NORDIC SKIING PREVIEW : It’s Hammer Time for Norwegians

It should come as no surprise that United States athletes do not figure to clean up in the Nordic events during the Winter Olympics opening Saturday.

Americans have never been very successful in Nordic skiing--cross-country and jumping--and its spinoff, the biathlon. They have seldom threatened the dominating northern Europeans for whom the competition is named.

Only twice, in fact, since the Winter Games began in 1924, have Americans won Nordic medals. And in one case the athlete, Norwegian-born Anders Haugen, had to wait 50 years to get his bronze medal for ski jumping.

Haugen, a naturalized American, paid his way to the first Winter Games, which weren’t recognized as Olympics until a year after they were over, at Chamonix, France, in 1924.

There, he took his two jumps, was told he had finished fourth and went home.

Then, in 1974, an error in the scoring was uncovered, showing that Haugen had really finished third, ahead of Norway’s legendary Thorleif Haug. And so, at 83, Haugen went to Oslo--Norway is the birthplace of ski jumping--to receive his medal in a special ceremony. There was no protest by Haug, who by then was 40 years dead.

Two years later, in the 1976 Games at Innsbruck, Austria, Bill Kochgave America its second Nordic medal, surprising the world and himself by finishing second in the men’s 30-kilometer cross-country race.

Koch, America’s one and only Nordic star, had an up-and-down career and developed a reputation as an innovator. He pioneered the “skating” technique that eventually led to the recognition of freestyle cross-country racing, as opposed to the skis-in-two-tracks classical style, then retired in the mid-1980s.

He launched a comeback two years ago and made the U.S. team that went to Albertville, France, proclaiming that he was really aiming for the Lillehammer Games. At 36, though, he was no threat at Albertville, and has since dropped out of the picture again.

So, once more, American skiers will likely finish back in the pack, while the cross-country giants--the Norwegians, Swedes, Finns and Russians--look to the medals.

Norway, particularly, is hoping for a strong showing here, for a number of reasons: Cross-country skiing is the national sport; the Norwegians have the home-track advantage, and they did so well two years ago at Albertville.

Until then, no Norwegian man had won an Olympic cross-country race in 16 years, but Vegard Ulvang took the opener, the men’s 30K classical, and teammate Bjorn Daehlie finished second. Norway was off and ski-running.

Ulvang and Daehlie each won three gold and one silver medals in ’92 and continue as the 1-2 international power, although Daehlie has emerged as the team’s star.

Leading the U.S. men are Norwegian-born John Aalberg of Salt Lake City, and three Midwesterners--Luke Bodensteiner of West Bend, Wis.; Todd Boonstra of Eagan, Minn., and Ben Husaby of Eden Prairie, Minn.

Nina Kemppel of Anchorage; Kerrin Petty of Townshend, Vt., and Laura Wilson of Montpelier, Vt., are the best U.S. women.

In ski jumping, the balance of power has shifted, from Finland to Austria. Toni Nieminen, the Finnish teen-ager who won two golds and a bronze in ‘92, was hailed as a national hero, then let success affect him and has had competitive problems the last two seasons.

The new international standout is Austrian Andreas Goldberger, 22, the 1993 World Cup champion. Ernst Vettori, the normal-hill gold-medalist at Albertville, Werner Rathmayr and Martin Hoellwarth give the Austrian team depth.

The local favorite is Norwegian Espen Bredesen, who won the large-hill competition in the World Championships here last year, and led Norway to the gold medal in the team event.

Jim Holland of Norwich, Vt., and Randy Weber of Steamboat Springs, Colo., are the United States’ best hopes.

Holland finished 12th on the large hill and 13th on the normal hill in Albertville but slipped in international competition in 1993, then suffered a back injury in December and has been trying to regroup.

In Nordic combined, which pairs jumping off the normal hill with a 15K cross-country race, youngsters Ryan Heckman and Todd Lodwick, both of Steamboat Springs, are the U.S. stars, although each is a better jumper than a cross-country skier.

Eastern Europeans have traditionally dominated in the biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing with target shooting. But now the promising newcomers include Andreas Zingerle of Italy among the men and Myriam Bedard of Canada among the women.

The best Americans are Curt Schreiner of Day, N.Y.; R. Duncan Douglas of Lake Placid, N.Y., and Joan Guetschow of Minnetonka, Minn.