When the 21st Winter Olympics kicks off in Vancouver, British Columbia, on February 12, as many as eight Vermonters might be dashing from some sort of starting line, hoping to become immortalized in the pantheon of Olympic medalists. Look for them on the alpine slopes of Whistler and Blackcomb; the bumps, jumps, and superpipe on Cypress Mountain; and on the Nordic skiing courses at Whistler Olympic Park. Who are these gutsy Green Mountain athletes? Read on.
KELLY CLARK, Brattleboro
(now residing in Rhode Island)
Clark’s on a roll. The 2002 Olympic gold medalist snowboarder won a qualifying event in Colorado in December, and then won the United States Grand Prix of Snowboarding in January, becoming the first rider named to the U.S. halfpipe team for Vancouver. It’s a great achievement for Clark, a Brattleboro native who grew up on the slopes of Mount Snow, but no surprise. This will be her third consecutive Olympic games, and after a fourth-place result in Torino in 2006, Clark will be gunning for gold this time around. Rumor has it she listens to her iPod while competing. What’s on her Olympic mix? That’s anyone’s guess.
JIMMY COCHRAN, Keene, NH
Sure, Jimmy Cochran calls Keene, NH, home these days, but he grew up in Richmond as part of the famous Cochran skiing family, so he deserves some mention here. Though skiing ability seems to be part of Cochran’s genetic makeup, that only gets you so far. Through plenty of hard work, he’s become one of the best slalom skiers in the world, securing three top-10 World Cup finishes in 2008, and a 10th place finish in the slalom at the 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. With one Olympics (2006) under his belt already, Cochran will know how to block out the distractions and focus on the skiing. He’s America’s best chance at a medal in the slalom in Vancouver.
LINDSEY JACOBELLIS, Stratton
Though she’s not even 25 yet, Jacobellis is a veteran of the adrenaline-infused sport of snowboard cross, having won a silver medal in the 2006 Winter games in Torino, Italy, the event’s Olympic debut. She was a hairsbreadth from the top honor that day, but fell on the second-to-last jump when going for a method grab.
Jacobellis—also known as Lucky Lindsey—won the 2009 Snowboard Cross World Cup, a gold medal in the 2009 Winter X Games, and five more X Games gold medals between 2003 and 2005. Accustomed to the inimical sparkle of gold, she has no plans to settle for second place in Vancouver.
HANNAH KEARNEY, Norwich
Hannah Kearney, 23, has tasted the sweetness of victory and bitterness of defeat more than most mogul skiers. She was the World Champion at the ripe old age of 18, but a year later, at the 2006 Winter Olympics, she ended up a disappointing 22nd. 2009 was equally erratic: she was 14th at the 2009 World Championships,
but went on to claim the World Cup crown by the end of the season.
Kearney has also suffered her share of injuries—no surprise for a mogul skier. They include a torn knee ligament in 2007 and a concussion in 2008. But if she can stay out of trouble on the Cypress Mountain course, she has the talent and experience to be a top contender.
ANDY NEWELL, Shaftsbury
According to his bio on the U.S. Olympic Committee website, Andy Newell’s motto is “I’m from Vermont, I I do what I want.” That may be true; after all, he’s known in cross-country circles for doing backflips and other aerial maneuvers on skinny skis. And he’s also been known as one of the best sprinters in the game since he reached the World Cup podium in 2006, more than 20 years after the last American (Bill Koch) did it. But if he really gets to do what he wants, Newell will grab a medal in Vancouver. He competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics, but went home empty handed. He finished 5th in the 2007 World Championships, an outstanding result for an American cross-country skier. He has years of grueling races in his legs by now, and will be one of the U.S.’s best hopes in Nordic skiing.
KEVIN PEARCE, Norwich
Editor’s note: After this article was written, Kevin sustained a head injury when he fell while training in the halfpipe in Park City, UT. He is in stable but serious condition at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. The family has set up a Facebook Fan page, Well Wishes to our Friend Kevin Pearce, where followers can receive updates on his condition and show their support.
