Nordic Roundup: Women's jumping for '07; New X-C coach for Sweden; Canada reloads for '06

Nordic Roundup: Women’s jumping for ’07; New X-C coach for Sweden; Canada reloads for ’06{mosimage}FIS subcommittee meetings in Berlin over the weekend didn’t solidify anything about adding women’s ski jumping to the schedule for the 2007 world championships in Sapporo, Japan. The FIS Council must approve any addition before the organizers in Sapporo are asked to make any change and, as U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner told Ski Racing, “The motion didn’t come up. Maybe something will take place next month at the calendar meetings in Amsterdam.”

Women’s ski jumping supporters have been pushing for inclusion in the ’07 championships because of a guideline that new sports must be part of two world championships before joining the Olympic menu. Women’s jumping was upgraded by FIS last summer as the Grand Prix became the women’s Continental Cup schedule.

U.S. jumpers Lindsey Van and Jessica Jerome have been in the top five in the women’s jumping standings for the last two seasons. Van, a student at the University of Utah, was second each winter while Jerome, a high school junior, was fourth a year ago, fifth this season.

Bodensteiner added, “It’s a pretty complicated deal. Everyone supports it going into to the meetings, but it will have a significant impact on Sapporo, and that contract was signed a year or two ago. So, this isn’t just ‘Oh, sure, let’s have women’s jumping.’ The feeling now is ’07 may be ambitious, ’09 seems highly likely and then it’s completely up to the Vancouver organizers for 2010. Right now, the word is Vancouver is feeling ambivalent because they’re not sure Canada will get any medal and so they wonder whether to added something else in snowboarding, or somewhere else where they’d have a better chance of getting a medal or medals.

“We can get it done from our end,” he continued, “but it still comes down to convincing the Vancouver organizers they should add women’s jumping.”

Braaten’s back!

Inge Braaten, who was head coach of Norway’s men’s cross-country team through much of the Nineties, is leaving the television booth and returning to coaching. It was announced this week that Braaten is the new head coach of the Swedish cross-country national team, men and women. He replaces Per-Erik Roennestrand. One former Swedish Ski Federation official told Ski Racing the other finalist for the job was former men’s coach Lars Goran Pettersson.

Swedish women – Emelie Oehrstig and Lina Andersson – took gold and silver in the women’s sprint while defending champ Thobi Fredriksson was bronze medalist in the men’s sprint at the world championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, in February, but that was it. It was a sharp U-turn from the 2003 championships when the Swedish men collected six medals, including two gold. “We only had success in the sprints,” one source said, “and it was very disappointing. With the Olympics, maybe Braaten can change things. We know the talent is there.”

With skiers such as Fredriksson and his brother, Mathias (2003 World Cup champ), Anders Soedergren and Joergen Brink – both medalists at those ’03 worlds, plus the women sprinters, the disappointment is understandable. Swedish skiers had a handful of podiums this winter, but the only victories came from Peter Larsson in the opening sprint last October and Andersson in another sprint, this one at the Lahti Ski Games right after worlds. “Sprints are popular and they’re okay,especially if that’s the only success you have, but you know we really think of the distance races as the real races.”

No major changes for Canadians

“Our main focus,” Canadian cross-country head coach Dave Wood said, “will be trying to have no big mistakes. We don’t want a lot of 20-20 hindsight.” Wood, chatting with Ski Racing, after another day of planning meetings this week, said the Canadians are re-visiting their pre-2002 training plan because Torino’s Olympics courses will be at greater altitude than normal. The 800-pound gorilla on the dining room table, as it so often is, will be keeping everyone healthy. Olympic (better late than never) champion Beckie Scott was sideswiped the weekend before worlds got underway in Oberstdorf.

And, with Sara Renner picking off the bronze medal in the sprint while Scott recommitted herself through 2006, Wood feels Canada has more than doubled its chances for another Olympic medal. Scott skipped the first month of the season in Europe, staying at her new home in Panorama, British Columbia, to train, rolled through three SuperTour wins at Soldier Hollow before Christmas, and racing just eight of the 22 World Cup races, still was 17th overall, including a pair of fifth-place finishes. “Beckie showed she still can contend in any event,” Wood said, “and, despite Oberstdorf (where they ran out of gas in the team sprint), we think Sara and Beckie could contend in the team sprint at Torino, too. And Sara can be there in short races, too, so we’re optimistic.” And he put in a plug for Devon Kershaw and George Grey, who were sixth in the team sprint.

But, Wood also cautioned against wild-eyed optimism. “We have to keep our feet on the ground, keep it all in perspective. We’re optimistic but we have to be realistic, too.”

As usual, the Canadians will train on the Haig Glacier near their Canmore, Alberta, headquarters and return to The Snow Farm in New Zealand where they – and the U.S. ski runners – have been twice for lengthy preseason training. “The snow is just so good,” according to Wood, “and it’s just such a good set-up. It’s a super place…at about 1,500 meters altitude, so that’s good, too.” Torino’s altitude is a little above 1,500 meters (5,019 feet).

In a related development, it was reported Scott, who was blowing the whistle on drug cheats and calling for more stringent testing before the 2002 Olympics, is one of 13 athletes named to an athletes panel for the World Anti-Doping Agency. “There is still a lot of work to be done in our sport,” Scott told The Edmonton Sun. She’s watching the steroid scandal, especially involving baseball players who are looked up to by so many youngsters, with great interest, she said.