Imagine sliding out onto the starting bar of the 90m ski jump and just as you’re about to launch yourself down the incline.., you look down at the last second and realize that the front of one of your bindings is completely ripped out of the ski! Slide back off the bar and think for a moment about the “what if’s”..right?

Well, that was part of Steamboat Springs Olympian, Johnny Spillane’s Olympic experience during yesterdays Nordic Combined training. “I’ve noticed the last few days that my ski has felt fairly weird.., I’ve been looking at the bottoms tying to figure out what’s going on. During the second jump I was getting on the bar, and I looked down … and the whole front of the binding had ripped off.” Sliding off the bar and passing on his second training jump, Spillane went back to the bottom and quickly set up his back up skis so he could get in one more practice jump in the third and final round of Friday’s training. Overall, Johnny had good training runs despite the equipment issues and the rain.., rain? I thought this was supposed to be the Winter Olympics! Spillane jumped 95 meters in the first round and 95.5 meters in the second.

Todd Lodwick, another Steamboat Springs Olympic contender, also participated in yesterday’s practice session. Lodwick stated “Training has been OK.., It’s been a little inconsistent with the weather. Cross-country has been great.” He also expressed how difficult it was to get used the the rain. In fact, according to Todd, the rain is having the biggest negative impact on his training. “I’m just not used to rain coming from Steamboat,” he said.

“Besides the weather, everything is fantastic,” Lodwick said. “I’m sleeping well, we are having a lot of fun in the Olympic Village and everything is upbeat, and none of us are stressing too bad. We’ve had a few minor things with the skis. I broke a pair of skis yesterday, and Johnny broke a pair today, but I’m excited.”

The US Nordic team will have one more day of training before the 10-kilometer individual Gundersen event on Sunday. Coverage of this event will be part of NBC’s 12:00-5:00pm Olympic coverage on KUSA Channel 9 in Denver. Tune in and cheer for Johnny and Todd, Go Colorado!