The following is reprinted from the Steamboat Pilot:
Whistler, British Columbia — The sun peeked through the clouds Thursday just in time to see the best Nordic combined skiers in the world take their place on the podium in Whistler, British Columbia. Two of those skiers were Americans.
Thursday’s cross-country race at the 2010 Winter Olympics included veteran Todd Lodwick being the consummate teammate, doing what he could to hold back the chase pack.
In front, there were two buddies, guys who have spent the better part of the past 15 years together for 300-plus days a year, doing what they’ve done so many times in so many places on so many trails.
So mark this one down, Steamboat Springs.
On Thursday, Billy Demong won a gold medal in the individual large hill Gundersen event, Johnny Spillane took a third silver, and two skiers from the once underfunded and uncompetitive U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team solidified their spots among the best on the planet.
Demong finished in 25 minutes, 32.9 seconds, just four seconds ahead of Spillane and 10.8 in front of Austria’s Bernhard Gruber. Lodwick was 13th, 1:10.3 back, and Taylor Fletcher, competing in his first Nordic combined event at the Olympics, finished 45th, 6:40.6 back.
“It all worked out,” Demong said. “Johnny might be the only person in this room that believes this, but I don’t think either of us cared who got this. … I think it has been building over the past five to 10 years. We knew we had three guys who could medal on any given day. What started it off was Johnny’s silver (on Feb. 14).”
Spillane broke the curse Feb. 14, winning the first U.S. Olympic medal in a Nordic combined event. His silver came in the normal hill individual Gundersen competition.
That might be the thing about this U.S. Nordic combined team. Sure, it’s an individual sport, but the skiers have gone from afterthoughts to gems of the 2010 games as a team. Demong, Spillane and Lodwick battled through adversity in recent years, and they came out better for it. The three, along with Brett Camerota, won silver in Tuesday’s team event, finishing just behind Austria.
“I was somewhat of a leader in my early days,” Lodwick said. “But we’ve definitely passed the torch around. It’s one big torch we all hold. It’s a torch of high expectations, and we’ve lived up to those expectations.”
Spillane was second after Thursday’s jumping portion and would start the 10-kilometer cross-country race 34 seconds behind Gruber. Demong was in sixth and 46 seconds behind, and Lodwick was tied for 13th, 1 minute and 13 seconds back.
Lodwick said he took a gamble with his skis and that when the sun came out on the second lap, he knew a top-three finish was out of his reach. So instead of letting the second lead pack piggyback on him, he held back and helped keep the race a three-skier contest.
“Once I knew third place was out of reach, I wasn’t going to help anybody out,” Lodwick said. “Some of the other countries aren’t happy with what I did, but I’m going to run my race. I told those guys, ‘If I come, I’m coming alone. I’m not going to help out the pack.’” (Read the rest of the story in the Steamboat Pilot)