Lodwick's comeback helps Americans produce nordic
combined dream team for Vancouver Games
By John Meyer, The Denver Post
Todd Lodwick didn't wait to get the
jump on his competition, as he recently finished
second in his first two
World Cup events since 2006. (Matthias Rietschel,
The Associated Press)
There are still 401 days to go before the Vancouver
Winter Olympics, but a small, devoted following
for one of America's most obscure sports — nordic
combined — can hardly wait.
Led by world championships silver medalist Bill
Demong and aided by the return from retirement of
Steamboat Springs native Todd Lodwick, the U.S.
Ski Team figures to be a prime contender to win
its first Olympic medal in the sport. That might
not be a hot topic on the 16th Street Mall, but
in Steamboat and the other outposts where the exceedingly
old-school sport is practiced — Lake Placid, N.Y.,
and Park City, Utah — it's epic.
"When I think about it, I just get shivers
down my back," said Dave Jarrett, a native
of Aurora who competed on the U.S. team in the 1990s
and serves now as its head coach.
With Demong and Steamboat's Johnny Spillane — the
latter having made history in 2003 by becoming the
first American to win a gold medal at the nordic
world championships — the U.S. already had two legitimate
contenders. But the recent return of Lodwick, who
retired shortly after the 2006 Olympics, gives the
U.S. a third solid medal prospect and significantly
increases its chances of claiming a medal in the
four-man team event.
In World Cup races Dec. 20-21, Demong finished first
and second. The following weekend, in his first
World Cup competition since March 2006, Lodwick
finished second twice. This past weekend, Demong
was back on the podium, finishing second.
The World Cup circuit is still buzzing over the
return of Lodwick, who never won an Olympic or world
championships medal but had an otherwise outstanding
career, winning six World Cup races and reaching
the podium 24 times before retiring. If anyone has
returned to the circuit after a "retirement"
of nearly three years, no one can recall it. For
Lodwick to land on the podium in his first two races
back was mind-boggling to many.
"He's made huge history. The other (teams)
are in awe," said former U.S. coach Tom Steitz
of Steamboat Springs, who guided the program from
futility to respectability in the 1990s. "In
my mind this is, by far, his biggest athletic accomplishment.
He hasn't had the Olympic or world championship
medals, but he has won all the big individual World
Cups, a world juniors gold medal (1996). This, by
far, outshines all of those."
Lodwick nearly won his first event back, finishing
just behind Magnus Moan of Norway in a photo finish.
"Let's just say it was a fairy tale,"
Lodwick said. "This has been a long road back
in a short amount of time. I have never trained
so hard in my entire career to come back."
Indeed, Jarrett said Lodwick has "reinvented
himself." After two years selling real estate
and starting a family, Lodwick came back to the
sport a more determined and disciplined athlete.
"He's actually working to maximize his talent,"
Jarrett said. "Before, he thought he was working,
but he was living off his talent. Now he knows that's
not good enough, that the best guys are just as
talented as he is, and if he wants to beat them
he has to work harder. He can't just depend on his
raw ability anymore."
Steitz lives on the same block as Lodwick in Steamboat,
and he knows how hard Lodwick prepared.
"I've been amazed," Steitz said. "I'll
be coming home, it will be raining or windy, I'll
see him going out training and I'll go, 'Why the
heck didn't you ever do this when you were with
me?' He just laughs and says, 'I've got to do it.'
"
Lodwick's wife, Sunny, is back home in Steamboat
with their 3-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son.
"I was so excited for him and so proud of him,"
Sunny said of his podium finishes. "I knew
after his first second (place), people were going
to be wondering if it was a fluke. I was up at 4:30
in the morning feeding the baby (the next day) and
I thought, 'I'm going to turn the computer on and
see.' "
Sure enough, over in Austria, Lodwick finished second
again.
"I thought, 'OK, it's for real,' " Sunny
said. "I knew it was for real, but obviously
there was a lot of speculation. I knew he worked
so hard."
Lodwick, Demong and Spillane were on the foursome
that finished fourth in the team competition at
the 2002 Olympics, along with Matt Dayton of Breckenridge.
They had seemed poised to win the first medal for
the U.S. in nordic combined after placing third
in the jumping portion of the event, but a mistake
in the wax room made their skis slower for the cross
country portion of the event and cost them the medal.
"I thought second (place) was a done deal,"
Steitz said.
In Vancouver, they might finally get it done.
"It's been a goal all along, and it's more
realistic now than ever," Demong said. "Not
only are we a more relaxed and confident crew going
into it, but it's a very, very realistic goal."
