The Johnny5: The Nordic Combined Team
While most of the US ski world was wondering just how Dale Niggeman eeked out a top 13 finish in the classic Birkie, over perennial kick-and-glide powerhouse Even Pengelly (all signs point to Pengelly’s lack of Cat-ski training tools), something happened this winter that radically changed the landscape of American Skiing. Long the afterthought of things cross-country in the US (the placenta, if you will, of skiing’s birth in this country), the US Nordic Combined team became synonymous with win. Of course this didn’t happen all at once, the team has grown with fits and starts. With any program building a tradition of winning, there have been missteps along the way. One might point to the 2000 Season, when the team was dressed in the Rossignol Yellow & Black outfit. That fashion faux pas alone would be enough to keep a team off the medal stand. – There are also stories of ski tester mistakes that switched the old Rengley timer from seconds to km/h allowing the technicians to effectively slow the skis in the moments leading to the 2002 events. (Ouch.) Yet as far back as 1996, with Todd Lodwick’s World Junior winning performance and through the landmark 2003 win from Johnny Spillane, the stage was set for 2009 to be the biggest season in NC history. In his first blogpost, Billy Demong described the team’s philosophy as “cross country skiers who jump.” It’s clear that this isn’t just a talking point for the team: Demong’s ’09 palmares boast Gold at the World Championships, Gold in Lahti and the most photographed bike ride of the domestic pro season. (courtesy of Chris Horner). Demong’s World Championship Gold came on the heels of a bronze WC medal, just a few steps down from teammate Todd Lodwick. Lodwick, known for his congeniality and kind demeanor, walked home from Liberec with a pair of gold medals, enough to justify the unretirement he made a few months earlier, though perhaps less memorable than the evening he won (no shit) a pig from a competition in central Europe. (The pig was left in a colleague’s room after a celebratory evening.) Why is this gamechanging? Because before 2009, the success was stilted and isolated. Lodwick won. Spillane stole the World Championships, but as a team, there wasn’t the same feeling of certainty. Now there is. Credit the confidence to whatever you’d like, it was Demong that met the King of Norway, a feat undone by an American since John Bower in 1968. Of the nominations for the (highly prestigious and coveted) Johnny5, the US Nordic combined team received the firmest praise from the widest demographic of skiers. They changed what young and old skiers saw. First year coach, and former teammate of Demong & Co., Dave Jarrett has to own some of the credit. The reports on the guy are that he’s “tireless, collaborative, and awesome in everyway you’d want a coach to be.” Since JohnnyKlister.com loves media, it should be noted that Dave mans things over at www.usnoco.com, the least official looking official website you’ve ever seen. It’s from his season end post on this site that, Jarrett may have coined the follow up the US Ski Team slogans, “Best in the World” – “All In” or “All Out.”
The season is officially over and everyone is on their way home for some much deserved R & R. We begin our preparation for next season in Whistler starting March 27th. It will most likely be the last chance to have any jumps on the 2010 Olympic jumps before the Official Olympic Training jumps next February.
On to Whistler. No Excuses.