How to Make the U.S. Olympic Team

The following is an excerpt from an article published at FirstTracksOnline.com:

The eyes of the world will be on Vancouver this February for the Olympic Winter Games. But ski and snowboarding athletes who hope to participate already began scrapping and fighting their way to Olympic Team spots beginning in September. The final Olympic ski and snowboarding teams will be named in January, as close as possible to the Olympics.

Olympic selection events kicked off with the Sept. 12 FIS Snowboard World Cup snowboardcross opener in Chapelco, Argentina where Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, Maine) was second and Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, Idaho) was third. Major U.S. selection events will include alpine World Cups in Aspen and Beaver Creek, Colo., freestyle World Cups at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah and Lake Placid, N.Y., snowboarding World Cup in Telluride, Colo., plus the U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix in Copper Mountain, Colo., Mammoth Mountain, Calif. and Park City. Freestyle and nordic combined will also pick a single team member with the winner of an Olympic Trials event in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Dec. 23-24.

In general, qualifying for Olympic ski and snowboarding teams is based on existing international competitions that take place throughout the entire season. According to USSA Vice President, Athletics Luke Bodensteiner, nominating the best athletes from a series of events provides the most accurate opportunity to select the athletes who are at the top of their sport and have the greatest chance of winning medals.

“Our goal as an organization is to win medals in Vancouver,” said Bodensteiner. “The selection criteria speaks to that. We have some great opportunities and we want to be sure that we have the best athletes on our Teams who have proven they can be contenders through their international performance against the best in the world.”

The competition for Olympic spots on some teams will be especially intense. For example, the USA has a half-dozen men’s snowboardcross athletes who have been on World Cup podiums but only four can be named to the Team. Similar situations exist in men’s and women’s moguls.

Click here for the entire article.

Bobsled and Skeleton World Cup come to the Park

From TeamUSA.org:

The bobsled and skeleton 2009-2010 World Cup season will kick off in Park City, Utah from November 9-14th [at Utah Olympic Park] following two weeks of international training on the 2010 Olympic course in Whistler, British Columbia.

“The U.S. team is very fortunate to start the season off in North America where we expect to do quite well,” said USBSF CEO Darrin Steele. “The first World Cup event falls after successful training on the Olympic track in Whistler, which really established an important Olympic year mindset. Our athletes are focused and ready for what is sure to be a very competitive World Cup season, but they are taking nothing for granted.”

The women’s skeleton squad includes two-time World Cup Champion Katie Uhlaender(Breckenridge, Colo.), 2007 World Champion and hometown hero Noelle Pikus-Pace(Orem, Utah), and World Cup rookie Rebecca Sorensen (Fort Collins, Colo.).

The three men competing for the U.S. in skeleton include multi World Cup and World Championship medalist Eric Bernotas (Avondale, Pa.), 2007 World Cup Champion and local athlete Zach Lund (Salt Lake City, Utah), and newcomer John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.).

Utah native Shauna Rohbock (Park City, Utah) will pilot USA I in the women’s bobsled field and will be accompanied by drivers Erin Pac (Farmington, Conn.) and Bree Schaaf(Bremerton, Wash.). Local athlete Valerie Fleming (Park City, Utah) will be a part of the fleet of six women’s bobsled push athletes to slide during the week.

Come cheer on 2009 World Champion Steven Holcomb who hails from Park City, Utah as he navigates his home course, while Todd Hays (Del Rio, Texas) and John Napier (Lake Placid, N.Y.) will pilot USA II and III. Utah athletes Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah) and Bill Schuffenhauer (Ogden, Utah) were named to the U.S. World Cup team last month and will vie for their chance to compete on their home track.

The schedule for the first World Cup event is as follows, with all times listed in MST (Admission is free):

Thursday, Nov. 12: Men’s Skeleton at 9 am, Women’s Skeleton at 1 pm

Friday, Nov. 13: Women’s Bobsled at 3:30 pm, Men’s Two-Man Bobsled at 7 pm

Saturday, Nov. 14: Men’s Four-Man Bobsled at 4 pm

Click here for more information.

Athletes Mark 100 Days To Vancouver Games

The following was originally posted at CrossCountrySkier.com:

The culmination of four years of determination and drive, training and competing and successes and trials is now a mere 100 days away for Vancouver Bound U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding athletes. Now, with the 2010 Olympic Winter Games on the horizon, athletes have taken up shop around the globe to put on the final touches of training for the season.

World Championship silver medalist Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK) is about to say farewell to the snowy cross country habitat of Alaska and hello to Norway as the cross country team makes its final on-snow preparations for the first World Cup of its season there Nov. 21 and 22.

“That 100 number is one we’re all familiar with because we always want to give 100 percent,” Randall said. “It’s pretty significant because when you start counting down from the hundreds, you start getting closer and closer. It’s pretty exciting.”

In the world of Nordic combined, athletes, including World Champion Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) are biding their time in the gym as they wait for the snowmaking machines at Utah Olympic Park to complete their task of creating enough snow to jump on in the final weeks of training for the season.

