Kristina Koznick makes headgear deal with Lake Placid

Kristina Koznick makes headgear deal with Lake Placid{mosimage}Kristina Koznick wore the words “LAKE PLACID” on her headgear for the “America’s Opening” World Cup on November 28 and 29. It’s a temporary deal (just one weekend), but Koznick — the most decorated technical skier on the U.S. Ski Team’s women’s squad — hopes it will last “for a couple of years at least.”

Koznick’s coach and companion, Dan Stripp, is coaching at the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid. For three seasons, he was her coach and manager as she raced independently of the U.S. Ski Team. She rejoined the national team this summer.

“Lake Placid’s supporting me this weekend and sponsoring me,” said Koznick. “They’re my headgear for this weekend here in Park City. And it’s really cool. It was unexpected.” Koznick spent November doing therapy for her partially-dislocated hip; much of that therapy took place at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid.

Executives from ORDA and Lake Placid put the deal in place, but Stripp says the idea first came from Doug Williams, the former national team coach who runs the New York Ski Educational Foundation.

“She would get the training space anyway,” said Stripp, “but it’s really a good fit for her to be involved with a resort. If there’s any way that she can promote it or push to get a World Cup there some day, it would be awesome, because the new hill is sweet. She really liked racing there for the Nationals. It’s a nice hill, the new homologation and the wider trail. Just being involved with an area is great. If you have an area that you can call home, it’s nice.”

“When they approached me and asked if I’d be interested in working with them … I thought it would be a perfect fit,” said Koznick. “It’s kind of my training base for the winter anyway.”

Stripp says it will be a perfect retreat for Koznick, who will be traveling in Europe for so much of the season. “If you’re back for 10 days’ said Stripp, “it’s nice be able to ski for three. It’ll be awesome.”

Asked about the method for arranging a one-weekend contract with a sponsor, Koznick said, “That’s what agents are for.”