Three locals travel with US Ski Team to get experience
abroad
By John F. Russell
Steamboat Springs — Taylor Fletcher, Brett Denney
and Cliff Field left for Lillehammer, Norway, last
week in search of opportunity.
The three Steamboat Springs residents are finding
it.
“This is an incredible opportunity,” Steamboat Springs
Winter Sports Club coach Todd Wilson said. “Two
weeks training alongside the national team. It’s
great for these young skiers, and it’s a valuable
experience.”
All three earned the right to travel to Norway with
the members of the U.S. Ski Team’s A and B squads
based on their results from a competition held in
Steamboat Springs on the Fourth of July.
The athletes had to pay their own way, but Wilson
hopes grants from the Rocky Mountain Division will
help alleviate some of the cost.
“The U.S. Ski Team made this camp available to a
select group of top juniors,” Wilson said. “Anytime
you get to rub elbows with U.S. Ski Team athletes
and coaches, it’s positive.”
Wilson said three skiers from the Eastern Division
plan to train with the Winter Sports Club this season,
and one of those athletes, Colin Delaney, also was
invited to take part in the trip.
The younger skiers will get a taste of how the members
of the ski team train, and they also will take part
in several competitions while in Europe.
It could be a huge advantage for the young Nordic
combined skiers as they look forward to the start
of the season — and a shot at the 2009 U.S. Ski
Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships, which
will be held in October in Lake Placid, N.Y.
The championships typically are held at the end
of the winter on snow. This year, however, they
will take place before the start of the season,
with athletes competing on plastic-covered jumps
and roller skis.
It’s the first time the U.S. Team has attempted
to hold the championships without snow, but Wilson
said it was necessary because there are so many
events in the winter that there just isn’t a good
time for the national championships.
“It’s nearly impossible to get all of the members
of the ski jumping and Nordic combined teams in
the country at the same time,” Wilson said. “We
used to do it at the end of the season, but this
year the schedule runs through the third week of
March.”
So instead of gambling that there might still be
snow in places like Steamboat Springs, organizers
decided to hold the championships before the start
of the season.
Wilson said organizers are hoping that the early
start will add a sense of excitement to the championships
and will allow places other than Steamboat and Park
City, which usually have the best snow late in the
season, to host the event. He also thinks the exposure
will help the sport build a wider base in the United
States.
