PARK CITY, UT – Finishing the 2009-10 season with consistent results, Alex Glueck (Steamboat Springs, CO) announced his retirement with the U.S. Nordic Combined Team after nine seasons.
“Skiing was great, I really enjoyed it,” said Glueck. “I always did it because I enjoyed it, not because I was the best at it.”

Glueck, like many impressionable young children, flew into the world of ski jumping because “his friends did it”. Experiencing early success with a Junior Worlds medal, he quickly set his sights high aiming for the World Cup. In 2006, his goal became a reality competing in the Sapporo, Japan World Cup.

USSA Press Release

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO (July 4) – With cheering crowds covered in red, white and blue, the U.S. Nordic Combined Team took to the stage for the July 4th Ski Jumping Extravaganza  in Steamboat Saturday and Sunday. The competition showcased hometown favorites and Olympic medalists Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) and Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) and 2010 Olympian Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) along with Olympic medalist Brett Camerota (Park City, UT). Lodwick won the race.
The extravaganza opened on Saturday, July 3 with the jumping competition, where the first of two jumps counted for the nordic combined. The 2K roller-skating portion of the combined was on Sunday morning, July 4, followed by the elimination jump competition before the parade. The events were held in downtown Steamboat Springs, with the roller-skating section taking over Lincoln Ave.

“The race was awesome and there was a good crowd. It was a great weekend for the Fourth of July and a good competition,” said Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett. “Everybody in Steamboat did a great job putting the competition on and I’m looking forward to one of the biggest firework shows in the nation tonight.”

Brothers, Brett and Eric Camerota (Park City, UT) landed solid jumps on Saturday, but could not out last team veteran Lodwick, who caught Eric in the roller-skate race beating him out on the line.

“It’s awesome that we get to showcase our sport on the Fourth of July and get to have a little fun with it,” said Lodwick. “The competitors including myself had smiles on their faces, we were just happy to be doing something downtown on the Fourth of July.”

Fletcher won the elimination jump competition, but experienced some bad luck in the roller-skate race, breaking a pole pushing off the starting line. Although Fletcher wasn’t able to completely redeem himself from last year’s race, his skate came off forcing him to crash, he shined on the jumping hill. Spillane also jumped well in the elimination competition, after posting one good and one not-so-good jump on Saturday.

“The problem today was right after I pushed off the start line my pole broke, so things didn’t really go the way I was hoping, but I had a good race,” said Fletcher. “I just came out this afternoon looking at it as a no pressure situation and just had fun. It was good, can’t complain.”

Steamboat’s Fourth of July festivities will wrap up tonight with an over-the-top fireworks show. The Team’s next stop is Park City, UT for the 2010 U.S. Nordic Combined Championships, July 29 – August 1.

For complete results, go to http://www.sswsc.org/. Results are scheduled to be posted in the near future.

Source: USSA

The Anchorage Daily News (ADN) reports that Alaska Pacific University (APU) athlete and coach Holly Brooks took second place in today’s Mount Marathon race, 365 days after she nearly passed out just shy of the finish line in last year’s race. Olympian Kikkan Randall, who also skis for APU, was third.

According to the ADN, Brooks led the race by two minutes at the top of the uphill portion (like many of Alaska’s mountain running races, Mount Marathon’s course includes both an ascent and descent), but six-time champion Cedar Bourgeois made up the gap on the downhill and passed Brooks on the finishing straight to take the victory.

Brooks also led the race nearly to the finish last year, but ended her day in even more heart-wrenching fashion: she had to be hospitalized and given an IV drip. She and Brent Knight, another APU athlete who was also hospitalized, ended up with cases of exertional rhabdomysis, which took them out of commission for weeks.

Complete coverage to come later.

The inaugural USSA National J2 Talent Camp will be conducted this July 31- August 8, 2010 on the campus of Michigan Technological University (MTU) in Houghton, Michigan. The camp will provide a great opportunity for many of the top young cross country skiers in the U.S. to train together and to learn from top USSA coaches and U.S. Ski Team staff. In addition to a full training schedule, the camp will include evening educational sessions to provide participants with up-to-date information on nutrition, health management, recovery methods, current international ski technique and training planning and execution.

