AVSC Alum Ward Shines at Lake Placid National Championships
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| by Craig Ward - AVSC Nordic |
October 26, 2009
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Aspen native and AVSC alum, Michael Ward, recently proved again that he is one of the top junior Nordic combined skiers in the country. At the Senior US National Championships, held in Lake Placid New York on October 10, Ward finished 13th among all senior and junior athletes. The very next day, in a special jumping competition, he stunned the junior (under 20 yr olds) field with a 2nd place podium finish, scoring the best style points of any man, junior or senior.
Earlier this fall, Ward and two other US juniors were invited to a two-week training camp with the US Ski team in Lillehammer, Norway. There, training alongside the powerful US and Norwegian teams, the 16-year old Aspenite set his personal distance record on the K120 jump with a leap of 126 meters. For those of you metrically challenged that's 414 feet !! While that jump was not an official competition jump Ward hopes to duplicate his effort in the Olympic Trials in Steamboat Springs in December 22 and 23 of this year.
Jumping, however, is only half the sport of Nordic combined. Ward has excelled many years with the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club at cross-country skiing, so his recent improvement in the jumping portion of the event bodes well for the young athlete. In fact, at the US Nationals where Ward finished the jump portion in 18th place, he skied the 10th fastest time in the skate race, passing five other athletes to finish thirteenth.
For the second year in a row, the Nationals were held in the late fall (like many European countries), to accommodate the early and important World Cup events and to prepare properly for the upcoming Vancouver Olympics. In Lake Placid the jumping portion was held on the plastic-covered K90 hill, and the cross-country skate race done on roller skis, covering a very technical 1.4 kilometer track where the competitors skied a total of 8 laps, for a total distance of 11.5 kilometers.
Winning the national event was 2-time 2008 World Champion, Todd Lodwick, of Steamboat Springs. In second was Brett Camerota, of Park City, Utah, and Bryan Fletcher of Steamboat was third. Missing from the competition due to injuries were World Champion Bill Demong of Lake Placid and Johnny Spillane of Steamboat, the World Sprint Champion of 2003. Needless to say, the US team is a huge favorite at the Vancouver Olympics, both in the team and individual events.
Michael Ward, though, is aiming this year to make the World Junior Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany, which will be held in the last week of January, 2010. There he could meet up with possibly two other recent Aspen Nordic alums, Noah Hoffman, who is currently ranked 3rd in the US in the cross country distance events, and Simi Hamilton, who is a strong contender in the cross country sprint events. Watch for these three in the 2014 where the Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia.
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For details, contact
Alan Cole
AVSC
(970) 205-5104
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