Oberhof
NORDIC
There could not have been a much better
weekend for Johnny Spillane than Jan. 2– 3. All
of his hard work, unbelieving determination and
hard-honed skill set paid off in the most glorious
of ways. I’d like to go to Vegas with this guy.
Spillane started last weekend with a fourth
place in Oberhof, Germany, and capped it off
with an ever-so-sweet victory.
In the first nordic combined event, the 29-
year-old Steamboat Springs native fell from
second to fourth place with only 200 meters to
go, missing out on his sixth career win, while
returning Finn Hannu Manninen took the win.
It was the fifth time in the last six events that
Spillane, the 2003 Worlds combined sprint
champion finished in the top 10.
The week before Oberhof, Spillane had dem-
onstrated his full recovery from injuries last
summer and fall, taking an Olympic ticket for
Vancouver by besting teammates Todd Lodwick
and Bill Demong at Steamboat. This was where
he learned to ski when he was a boy; he could
look out at the hills from his family’s home.
Following race one at the Germany winter
sports capital of Oberhof, Spillane told report-
ers: “For sure, I am kinda getting ticked at get-
ting fourth, but it was another good event, and
really, I came into this year without too-high
expectations.”
It also proved to be yet another encouraging
race for Austrian Felix Gottwald, the Zell am
See star who has taken several years off and is
coming back strong for the Games. Gottwald
finished second while Jason Lamy Chappuis
was third, followed by Bjoern Kircheisen of Ger-
many in fourth. Demong led other U.S. finishers
in eighth place.
On January 3rd, Spillane found his New Year’s
wishes coming true. He took his first-ever win in
a World Cup event, finishing the cross-country
portion an impressive 30 seconds ahead of the
pack to take the gold. Second place again went
to Gottwald and third to Kirchesisen — both are
likely to present strong challenges to the USST
supremacy come February at the Vancouver
Games.
Spillane finished second in the ski jumping
portion, behind Gottwald. Spillane started just
two seconds behind the leader in the cross coun-
try leg. Then he put down his head and made
a bold move. At one point, he had an extraor-
dinary led of 47 seconds. At the 6.1 km mark,
Gottwald moved into second position, but was
no match for Spillane’s explosive cross country
skiing.
“I am really excited,” said Spillane. “It was good
jumping and good racing, and I know when I
can put the two together, I can do well, I just
went for it today and fortunately it worked out.”
U.S. Ski Team Head Combined Coach Dave
Jarrett was, of course, thrilled with Spillane’s
results. “Johnny had an awesome race,” said
Jarrett. “He put his head down and skied. He
dropped everyone. It’s a good win to have be-
cause he didn’t feed anything to anyone, and he
won it.”
Spillane expects to go faster and faster every
day, telling reporters: “I think my cross coun-
try still can get a bit better still, from what it is
now.”
In the past few months Spillane has had more
consistent training, after a summer and fall
fraught with injury and surgery.
Demong followed Spillane for the United
States; he was at one point as high as fourth
place in the cross country portion and then
placed was 13th overall. Other USST results in-
cluded Brett Camerota in 31st, Taylor Fletcher
in 32nd and Alex Miller in 43rd. The next event
was scheduled for Val di Fiemme, where Spill-
ane won his 2003 World Championship title.
Todd Lodwick was scheduled to rejoin the team
there.
In the end it was Dave Jarrett who put the wrap
on the weekend in a tweet to me saying: “All
good for Johnny today. Won going away. DJ.”
D. J., you’re right on.