While they are scattered across the globe now, the countdown has officially begun to the time when Vancouver Bound athletes will come together 100 days from now in the pursuit of Olympic glory.

Click here for the original article.

Ski jumping: just call me Eddie the Eagle

The following is an article originally The Observer:

“Don’t be afraid: you can’t get hurt in the air,” are the parting words of my coach, Matt, as I climb the ominous wooden staircase like a felon to the gallows. “Afraid” is a criminally overused word. Most of us are guilty of misapplying it to situations where, if we’re honest, we’re just a tad apprehensive. But at the top of that staircase, staring down the unforgiving, icy barrel of a 39-metre ski jump, afraid doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. This isn’t just fear – it’s unadulterated, leg-trembling, pant-wetting terror.

I try to switch off my brain and wait for Matt to ski to the landing area and give me the signal. A few seconds later he’s waving like a brightly coloured beetle. Refusing to give my brain even a second to stop me, I tip my weight over the edge and suddenly I’m slicing straight down the tramlines at ferocious speed, with nothing whatsoever to prevent me being hurled into the freezing blue sky.

Eddie the Eagle Edwards has a lot to answer for. It was his against-all-odds assault on the 1988 Winter Olympics that – as an impressionable nine-year-old boy – first ignited my own zest for winter sports. So when, as a keen skier two decades later, I was offered the chance to experience some Olympic ski jumping myself I (ahem) jumped at the chance.

The Utah Olympic Park was built to stage the 2002 Salt Lake Games, but now functions as an enormous adrenaline amusement park. Members of the public can try everything from international-standard bobsleigh racing to Nordic ski-jumping for beginners.

My coach for the three-day course – mornings only, afternoons were free for skiing the wonderful powder of neighbouring Park City – is former US skier and Olympic coach Matt Terwillegar. Despite the fact that he bears an uncanny resemblance to England’s error-prone goalkeeper David James, it’s apparent that I’m in extremely safe hands.

I’m kitted out in a ridiculously tight, shiny blue jumpsuit that leaves nothing to the imagination (including the amount of American-sized portions I’ve been devouring in Park City). This tasty little number is teamed with a lightweight helmet and special jumping boots, which look like a cross between boxing trainers and clown shoes. I look like a low-rent, slightly pudgy Evel Knievel.

Click here to read the entire article.

12 years, 7 continents, 1 pair of skis

The following is an excerpt from an article originally posted at ParkRecord.com:

“Utah really does have the greatest snow on Earth.” Take it from someone who knows: Jeff Brueningsen, who recently completed his quest to ski all seven continents, attests that the state’s tourism slogan is true.

His feat might not sound extraordinary for the jet-setting crowd that calls Park City one of their homes, but Brueningsen achieved his goal within reasonable means and a modest salary. The 55-year-old Parkite works as an airport shuttle driver for All Resort Express and says he simply knows how to make the most of a dollar.  ”I’m a regular guy,” he says. “I still pinch myself. I’ve been lucky, stubborn and persistent.”

An adventuresome nature was instilled in Brueningsen at an early age. As a kid, he says his heroes were explorers and adventure-seekers like the Wright Brothers. He started skiing around age 15 in Pennsylvania and says he fell in love with the sport immediately. “It was the least expensive way to go fast,” he says.

His first career as a hot-air balloon pilot fostered his love for exploration. After moving to Park City in 1997, he operated balloons for three years before working a stint at the Utah Olympic Park, where he seized the opportunity to stand in as a brakeman for aspiring two-man bobsled teams.

He first formulated an idea about skiing the seven continents after reading about Dick Bass’ expedition to climb the highest peak on each continent. At first, he thought there was no way he could afford such a lofty goal.

But the idea stuck with him, and during the year he moved to Park City, he came across a package trip to Antarctica in an REI Adventures travel catalog. The two-week trip cost $1,199 including airfare. Brueningsen knew he’d never find a better deal or a better time to go.

Despite not being able to confirm whether he’d be able to ski, he carted his gear along and brought it aboard a ship to Danco Island, explaining his quest to the captain and crew. They allowed him to hike up a glacier and carve his way down. “It was the best travel bargain I ever got,” he says.

After completing his first intercontinental trip, Brueningsen was inspired. He vowed to ski on all seven continents within the constraints of his budget what he describes as a “peanut butter and jelly” version of Bass’ adventures.

Click here to read the entire article.

Mario & Sonic head to Vancouver

Athletes aren’t the only ones getting ready for Vancouver and the upcoming Olympics. Earlier this month, Sega released a new game hit stores that allows everyday fans to get a taste of the Olympics.  Check out the version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the Wii:

Click here to get a real up-close and personal Olympic experience.

SLC’s Lund on U.S. team

The following is an excerpt from an article originally posted at sltrib.com:

Zach Lund cleared an important hurdle in his quest to reach the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, qualifying for the national skeleton team at the Utah Olympic Park on Saturday.

But it didn’t come without a cost.