This rookie Olympian is a master of the superpipe, a halfpipe with 16-foot high walls that launches skiers and snowboarders three stories above the hard, flat basin. He won a silver medal in the 2009 Winter X Games in that category. But Pearce isn’t too shabby at Slopestyle, either—he won a silver in that event in the 2008 Winter X Games. In both cases, it seems that only one person stands between Pearce and an Olympic gold medal: Shaun White. Americans win either way, but Pearce, who has fashioned himself an anti-corporate, grassroots athlete, would like to reclaim the soul of snowboarding at this prestigious venue.
LIZ STEPHEN, E. Montpelier
This fall, E. Montpelier native Liz Stephen visited elementary schools in Vermont and talked with the kids about her life. “I decided I really wanted to be a cross country ski racer for my job,” she said to a gaggle of children in East Montpelier. The students probably had no idea how hard such an occupation is, but it didn’t matter. Stephen’s point was this: find something you love, and do it well. Good advice.
In 2002, the Burke Mountain Academy grad discovered she loved cross-country skiing, after spending the majority of her life on alpine skis. She also discovered she was darn good at it, because less than a year later, she won the 2003 junior national championship in the five-kilometer freestyle category.
That trajectory has barely changed in the years since. Now, at the young age of 22, Stephen is gearing up for her first Olympic games. She’s got another four to eight years before she hits her peak performance, according to U.S. head coach Peter Vordenberg, but Stephen has proven fast enough today to get into the top 15. One thing’s for sure: the kids at East Montpelier Elementary will be pulling for her.
HANNAH TETER, Belmont
Hannah Teter must be the only athlete at the 2010 Winter Olympics with her own ice cream flavor. In November, Ben & Jerry’s announced the debut of “Maple Blondie,” a pint of the creamy dessert with blondie brownie chunks and a maple caramel swirl. It’s a flavor befitting the affable, blond-haired Teter, who won a gold medal in the halfpipe in the 2006 Winter Olympics. She’ll be gunning for a repeat in Vancouver, of course. But through her humanitarian efforts with Hannah’s Gold, which aims to improve the lives of people in Kenya through the sale of maple syrup, even if Teter falls short of a medal on the snowboard, she’ll be honored with good karma.
HONORARY MENTION...
CHELSEA MARSHALL, Pittsfield
Marshall, who cut her teeth on the slopes of Killington, is heralded as the future of the U.S. Women’s Downhill team. She’s recognized as a strong, graceful skier who’s been hampered by a back injury that kept her from completing a full World Cup season last year. Though after the injury she battled to gain points in the downhill at Tarvisio and Bansko, the rest of the season was a bit of a disappointment. She’s looking to make a clean start in 2010 and hopes to be on the Olympic team in Vancouver.
CAITLIN COMPTON, Warren
(now residing in Minneapolis, MN)
It’s been a long time coming for former Warren resident Caitlin Compton, 29, but after years of being passed up and passed around, she’s finally going to the Olympics. Compton, a Nordic skier who was born in New York and graduated from Harwood Union High School, thought she was a shoe-in for the National Team in the 2006-2007 season; after all, she won a national title and the Super Tour, and was skiing faster than any other woman in the running. But the coaches thought Compton was--at the advanced age of 26--over the hill. In a twist of fate, the U.S. Biathlon Team invited her to join the squad, and gave Compton the time to train and race at world-class facilities and events. She switched back to Nordic skiing in 2009 and has been lighting up the races ever since, finishing fifth in the freestyle sprint at nationals in Anchorage on January 2nd; second in the 10K freestyle race on January 4th; and third in the 20K classic race two days later. She’ll carry that momentum into Vancouver, and maybe even to a medal.
- Login or register to post comments
- 465 reads
- send to friend
