The following is a series of blog posts made by Michael as he worked toward a chance to be part of the US Winter Olympic Team in Sochi, Russia. For more information go to Michael’s web site “www.skiwardo.weebly.com”.
FIRST COMPETITIONS OF THE WINTER
12/29/2013
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I hope everyone is having a great start to winter and Happy Holidays! I am excited to fill you in on my travels and training.
The winter ski jumping started in November. Park City was the first ski jump in the world open for jumping on snow! My jumping had not been up to par during the summer but once we were on snow, it turned around. I was extremely happy with the improvements.
I spent Thanksgiving with family in Tacoma, Washington. I returned to Park City on Friday to prepare for the Winter Start competition in Steamboat Springs.
Unfortunately Park City lost a lot of snow due to warm weather and there was no way to cross country ski. I drove to Steamboat where they had plenty of snow. I spent the whole week cross country skiing and jumping with the National Training Group. It was really fun being able to train in my ‘second” home town. The conditions were great; however the temperatures during the week dropped into the negatives and it made training tougher. When the weekend came around, the temperatures were on the rise. Saturday was my first nordic combined competition of the season. Unfortunately, my jump didn’t go well and I ended up starting in 11th for the cross country race. I had a mediocre race and skied up to 6th place. The following day my jump was a little better and I started the cross country portion in 7th and skied up to 3rd place, right behind U. S. Ski teammates Nick Hendrickson and Adam Loomis. This was a good competition to “get the cobwebs out”
I traveled back to Park City to prepare for the first Continental Cup of the season Dec. 17-19. A total of 48 athletes representing 12 countries were in attendance. U.S. Teammate Bill Demong flew back from Europe to compete and dominated the week. He finished 1st. Nick and Adam also had some great results and both finished in the top 20 overall. National Training Group athlete Ben Berend was the skier of the week. Last year he struggled to score Continental Cup points, but in the first competition he finished 12th! The following day he continued to score points. He finished the week 22nd overall. I struggled on the jump and had two 25th place finishes. I was really frustrated because my jumping had been going really well but I couldn’t find the same feeling during competition.
After the competition I went home to Aspen for Christmas with my family. I had a great time in Aspen, skiing with friends and family. I alpine skied Alpine and couple cross country every day. On my birthday I skied with the Aspen Valley Ski Club nordic team. We went for an easy cross country ski and worked on balance and transitions. I had a great time skiing with the kids. I predict the team includes a few future ski team athletes in the making. I had a great week with my family and friends. It was good to take my mind off of jumping.
Now I am back in Park City to compete at the Olympic Trials on December 28th. There will be 10 athletes including myself vying for a spot on the US Olympic Team. You might want to watch the Olympic Qualifiers for both Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping on Sunday, December 29th at 11:30 a.m. MT on NBC.
I’ll keep you posted. Happy New Year’s to all!
OLYMPIC TRIALS
12/31/2013
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This past weekend, I competed in my first Olympic Trials in Park City. The atmosphere was incredible. Over a thousand of spectators showed up and NBC was there to televise the competitions. It almost felt like I was back at the Olympic games in 2002! There were a total of 10 athletes gunning for the first chance to make it to Sochi, Russia in February (winner of OT automatically qualifies for the Olympics). Saturday morning, I had another hard time on the ski jump and disappointedly jumped into 9th place, over 2 minutes back from the leader, and five time Olympian, Todd Lodwick. The cross country race however went much better. My official time back from Lodwick was 2:32 but started in a “bus” start. This means that everyone that is supposed to start after 2 minutes actually starts in a wave at 2 minutes. Because I my official time was 2:32, I would have to beat everyone I passed by at least 32 seconds. I skied a strong race and caught three skiers but could not beat two of them by 32 seconds. I ended up 8th overall with the 5th fastest cross country time. I know now that I can ski with the best in the world, but need to work harder on my ski jumping so that I actually have a chance of making the podium. Todd Lodwick ended up winning the event earning him the first spot on the nordic combined Olympic team. Sochi will be Todd’s 6th Olympics!
I am now off to Chaykovsky, Russia for my first World Cup of the season! I am really excited to compete in a new country and at a new venue.