The Salt Lake City native severely aggravated his hamstring injury while finishing second in the final trials race Saturday, putting him in jeopardy of not being ready for the start of the World Cup season next month at the Olympic Park. He had applied for the lone available injury waiver to skip the qualifying races, but the U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation gave it instead to Eric Bernotas, based on his faster time in the first trials race.

“It’s a relief to be on the team, and I’m glad I made it through this challenge,” Lund said. “But my hamstring is really, really bad right now. … If we had to go again tomorrow, I’d be through.”

Lund will join Orem’s Noelle Pikus-Pace on the national team, and both will have the chance to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team with their performances on the World Cup circuit. Bobsled drivers Steve Holcomb of Park City and Shauna Rohbock of Orem already were assured of making the team, based on their world championship success last season.

Click here to read the entire article.

Terror at the Top: 55 seconds in a bobsleigh

The following is an excerpt from an article originally posted at ksl.com:

PARK CITY — The world’s best bobsleigh (official Olympic spelling) driver is Utah’s Steve Holcomb. Steve grew up in and around Park City and now command’s the USA I sled or the “Night Train” as he and his teammates call it. They are the Gold Medal favorites in the four-man event for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Holcomb was the featured player in Thursday’s media event at Utah Olympic Park, promoting his involvement with Sega’s Winter Olympic video games rollout. Part of the celebration was allowing a choice few of us to ride shotgun behind Steve on a bobsleigh down the Utah Olympic Park’s track.

The Utah Olympic Park’s bobsleigh skinny: nearly a mile long, dropping nearly a thousand feet, speeds reaching 80 mph, G-forces between 4 and 5 and 15 turns, packed in with three of your newest, best friends. Billed as ‘the most intense minute of your life, like nothing you’ve ever experienced.’

I’m not exactly a thrill-seeker, but I do love a challenge so since I was up there with KSL cameraman Jay Dortzbach to gather feature material with Steve anyway (shooting his training runs early in the day and his pitch for the video games), I figured it would be cool to take a ride down Salt Lake City’s 2002 Olympic bobsleigh run with this era’s best.

As the day went on, me being the inquisitive type, asked many of the Olympians and Utah Olympic Park people about the bobsleigh “experience”. As Pat told me, “you’ll either love it or… you’ll hate it. Some people can handle it… some just can’t.”

Our orientation instructor John added, “If you get in and don’t think you can handle it, it’s totally ok to just get out, but obviously once we push you off you’re committed.”

Paul told me, “at about turn four you’ll think ‘I can handle this… this is really cool,’ but then the turns come fast and furious and the G-forces start working on your mind and body, you’ll totally lose your ability to focus. It’s total sensory overload.”

Then came my time to lock and load. Armed with a mini-camera mounted on the top of my helmet and a mini-cam mounted on the side of the ‘sleigh,’ even though I wasn’t sure I could handle it, there was too much riding on my sitting down and getting on with it. Cameras rolling and I was responsible for the main video going forward right behind Holcomb. I HAD to stay calm and not let the G-forces throw my head around. Off we went, beginning is smooth and slow, gorgeous view of greater Park City, after a quick prayer I just told myself to hold tight and enjoy the ride.

Click here for the entire article and video.
Click here to book your own ride on the bobsled.

Behind the scenes — SLmag’s photo shoot w/ Olympian Emily Cook

The following is an excerpt from an article originally posted at SaltLakeMagazine.com:

Salt Lake Magazine gives you a behind-the-scenes look at our upcoming feature — Olympians in your backyard.

As several locals prepare for the Vancouver games, SLmag’s photographer Adam Finkle shoots ‘em around town — juxtaposing everyday scenes with the look and feel of the athletes’ discipline.

In this shoot, freestyle aerialist Emily Cook.

A Massachusetts native, Cook, 30 — a three-time US National champion — now calls Park City home.

The ex-gymnast chose Park City as homebase for its proximity to USSA training center — but spends a good bit of time in the off-season perfecting her jumps at Utah Olympic Park where athletes jump off ramps into a pool.

During the summer you can find Cook at the training facility, practicing yoga or traveling for her work with her charity Right to Play.

Cook injured both feet just two weeks prior to the 2002 games during a practice run — rendering herself unable to compete. She came back to win the 2006 Olympic Trial and was on the 2006 U.S. Women’s Freestyle Aerials squad in Torino.

Third time’s a charm as she hopes to medal February in Vancouver.

Click here for the full article and fun pictures.

Going Green: Vancouver Olympic Medals

The following is an excerpt from a blog post originally posted at fastcompany.com:

The Vancouver Olympics made a smart choice in deciding to use precious metals from old electronics. By salvaging medal materials from old products, the Olympic committee is saving perfectly good gold, silver, and bronze from ending up in landfills. Because it makes no sense to mine for new gold when a single junked PC has more of the stuff in it than 17 tons of ore. And if the medals are promoted well, they could bring awareness to the cause of recycled scrap. With the entire world watching what happens at the Olympic games, there is no better venue to promote such an important–and easy-to-implement–solution to electronics recycling

Click here to read the entire post.