To read the full press release, and to see the list of invited skiers, click here.

PARK CITY, UT (June 21) – After an historic performance in Vancouver, Olympic medalists Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY), Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO), Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) and Brett Camerota (Park City, UT) are leading the charge for the newly named 2011 U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team.

“The return of our four Olympic medalists is impactful not only to our Team, but to our future,” U.S. Nordic Program Director John Farra said. “It is wonderful to have our three World Champions, Johnny, Billy and Todd make a continued commitment to the sport and set their sights on more World Championship and Olympic medals and to serve as role models for our young future stars.”

Three athletes were named to the A Team and six to the B Team. Six of the athletes named to the team are also Olympians.

“We are psyched to have everyone returning for this coming year. Our goals and sights are squarely set on the World Championships in Oslo,” U.S. Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett said. “This is also an opportunity for us to get our next generation of champions on the right path.”

At Vancouver, the 2003 World Champion Spillane broke the drought for his team when, out of the starting gate, he snatched the silver medal during the first nordic combined event of the Olympics. His coaches are hoping for the same trailblazing out of him in the coming season.

Picking up on the team’s momentum, and not wanting to leave any unfinished business in Vancouver, Demong charged the final individual nordic combined event of the Games to take gold, the first medal of its kind for the U.S.

“We have proven talent in the ‘Big Three’ (Demong, Spillane, Lodwick), we have the Camerota brothers and Bryan Fletcher [Steamboat Springs, CO] who have all shown they are ready to take the next step in individual World Cup and World Championship results,” Jarrett said. “We also have young guys like Taylor Fletcher [Steamboat Springs, CO], Nick Hendrickson [Park City, UT], and Brett Denney [Steamboat Springs, CO] who are very capable on the cross country side already and with improved jumping will be fighting for results on the Continental Cup and World Cup.”

Returning to the sport after two years of retirement with the explicit goal of winning an Olympic medal, Lodwick was able to complete his journey in 2010 as both he and Camerota played pivotal roles in the team nordic combined event, which earned the U.S. another silver medal. Lodwick will be back to defend his world title in Oslo this February.

The U.S. Nordic Combined Team’s training season has already been off to a great start as athletes flock to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s home, the Center of Excellence in Park City. The Team will also come together for an early July camp in Steamboat Springs.

“The athletes have created a winning tradition for our sport and it is exciting to see them keep going while the rest of the athletes work to replace them,” Farra said.

The DKB FIS Nordic Combined World Cup will open Nov. 26 in Kuusamo, Finland. But the primary focus of the season will be the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships at the fabled Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway Feb. 24-March 6 where both Lodwick and Demong will defend their 2009 world crowns.

2011 U.S. NORDIC COMBINED SKI TEAM
(including date of birth, hometown and club program; * indicates Olympian):

A Team
Billy Demong (3/29/80; Vermontville, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation)*
Todd Lodwick (11/21/76; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)*
Johnny Spillane (11/24/80; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)*

B Team
Brett Camerota (1/9/85; Park City, UT; National Sports Foundation)*
Eric Camerota (1/9/85; Park City, UT; National Sports Foundation)*
Brett Denney (2/26/90; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)
Bryan Fletcher (6/27/86; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)
Taylor Fletcher (5/11/90; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)*
Nick Hendrickson (6/20/91; Park City, UT; Park City Nordic Ski Club)

–Chandra Crawford has a photo set on her blog of her team’s trip up to the Haig Glacier. The Canadians are going back and forth between Canmore and the Beckie Scott High Altitude Training Center on the glacier as part of a nearly four week-long camp.

–The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has a University-centric (but still interesting) angle on Bryan Fish’s recent hiring by the U.S. Ski Team.

–New Zealand’s Snow Farm, the summer mecca for the U.S. Ski Team and others, is preparing to fully open for the “winter.”

