norway gave a classic example of what made him great in winning his last Olympic race, the 50-kilometer at Nagano. Feeling spent and unsure of himself before the race, Daehlie warned his wife he might finish 30th. In a 31-mile marathon on skis that took him just over 2 hours, 5 minutes, Daehlie finished only 8.1 seconds ahead of silver medalist Niklas Jonsson of Sweden. Daehlie collapsed in exhaustion at the finish line and could not remove his skis without help. “The last kilometers were the worst I’ve experienced,” Daehlie said. “I thought I would die.”
Ski jumping
Since Jeff Hastings finished fourth at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, the U.S. hasn’t had much to celebrate in ski jumping. Mike Holland won a World Cup event in 1989 and his younger brother Jimmy was second in a 1992 World Cup. If anybody finishes in the top 20 this year, it will be cause for great celebration.
U.S. Olympic team
Alan Alborn, 25, Anchorage, Alaska
Jim Denney, 22, Duluth, Minn.
Anders Johnson, 16, Park City, Utah
Clint Jones, 21, Steamboat Springs
Tommy Schwall, 22, Steamboat Springs
Sure bet
Janne Ahonen, Finland
Ahonen, 28, has been on top the past two seasons and he has won four world championships medals, but in three previous Olympics he has failed to win an individual medal. He won a silver medal in the team competition at Salt Lake but could manage no better than fourth individually – amazing for a man who has three dozen World Cup wins. Ahonen also finished fourth four years earlier in Nagano.
Who to watch
Jakub Janda, Czech Republic
He’s the new star of the World Cup, having won two medals at last year’s world championships and riding that momentum into this season. He won the season’s first World Cup and added four more victories through New Year’s Day. No one doubts his ability, but with his sudden success, how will the 27-year-old handle being considered a medal favorite?
Matti Hautamaeki, Finland
A bronze medalist at Salt Lake and silver medalist at the 2003 world championships, Hautamaeki won six consecutive World Cup events late last season after struggling most of the season.
Roar Ljoekelsoey, Norway
Ljoekelsoey won a silver medal at last year’s world championships, and you just know NBC’s Bob Costas will have fun saying that name. Roar what?
Colorado connection
Tommy Schwall and Clint Jones, Steamboat Springs
Tommy Schwall and Clint Jones grew up in Steamboat Springs looking up to neighbor Todd Lodwick, a nordic combined athlete who made his first Olympic team in 1994. Jones and Schwall made the Olympic team as youngsters four years ago and are back again. Jones recently upset Lodwick at the U.S. jumping championships on their home hill in Steamboat.
Biathlon
Obscure sport? Not in Europe, where it draws huge crowds and qualifies as must-see TV on Eurosport, in part because Germany is the continent’s most populous country and Germans are strong. Jay Hakkinen managed the best finish for a U.S. biathlete at the 2002 Olympics, finishing 13th in the 12.5-kilometer pursuit.
U.S. Olympic team
Women
Lanny Barnes, 23, Durango
Tracy Barnes, 23, Durango
Sarah Konrad, 38, Laramie
Rachel Steer, 28, Anchorage, Alaska
Carolyn Treacy, 23, Duluth, Minn.
Men
Lowell Bailey, 24, Lake Placid, N.Y.
Tim Burke, 24, Paul Smiths, N.Y.
Jay Hakkinen, 28, Kasilof, Alaska
Brian Olsen, 22, Minneapolis, Minn.
Jeremy Teela, 29, Anchorage, Alaska
Sure bet
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Norway
Bjoerndalen went 4-for-4 in Salt Lake, winning gold medals in every event he entered (three individual events and a relay). He is one of three athletes to win four golds at a single Winter Games.
Who to watch
Uschi Disl, Germany
How big is biathlon in Germany? Disl, winner of eight Olympic medals and 15 at the world championships, was named Germany’s sportswoman of the year in 2005 largely for her two gold medals at last year’s worlds. Now 35, “Turbo” Disl has said this will be her last Olympics. It will be her fifth.
Sarah Konrad, USA
Konrad also made the U.S. Olympic team in cross country, making her the first woman to compete in two sports at the same Winter Games. Konrad, who has been a top masters cross country skier, took up biathlon three years ago. Last year she made world championships teams in both sports.
Kati Wilhelm, Germany
Wilhelm won the World Cup last season and is closing in on another title this season. She won two individual medals in Salt Lake (one gold) and a relay medal. In her sprint victory, she didn’t miss a shot.
