Barring a collapse the United States will make history Sunday in the nordic combined.
The question is, what kind of history?
Will Todd Lodwick of Steamboat Springs, Colo., merely record the best Olympic finish ever by a U.S. athlete in the event, which combines ski jumping with cross-country skiing? Or will he take his country where it seemed it would never go–the medal podium?
The answers will wait until Sunday’s 15-kilometer ski race, but they appear to be yes and a strong maybe.
Lodwick put himself in position for a medal Saturday at Utah Olympic Park when he placed seventh in the 90-meter jumping competition, one spot ahead of Bill Demong of Vermontville, N.Y.
“I’m feeling it,” Lodwick said.
In nordic combined competitors get a head start in the cross-country race on anyone who finished behind them in jumping. That will put Lodwick 2 minutes 15 seconds behind jump winner Jaakko Tallus of Finland at the cross-country start, but no problem.
Tallus, a relatively weak skier, likely won’t even win a medal. The gold medal probably will go to Germany’s Ronny Ackermann, a splendid skier who placed fifth in jumping. His chief competitor likely will be Finland’s Samppa Lajunen, who placed third.
Lodwick, an excellent skier who will start 1:07 behind Ackermann, doesn’t believe his deficit is insurmountable.
“It’s like being down a couple touchdowns going into the fourth quarter, but you saw the Super Bowl and the Rams came back and just barely got nipped,” he said, referring to St. Louis’ rally from a 17-3 deficit in its 20-17 loss to New England.
Lodwick hopes his familiarity with the tough high-altitude cross-country course at Soldier Hollow in Heber City will give him a shot at gold. He’s confident he can win at least a bronze medal, breaking a U.S. drought that stretches all the way to the first Winter Games in 1924.
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“There’s four I know I can catch,” he said of the racers who will precede him Sunday. “It’s just a matter of when.”
Demong, not as strong a skier as Lodwick, has a shot at a top-10 finish, not bad for a 21-year-old. At least for one more day, the top U.S. finish ever in nordic combined was a ninth by Rolf Monsen in 1932 at Lake Placid, N.Y.
That helps explain how Lodwick’s and Demong’s performances gained a measure of respect for the U.S. program, which until recently earned an international snicker.
The U.S. team has been pointing toward this weekend almost since 1992, when nearly all of the country’s top nordic combined athletes moved to Steamboat Springs to train together. Dozens of the 16,784 spectators Saturday were Steamboat Springs residents cheering on native son Lodwick. Saturday, however, Lodwick could have done even better had a headwind that aided some opponents not died down before his first jump. He went 91.5 meters on that first attempt and 92.5 on his second jump, which with style points gave him a 240.5 total.
Tallus had the day’s best jump at 100.5 meters on his first attempt and finished with 267.5 points. Austria’s Felix Gottwald, the co-favorite with Ackermann, finished 11th.