Fritz Carpenter Soars at Nordic Junior Olympics
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| by Alan Cole |
March 18, 2009
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Fritz Carpenter Soars at Junior Olympics
Once upon at time, Aspen was considered a home for Nordic Ski Jumpers. Thanks to Fritz Carpenter, that day may be returning. Carpenter posted solid results at this year's Nordic Junior Olympics in Anchorage, Alaska, March 3-7 with a 6th place result in Nordic Combined (Jumping and Cross-Country skiing) and a fourth place team result after pairing up with Steamboat's Jake Barker.
It was tight at the top and Carpenter had to put both elements together to stand out. Instead of using his cross-country skills to stay with the pack, Carpenter's solid jumping scores helped move him up the standings this season. "He actually didn't jump that well in training," concedes AVSC Nordic Jumping coach Craig Ward. "I guess he was saving his best for when it mattered. When the chips were down, he focused and jumped really well." Carpenter's jumps left him with a deficit of two minutes seven seconds behind the leader going into the cross-country portion of the event. Carpenter then attacked the cross-country portion of the Nordic Combined event on March 5th and posted a time of 14.37.9, only 1.5 minutes off the winner's pace. Carpenter was the third best finisher from the Rocky Mountain Division out of the nine who qualified.
"He's always been a solid skier and he's dramatically improved his jumping this season," said Ward. "He's using his jumping to steadily close the gap with the top guys."
Carpenter's focus helped his two-man team take fourth place in the Nordic Combined team event. "The Rocky Mountain Division coaches in Alaska called me and said 'what are you doing down there in Aspen?'" said Ward. "They were amazed at the progress of our athletes considering only having one local 20-meter jump. At an early age, we're compensating by building the fundamental skills so that when our athletes get to be older and more competitive, their skills combined with their newfound focus and determination give them an edge over their rivals."
Ward also singled out Carpenter's teammate and second year J2 skier Steve Anderson for the progress he's made this season despite some unfortunate setbacks. "Steve was on track to qualify for Junior Olympics this year had he not suffered an injury earlier this season which kept him off the hill for five weeks," Ward explained. "He had a last-ditch chance to make the team but came up just short last month. Since then, however, Steve's been jumping really well and will have his first experience flying off the 90-meter jump at Steamboat later this month."
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For details, contact
Alan Cole
AVSC
(970) 205-5104
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