Nordic Roundup: March 29, 2005

Nordic Roundup: March 29, 2005{mosimage}Three-time Olympian Todd Lodwick missed finishing in the top three overall of the nordic combined World Cup standings this season by one competition…but he’s long-gone in terms of the U.S. record books.

Lodwick grew up jumping on Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Over the last two winters, as he’s run his string of national titles to 15, Lodwick has won six straight jumping or nordic combined U.S. championships at Howelsen. He produced another golden hat trick March 24-25, winning the large hill (instead of the new-this-season HS for Hill Size designation, they still use the ‘K’ designation in Steamboat, so it’s a K114 – a 114-meter hill) title in a snowstorm and combined gold medal on the first day and the normal hill title on Day Two. Two other Steamboat jumpers – Clint Jones and Tommy Schwall finished second and third both days.

“I know this hill. I like it,” Lodwick told Ski Racing. “There isn’t much about it I don’t know, big hill and the K-90 (normal hill).” Jumping head coach Corby Fisher, also an alumnus of the Howelsen jumping process, noted, “Todd’s got such a comfort factor here, but then you add some prize money and that makes him even tougher. Clint didn’t back down, didn’t concede anything, but Todd was on a different level.”

The three wins in about 24 hours meant he extended his own record for U.S. nordic combined championships while he’s up to seven jumping titles, which ties him with Lars Haugen, who collected seven in 1912-28.

Larson, Freeman win SuperTour finales

The cross-country SuperTour has one race left. The next-to-last race Saturday in Winter Park, Colorado, had Kris Freeman and Abi Larson winning the final pursuit races. The races opened the Colorado International Spring Series, the final week of serious racing for the season.

Freeman, who shows solid progress from whatever nailed him at midseason, taking away his energy and strength, won the 15km (7.5km CL+7.5km FR) race in 41.15.4 with Andrew Johnson second, 3.8 seconds back. Third place, a half-minute behind, went to ex-Dartmouth racer Brayton Osgood while Russian Ivan Babikov, who already had clinched the SuperTour title, was fourth.

In the women’s race, Larson – who won her first national title the previous weekend in the 50km freestyle at Royal Gorge Nordic Center near Lake Tahoe – overtook Wendy Wagner in trhe back half of the race to win by 42.5 seconds in 48:03.7. Two women missing were SuperTour champion Karin Camenisch, the ex-college racer from Switzerland who works in Denver, and 2004 SuperTour champ Rebecca Dussault, who was felled by sinusitis at the World Championships in February and who dropped out of the 50km Gold Rush at Royal Gorge, and decided to end her season at that point.

Other races on the schedule at Devil’s Thumb and Snow Mountain Ranch include team sprints in classic technique, skate sprints and the final SuperTour races April 2, men’s 15km FR and women’s 10km FR.

Norway (duh) dominates WJCs

Perianne Jones skied well for Canada, producing a pair of top-15s, and Vermonter Willy Graves was 25th in the nordic combined sprint, including 16th in jumping, but otherwise the annual World Junior Championships in Rovaniemi, Finland, were the usual Norwegian power show; Norway had 14 medals in 13 events; runnerup was Russia with six. Nordic combined skier Petter Tande went home with two gold medals, defending his individual and sprint titles. For a look at the complete results – and a mighty fine website, too – for cross-country, jumping and combined, click here.

Gusev named Central program chief

Yuri Gusev, who helped organize the highly successful Capital Square Sprints in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of cross-country’s $120,000 SuperTour in mid-January, has a new job. He’s been named program director for Central Cross Country Skiing, the nonprofit which supports development programs throughout the Midwest.

A native of Russia, he’s run the Russian Style Ski School in Madison for three seasons and has been instrumental in helping develop top skiers in the region, including former junior national sprint champ Ben Cline and state champion Bill Bowler.