Nordic Confused...

An apt decription of the athletes who decideto juggle their time between the Nordic tracks and the jump hill. But what a season those US Noco boys are having, huh? Results from yesterday in Oberhof GER, Lodwick 2nd in an epic sprint finish after jumping himself into 5th following a 2 season hiatus from the WC scene. The rest of the US breakdown: Demong in 5th, 41 seconds back, and Johnny with a strong finsih in 7th, but sadly DQ'd for failing to ski with a transponder. Eric Camerota in 39th.

So, unofficially that's 3 Americans in the top 7. Taking a look at the Continental Cup results, the latest event at Whistler's Olympic Park landed 4 Americans in the top 10. Overall standings for the CC tour put Lodwick in 1st, Brett in 2nd, Fletcher in 5th, Alex Miller in 17th, and Willy G in 21st.

That's a pretty freakin' solid start to the season, especially considering the size of the American Nordic Combined talent pool, which currently hovers around 17 on a sunny, injury-free day. Also keep in mind that all of these skiers come from one of three clubs: LPSC, SSWSC or NSF. Statisticaly, that's just mind boggling. Given, combined enjoys a much smaller talent pool world-wide, but we're still talking about World Cup wins, and spot on that podium is coveted nonetheless.

Now take a look at the special XC side of things: our lone distance skier in the points with a season high of 16th in sunny Kuusamo. And our sprint guru Newell with a pre- Xmas top WC finish in 11th, twice in Kuusamo & Dusseldorf. Plus, team relay in 4th.

Don't get me wrong, these are solid results in the points, but why is it so tough to see American skiing get an athlete into that coveted top 10? Sure, global talent pool is huge, but then again, so is ours. Ski clubs all across the country are pumping out fit skiers faster than the Fed is slashing interest rates and pumping out the green and a competitive high school and Eastern Cup circuit are providing juniors the chance to ski against top domestic racers, former Olympians and World Championship vets. From there, skiers can pop into the ranks of a team on the college circuit, where talented junior skiers simply go to die. College skiing is really the graveyard of young national talent. Instead of being urged to pursue athletic careers with a degree in hand, a scant future of poorly funded domestic teams and a severly under-devloped national team program are all that await the recently enlightened.

United States Nordic Combined: "Long name, amazing results"

So, some food for thought as you grind out the k's and tick away at Lars Flora's tasty 12 days of Xmas workout. What's to blame for the endless drought of US cross country success on the world scene? All in, all out, who cares if the top season distance result is 16th anyway?

My suggestion, take a lesson from your combined buddies, throw a little Tool into the mp3 and just start dropping the hammer.

No excuses.

D