SKI CONDITIONS     EVENTS     SUBSCRIBE     ARCHIVES     ::     RESORTS:    NH    VT    ME    MA    CT    RI   

• Contact Us
• Advertising
• Report a problem
• News Archives

February 10, 2010 E-MAIL PRINT

Swifter, higher, stronger

by Nick A. Zaino III/

There are no talentless athletes in the Olympics. Everyone has to be a champion on some level just to make the cut. For a pair of New Englanders, snowboarder Kelly Clark and freestyle skier Jimmy Cochran, confidence could make all the difference heading into this month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Luckily for those rooting for the U.S. team this year, Clark and Cochran are feeling good about their chances.

At 26, Vermont native Clark already has competed in two Olympic games, winning gold in the women’s halfpipe in 2002 at Salt Lake City. She nearly medaled again in Torino in 2006, but a missed landing put her in fourth place. “I’ve taken a lot from my last two experiences,” she said. “Having had an opportunity to prepare on more levels than I had in the past gives me the opportunity to enjoy the process a little more. I’m looking forward to it.”

Clark was only 18 when she won the gold in Salt Lake City, and she said it was an amazing experience. “It was a dream come true for me,” she said.” It was really special to have won the first gold medal for the U.S. in the home country.”

The media attention and magnitude of the competition easily could have overwhelmed any young athlete, but Clark always has been focused on one thing: winning a gold medal. She expects this year to be no different than 2002. “I’ve always been a person who sets goals,” she said. “Heading into the final run, I wanted to go for the gold. Definitely, winning a medal is the goal every time.”

Clark studied at Vermont’s Mount Snow Academy from Grade 8 through graduation and found it a great place to nurture her developing talent as a snowboarder. “Mount Snow for years really catered to snowboarding more so than other parks,” she said. “Mount Snow always made an effort to make their terrain parks and halfpipes really high standard. It was a great place growing up there.”

Lynne Sullivan, director of the Mount Snow Academy, isn’t surprised by Clark’s success. Sullivan has held her position at the Academy for more than 30 years, including Clark’s time there. She remembers watching another talented rider beat Clark on a consistent basis.

“Someone asked me what I thought about that,” Sullivan said. “ I told them that soon Kelly would move ahead because she had the determination to progress and win. Soon after, she did just that. Kelly was always, and is, a diligent worker. Her work ethic is exceptional.”

Sullivan was at Salt Lake City, and said she knew Clark would win after watching her first run. For Sullivan, it was just more confirmation of something she saw in Clark from the very beginning. She’s confident Clark will produce again in Vancouver. “I knew she would be good after the first year she was with us, not because of her talent, which was increasing, but because of her determination,” Sullivan said.

Clark was dominant all the way through the qualifying events for the 2010 team. It has been two years since she finished any worse than second in competition, winning the halfpipe at the Burton European Open in 2008 and 2009 and at the Nissan X-Trail Asian Open in 2009, and becoming the TTR World Tour Champion in 2008 and 2009. Her goal this year is once again Olympic gold, and she believes she’s on a strong U.S. team. “There’s a lot of really good riders out there,” she said. “The last few years they’ve come home with gold medals, and hopefully some of them will again.”

There is something about being a winter athlete in New England that brings out the best of someone’s talent, according to Sullivan, something that gives them the confidence to face whatever may come their way. “New England does not always provide athletes with ideal conditions,” she said. “New England athletes learn to ski and ride in less-than-perfect conditions, making them more able to roll with the punches.”

Like Clark, Jimmy Cochran is relaxed and ready to compete, even to the point of joking about the meals in Torino. “I feel much more confident in my skiing this time around,” he said. “Hopefully, the food will be better. Last time it was very undelicious.”

Cochran has the pedigree of a champion. His family is known as the “Skiing Cochrans.” His grandfather Mickey coached the U.S. team in 1974. His dad, Bobby, and three aunts, Marilyn, Barbara Ann and Lindy, all competed on the U.S. team, with Barbara Ann winning a gold medal in slalom at the Sapporo games in 1972.

