As for the team in Norway, we had a rough weekend. Yesterday the conditions were very tough. It was snowing very hard and pretty windy. After sending about 20 athletes, the FIS organizers decided to cancel the jumping and use the PCR jump from Friday. I started the race 2:40 back from the leaders and 40 seconds back from points (30th place). I knew I would be capable of skiing into points if I stayed relaxed and skied my own race. During the race I slowly moved up places and going into the last lap I was around 25th place. Unfortunately I broke my pole and lost a lot of time and ended up 36th. I was really frustrated and but was looking forward to Sunday to put in a good result. We had great conditions today on the jump but I was not able to capitalize on the opportunity and had a poor result on the hill. The cross country race went much better today but I was too far behind to move up places. I finished 40th. My other teammates had a hard time on the jump hill as well and, like me, were unable to score COC points this weekend.
Well the U.S. Nordic Combined team had it's ups and downs this weekend. My teammates at the World Cup in Chaux Neuve, France had a spectacular weekend. Taylor Fletcher led the way for the U.S. with an incredible 5th place finish today. Bryan Fletcher took 20th the first day and 8th today. Finally, Adam Loomis scored his first World Cup points of his career, finishing 21st yesterday. It is great to see his hard work pay off. As for the team in Norway, we had a rough weekend. Yesterday the conditions were very tough. It was snowing very hard and pretty windy. After sending about 20 athletes, the FIS organizers decided to cancel the jumping and use the PCR jump from Friday. I started the race 2:40 back from the leaders and 40 seconds back from points (30th place). I knew I would be capable of skiing into points if I stayed relaxed and skied my own race. During the race I slowly moved up places and going into the last lap I was around 25th place. Unfortunately I broke my pole and lost a lot of time and ended up 36th. I was really frustrated and but was looking forward to Sunday to put in a good result. We had great conditions today on the jump but I was not able to capitalize on the opportunity and had a poor result on the hill. The cross country race went much better today but I was too far behind to move up places. I finished 40th. My other teammates had a hard time on the jump hill as well and, like me, were unable to score COC points this weekend. We are all pretty upset with our results but ready to make some changes before next weekend's COC in Falun, Sweden. I have never been to Falun so I am really excited to jump a new hill and to try and improve my results. I will keep you updated! Hope everyone had a happy holidays!
I have already have had a wonderful beginning to 2015! After heading home for the holidays, I returned to Park City to continue training. I had several jumping sessions and really made some good improvements on the hill. I am looking forward to taking my jumping over to Europe and continue the progress. On Saturday I raced in one of the Wasatch Citizen Series cross country races in Park City. Last winter I raced quite a bit of these. Anyways Bill Demong and I raced together and did very well. Bill was 2nd and I was 5th. The rest of the top 5 were all skiers from the University of Utah and very strong athletes. I was really happy with my result and feel really good as get ready for the Continental Cups in Hoydalsmo, Norway this upcoming weekend. I am now at the airport waiting for my flight to Europe. I am excited to finally head back over for competitions. I will update you again when I get to Norway!
Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! It’s been a long time since I updated my website… however I haven’t been sitting around on my hands! Let me update you on my past months of training and competitions and what the future holds. My competition season started in early December in Steamboat Springs. I skied very well at Winter Start however my jumping was really struggling. I jumped to 10th place and skied up to 3rd overall. I was happy to have such a great cross country race and it definitely boosted my confidence going into the Continental Cups the following weekend. I skied some good races in Park City at the Continental Cup opener, with 24th and 28th finishes. With some adjustments to my ski jumping I will be ready to dramatically improve my results, as my ski racing is already at a high level. I had the 6th fastest time in the first event, and the 12th fastest time in the second race. Results are here: http://data.fis-ski.com/pdf/2015/NK/4180/2015NK4180ROF.pdf and http://data.fis-ski.com/pdf/2015/NK/4181/2015NK4181ROF.pdf Training was good this fall, as I joined my other teammates in a training camp in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in October. My jumping returned to normal near the end of the camp, in Stams, Austria. It was so good to get positive feelings back on the jump hill, as I won the last inter-squad competition there. It is so easy to get all wrapped up in what others call a “batter’s slump”. You’ve probably experienced similar efforts, where even if you try harder and harder to overcome something, it just doesn’t work. I’m getting a lot more confident of my capabilities, and I know that keeping a positive attitude with a lot of patience will get me to the place where I want to be.
Thanks, too, for all your support! Noah Hoffman and I had a wonderful outpouring of support in Aspen in early November. We helped to raise over $22,000 for the Rocky Mountain Nordic Angel program… and that program will assist me this winter in racing and training expenses. I also want to thank Mike Elliott of RMN for making this so successful! So now I’m off to Hoydalsmo, Norway, then Falun, Sweden, and hopefully Planica, Slovenia for 3 Continental Cup events in January. I’ll be traveling with my old coach, Martin Bayer, formerly of the Steamboat Winter Sports Club, and others on the “B” and “C” Nordic Combined team members. Then in February I’ll go to Val DiFemme, Italy to compete in the World Cup there, and then to other events like the Klingenthal COC race... then depending on my results could travel to Falun Sweden for the Nordic World Championships. Hopefully my other US Ski Team athletes from Aspen, Simi Hamilton and Noah Hoffman, will be there as well. Here is the schedule of Nordic Combined races: http://data.fis-ski.com/nordic-combined/calendar.html Again I wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope that 2015 will be the best for you!! I’ll keep you updated here with results and my racing in Europe. |
Michael WardHi! My name is Michael Ward. I am a 23 year old from Aspen, CO now living in Park City, UT to continue my career as a Nordic Combined athlete. I am on the 2015-16 US Nordic Combined Team and am honored to live and train with the best in the world. Archives
February 2016
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