–The Norwegian men’s team is fishing.

–Check out this awesome video of German Olympic medalist Peter Schlickenrieder racing a Pisten Bully.

Athletes during the rollerski race at the U.S. Ski Team's NTG Camp. Screen grab courtesy of U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association

The National Training Group (NTG) was joined by U.S. Ski Team member and number four ranked World Cup sprinter Andy Newell for a freestyle sprint race. Teammate, Liz Stephen, also joined the camp for the competition. Newell dominated the day, but not without being pushed by his heat of NTG sprinters. Stephen finished second behind Sophie Caldwell.

The race was held at Soldier Hollow on their roller ski loop. The women raced the traditional sprint loop while the men added a .3-kilometer section to their course. The day included a qualification round, followed by a 5 or 6 person quarterfinal, a semifinal, and the final heats. As with all U.S. Ski Team sprint time trials, the heats were stacked to put the fastest athletes in the same heat and adjusted regularly if needed, based on the split times from the previous heat. Every athlete had the opportunity to compete in all three heats.

Says U.S. Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb, “The day was a success. We talked early in this camp about accomplishing a high “strike rate” with one’s workouts during the camp and throughout a career. In the wake of Andy Newell’s sprint tactics and preparation presentation, we saw individual warm-up, competition, and recovery strategies. The focus was where it needed to be today. It was where it needs to be everyday.”

A bill that officially allows rollerskiing, with certain restrictions is currently before the Michigan legislature.  As reader Randy Bladel (who brought the bill to our attention) points out, the bill is mostly common sense, though the sunrise to sunset restriction could be problematic for those who ski after work in the fall.  Randy also notes that the bill does not give rollerskiers any specific protections, such as a five foot passing rule.

HOUSE BILL No. 6125

May 4, 2010, Introduced by Reps. Lindberg, Roy Schmidt, McDowell, Lahti, Nerat, Sheltrown and Liss and referred to the Committee on Transportation.

A bill to amend 1949 PA 300, entitled

“Michigan vehicle code,”

(MCL 257.1 to 257.923) by adding section 660e.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

SEC. 660E. (1) EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN SUBSECTION (2), A PERSON

MAY USE ROLLER SKIS ON THE STREETS AND HIGHWAYS OF THIS STATE AND IN AREAS AND ON PATHS SET ASIDE FOR THE USE OF BICYCLES AS PROVIDED IN THIS SECTION. A PERSON WHO USES ROLLER SKIS SHALL DO ALL OF THE

FOLLOWING:

(A) ONLY USE ROLLER SKIS DURING THE DAYTIME BETWEEN SUNRISE AND SUNSET.

(B) ONLY USE ROLLER SKIS ON A STREET, HIGHWAY, PATH, OR OTHER AREA THAT IS OPEN TO PUBLIC USE BY BICYCLISTS AND ROLLER SKIERS.

(C) USE A BICYCLE LANE OR THE SHOULDER OF A STREET OR HIGHWAY, IF AVAILABLE.

(D) TRAVEL ON A STREET, HIGHWAY, PATH, OR OTHER AREA IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS VEHICULAR TRAVEL.

(E) TRAVEL ON THE FAR RIGHT SIDE OF A STREET, HIGHWAY, PATH, OR AREA.

(F) REFRAIN FROM UNNECESSARY MOVEMENT WHEN BEING PASSED BY A MOTOR VEHICLE.

(G) PROCEED IN SINGLE FILE, EXCEPT WHEN PASSING.

(H) WEAR A PROPERLY SECURED HELMET ON HIS OR HER HEAD.

(I) WEAR CLOTHING BEARING OR CONTAINING REFLECTING MATERIAL.

(2) A LOCAL UNIT OF GOVERNMENT MAY ADOPT AN ORDINANCE

PROHIBITING THE USE OF ROLLER SKIS AS DESCRIBED IN SUBSECTION (1) ON STREETS AND HIGHWAYS, PATHS, AND OTHER AREAS WITHIN ITS JURISDICTION.