His cousins Jessica Kelley, Tim Kelley and Roger Brown also are on the U.S. Ski Team. Since 1961, his family has run Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, Vt., a place where Cochran has many fond memories. It’s still one of his favorite places to ski in New England (he also mentions Stowe, Suicide Six, Mad River, Burke and Smugglers’ Notch) because of the fast rope tow and because usually no one yells at him when he skis fast.

“My brother and sister plus all my cousins learned to ski there, as well as a healthy smattering of racers throughout the whole scene,” he said. “Most of us get back quite a bit.”

Cochran mentions one specific event from last year, when he and a bunch of teammates from the United States Ski and Snowboard Association held an unofficial race. “There was a heck of a lot of pride on the line,” he said, “especially for me. I made the trophies myself — little versions of the T-bar towers that I welded up and spray-painted. They were ugly in a beautiful sort of way.

“I even trained the hill every day for a week leading up to the race, but I got second. I’m still slightly bitter that Jit [Tim Jitloff] beat me. I’ll get him this year. Though I think Ted [Ligety] is going to come this time, so he’ll probably be the favorite. Fortunately, I have about a month to totally psyche him out.”

His family instilled in him a love of skiing, but Cochran said he had to learn the rest on his own.  “Sadly, no one can just tell you how to race,” he said.” It’s a private journey. That’s not to say I haven’t had tremendous support from my family, but it’s just me in the start gate, and that’s probably a good thing.”

When asked if there was a moment on his home slopes when everything clicked for him, when he knew he wanted to ski competitively, he can’t point to just one. “I have lots of those memories,” he said.” In fact, every time I come home and go skiing I have such a moment. It reminds me why I do this and also how lucky I am to have ski racing as a job. I’m spoiled rotten.”

LOCAL HOPEFULS
The 2010 Olympic team is well-stocked with New England-bred athletes. In addition to the aforementioned Kelly Clark and Jimmy Cochran, here are other locals worth keeping an eye on.

Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.)
Alpine Skiing
There is perhaps no American athlete looking forward to this year’s Games more than Miller, who went from winning two silver medals in 2002 to gaining national attention for his remarks about skiing while drunk in 2006, coming back to win the alpine World Cup in 2008, and then talking about retirement due to injury last year. Miller has been all business recently, winning his 32nd World Cup event at Wengen, Switzerland, in January. The Vancouver Olympics are Miller’s chance to show the world why he is considered one of the best athletes in skiing.

Nolan Kasper (Warren, Vt.)
Alpine Skiing
The 20-year-old Dartmouth College student (deferred) has worked his way up the ranks since being a quad silver medalist (GS, SL, SG, overall) at the 2006 U.S. Junior Olympics. He won the Eastern Ski Writers Association’s Golden Ski Award in 2009.

Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, Vt.)
Alpine Skiing
Hampered by injury in her first World Cup season, Marshall has been battling all season. She started 40th at the downhill World Cup race in Ennstal, Austria, and wound up 19th. She should be a strong competitor for years to come.

Leanne Smith (Conway, N.H.)
Alpine Skiing
A NorAm champion and top-flight junior skier, Smith finished 23rd in her first career World Cup start, the first downhill of the 2008 season. She tore her ACL that season but the onetime University of New Hampshire student rebounded nicely.

Nick Alexander (Lebanon, N.H.)
Ski Jumping
Alexander, who grew up jumping in the Lebanon Outing Club, broke onto the world jumping scene this season, qualifying to compete in six International Ski Federation World Cups. The 2010 U.S. champion was the top American in the FIS Continental Cup last season.
 
Emily Cook (Belmont, Mass.)
Freestyle Skiing
Cook made the team in 2002 but tore ligaments in both feet and broke bones in her left foot while practicing two weeks before the Games opened and rehabbed for two years before she could jump again. She made the team again in 2006 but did not medal. Cook said she has added difficulty to her repertoire since 2006, and she won her first World Cup in 2008. She also logged a fourth-place finish at the 2009 World Cup. She’s looking to become the first female American aerialist to medal since 1998.
   
Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.)
Freestyle Skiing
Kearney started her career in World Cup competition at age 17. A few years later, she was in the 2006 Olympics but came in 22nd. She’s been on fire recently. She wrote on her blog on TeamUSA.org that winning the trials in Steamboat Springs in December was a big confidence boost, and that she was working on her speed and the amplitude of her jumps. She has said that while she went to the Games in 2006 for the experience, this year she’s focused on winning. She took first in the World Cup moguls at Whiteface Mountain in January.

Dylan Ferguson (Amesbury, Mass.)
Freestyle Skiing
The rookie came on strong this past season, finishing seventh at the World Championships in Japan and racking up top finishes in other World Cup competitions, including sixth place at the Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley in January, where he pulled off a double, full, full, full, triple-back flip with four twists. Ferguson definitely is one to watch in Vancouver.

Michael Morse (Duxbury, Mass.)
Freestyle Skiing
Morse, who started competing with Vermont’s Killington Mountain School in the eighth grade, finished 18th in moguls and 26th in duals at the 2009 Worlds.

Andy Newell
(Shaftsbury, Vt.)
Cross Country
A veteran of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino who once studied at the Stratton Mountain School, Newell is No. 1 on the U.S. Ski Team for cross country and ranked fourth in the world. Last year, he was 12th in the sprint classic and 13th in the relay at the 2009 Worlds. He had six top-15 finishes in World Cup competition this season.

Kris Freeman (Andover, N.H.)
Cross Country
Despite living with type 1 diabetes, Freeman made the team and is expected to compete in the 15km freestyle, the individual sprint, the team sprint, and the 50km mass start classic. He won the 15km race at this season’s U.S. Cross-Country Ski Championships, his 13th national championship.

Liz Stephen (East Montpelier, Vt.)
Cross Country
Stephen, who studied at Burke Mountain Academy, impressed her peers in 2006 by tying standout skier Kikkan Randall for first place in the 5km free event at the U.S. Nationals. She also captured national titles in the classic sprint and 30k classic, and was fourth in the U-23 World Championships this season.

Hannah Teter (Belmont, Vt.)
Halfpipe
Teter already has one gold medal, which she picked up in the 2006 games for women’s halfpipe. She gained considerable momentum in 2009, winning a Grand Prix in Lake Tahoe, coming in second at a World Cup in Italy, and coming in third at the Winter X Games. She maintained that momentum in January when she finished second to Kelly Clark at the 2010 Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. She should be one of the U.S. team’s best bets for medaling.

Scotty Lago (Seabrook, N.H.)
Halfpipe
Lago overcame his longshot status to make the team, and he has given at least partial credit for that to two friends, Danny Davis and Kevin Pearce, who could not compete due to serious injuries. Lago finished second to the record-breaking Shaun White in the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in January. It’s an old sports chestnut, but it could apply here: Lago is getting hot at the right time.

Louie Vito
(Stratton Mountain School, Vt.)
Halfpipe
A Midwesterner who traveled east to train at SMS, Vito has been a star since exploding on the world scene as a 17-year-old in 2005, including a first-place finish in superpipe at the Australian Open.
 
Seth Wescott
(Sugarloaf, Maine)
Snowboardcross
At 33, Wescott is a definite graybeard on this Olympic team. He also is a proven champion, winning a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics, eight medals at the Winter X Games, and three U.S. Snowboardcross championships. He finished second at the FIS Snowboardcross World Cup in September.

Lindsey Jacobellis
(Stratton Mountain, Vt.)
Snowboardcross
Jacobellis could have walked into Vancouver with a gold medal from the 2006 Games, but she fell on her second-to-last jump in those games and had to settle for a silver. She enters this year’s Games with the title of 2009 SBX World Cup Champion, widely recognized as one of the most dominating snowboarders in the sport, and with a boatload of gold medals from every level of competition.

Michelle Gorgone (Boston)
Parallel Giant Slalom
A graduate of the Waterville Valley snowboarding program, Gorgone competed in the 2006 Olympics, taking 22nd in the PGS. She had four top-10 World Cup finishes a year ago and got off to a strong start this season.