Goodwill Games

For Release: Sunday, February 20, 2000

Lodwick and Van Loan Narrowly Miss Bronze At Goodwill Games

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (Feb. 20) - Germany's Sebastien Haseney blew past Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) on the tag to start the final lap Sunday and went on to pickup the bronze medal in the nordic combined team event on the final day of the first Winter Goodwill Games. Two Austrian teams breezed to the gold and silver medals.

Mario Stecher and Felix Gottwald led the 120-meter jumping portion of the competition and started more than a minute ahead of the field and they finished 2:23.8 ahead of two other Austrians, David Kreiner and Michael Gruber. The bronze medal went to Germany-1 - Haseney and Sven Koch, who were sixth in the jumping.

Lodwick and Van Loan were eighth after the jumping portion and gradually picked off other skiers after starting 3:29 back. By the end of the ninth lap, Van Loan had moved into third, but on the tag, Haseney simply blew away from everyone and fattened his lead at the MacKenzie-Intervale Olympic Ski Jump Complex.

"We skied well, but it wasn't enough," Lodwick - the bronze medalist Saturday in the combined sprint - told reporters. He and Van Loan started 31 seconds behind the Germans and chewed 23 seconds off that lead in posting the fastest relay team.

"We wanted to ski hard, and I think we did that," he said, "but this also shows how this competition is won off the jumping hill."

Coach Tom Steitz noted, "We tried. They gave it a good run and came close...but, starting four minutes back, there's only so much you can do. It would've been better if we'd gotten it, but...still, we leave here with a bronze medal for two days, and a great experience."

He said Van Loan moves up to the World Cup for the competition next weekend in Chaux-Neuve, France, and the neighboring Valle de joux, Switzerland. "He'll be fine. This was a good event for him and I think he's ready to get in with the big boys; he certainly can out-run a bunch of 'em," Steitz said.

Winter Goodwill Games
Sunday, February 20th
Lake Placid, NY
Nordic Combined Team
K120/15-km FR

Austria-2 (Gottwald/Stecher) 1/3
Austria-2 (Kreiner/Gruber) 2/5 - 2:23.8 back
Germany-1 (Koch/Haseney) 6/3 - 2:54.0
USA-2 (Lodwick/Van Loan) 8/1 - 3:01.9
Germany-2 (5/4) 3:11.9
Norway-2 (3/7) 4:50.5
Norway-1 (7/6) 5:52.4
Japan-2 (4/8) 6:49.0
Japan-1 (9/9) 8:06.6

-Victory Bound!-

CONTACTS:

Scott Flanders

U.S. Ski Team News Bureau

801-557-2813

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