Lodwick Could Be Combination Lock for U.S.

Barring a collapse, the United States will make history in the Nordic combined today. 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 have to wait until today’s 15-kilometer ski race, but for now 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 the cross-country element of Nordic combined, every competitor gets a head start on anyone who finished behind him in jumping. That will put Lodwick 2 minutes 15 seconds behind jump winner Jaakko Tallus of Finland at the cross-country start. But Tallus, a relatively weak skier, probably won’t even win a medal. Germany’s Ronny Ackermann, a splendid skier who placed fifth in jumping, and Finland’s Samppa Lajunen, who placed third, will probably vie for the gold.

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 will give him a shot at gold. That’s probably wishful thinking, but he’s confident he can win at least a bronze medal, breaking a U.S. drought that stretches to the first Winter Games in 1924.

“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. Nordic combined program, which until recently was an international snicker.

Lodwick, who was 13th at age 17 in the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, was a disappointing 20th in 1998 at Nagano, one of several times he faded in big events.

Early in his career he was a strong jumper and weak skier; in recent years he has been inconsistent in his jumps while improving his skiing. Saturday, though, 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, co-favorite with Ackermann, finished 11th, helping put Ackermann in position to avenge his disappointing 12th-place finish at Nagano.

The U.S. team has been pointing toward this weekend almost since 1992, when virtually 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, who believes the United States is the perfect place to prove the U.S. can jump and race with the big boys.

“Anything can happen tomorrow,” he said. “To be the first to win a medal in Nordic combined would be great not only for me but for Nordic combined in the United States.”