Happy New Year!!!
CHAYKOVSKY, RUSSIA
01/10/2014
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After Olympic Trials, I traveled over 13 time zones to Chaykovsky, Russia for my first World Cup of the winter. I flew to Russia on December 30 and spent New Years Eve in Moscow. I had a great time in Moscow, taking in the sights and walking around the Red Square. Unfortunately, because we had an early flight the next day, I headed back to our hotel and spent New Years with the team.
The next morning I flew from Moscow to Perm where we were joined by the Norwegian women jumpers and took a 5 hour bus ride south to Chaykovsky. It was a long couple days of traveling. Our first day in Chaykovsky, we went for a morning ski (10am). The conditions were extremely good but we were all surprised about how dark it was outside. We learned that the sun doesn’t rise until 11:30am and sets at 5pm.
Friday was qualification for Saturdays World Cup on the HS105. We were all excited to finally get to jump. Qualification did not go for the U.S. team and three of us, including myself, did not qualify for Saturday’s competition. Taylor and Brett were the only teammates to qualify.
Saturday went very well for teammate Taylor Fletcher. He didn’t have a great jump but skied a blistering fast race and skied from 49th up to 6th and had the first fastest time! The lesson I learned was never to give up after the jumping. Tim Hug of Switzerland, and good friend, took the win making it his first World Cup victory of his career!
Sunday we moved from the HS105 up to the large hill. I was hoping to get another shot at qualifying for Sunday. However the conditions were far from ideal. It was snowing lightly and there was a strong tailwind on the hill. The jumping was delayed about an hour and they tried to send a couple athletes. Eventually the organizers cancelled the competition and decided to use everyones qualification jump from the HS105. This meant that all 54 athletes were able to race. The race on Sunday was really fun because it was my first World Cup competition. I started the race with Nick and we skied started skiing up but he dropped me in the last laps. Taylor skied another fast race and finished in 6th again.
Because of my poor results in Russia I will not be going to Chaux Neuve, France for the next World Cup. Instead I am now in Hoydalsmo, Norway on the Continental Cup and hope to have some breakthrough results that will help boost my confidence and jumping.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
01/26/2014
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Well the season has been a bit of a struggle for me. I have not been jumping well and was hoping it was going to turn around in Norway. Unfortunately, I continued to struggle with my jumping and did not score any more COC points, which was my goal. However the second day I skied the 4th fastest time in the cross country race which helped lift my spirits.
The following weekend we were supposed to compete in the Klingenthal, Germany COC. Unfortunately, most of Europe has had warm weather and there was no snow to compete. Since that was the case we decided to return to Park City and train at home. I have been back for almost a week and have been staying busy. This past Saturday, teammates Adam Tyler, and I raced in a 10k classic race. It was my second classic ski of the winter and first classic race since I skied on the Steamboat Springs High School team my sophomore year! It was hard. But I had a lot of fun and enjoyed racing at home. The weather has been beautiful the past couple days, and I been on some long easy distance skis. This past weekend was also the Olympic qualifiers for slope style and half pipe. On Saturday night, I went to cheer on the athletes and watched them throw down some incredible tricks. To top it of OAR and Matisyahu had a concert after the event.
With the Olympics just around the corner everyone is wondering who is going to make the team. The nordic combined olympic team was just recently named. Bill Demong, Todd Lodwick, Bryan Fletcher, and Taylor Fletcher have been chosen to represent Team USA in Sochi. Because I haven’t gotten the results, I did not make the 2014 Sochi team. I am disappointed, but because of the way I have been competing, I am not ready to compete at the Olympic level yet. However the season is not over. I am heading back to Europe in a couple weeks to compete on the COC circuit and hopefully finish the season on the World Cup. I am training just as hard and now even more determined to earn a spot on the World Cup circuit.
This past week was the OR Show down in Salt Lake City. This year the National Nordic Foundation had a booth and I went down with some other teammates to help out. Our goal was to raise awareness for the National Nordic Foundation. Without the NNF many athletes, including myself, wouldn’t have the opportunity to train and compete with “power house” nations like Norway, Germany, and Austria. Additionally we would not be skiing at such an elite level with the NNF.
