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| 21.08.1972. Buffalo, NY. Hometown: Park City, UT. 175cm / 84kg |
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| SKI: Nordica BOOTS: Nordica BINDING: Marker |
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| Veteran gate-runner Erik Schlopy put-up the best World Cup giant slalom results
by an American man since Phil Mahre won the overall and GS titles in 1983,
including second behind Hermann Maier at World Cup Finals. But, if you ask
Schlopy, perhaps the most significant performance was his dismal showing at the
World Championships because it helped lay the foundation for his pre-Olympic
preparation. He started No. 1 in GS but fell less than a dozen gates into the course in St. Anton. In slalom, Schlopy finished 21st but -- in his second season back in World Cup action -- that was a throwaway. He took the lessons learned at Worlds and planned to apply them to both his preseason and his in-season skiing as he geared for the 2002 Olympics in his backyard with a "work hard, play hard" attitude. Comment: "I had a great season, except for Worlds. But, as I said at the time, maybe that was the best thing that could happen to me. I stuck to my game plan -- don’t get ahead of yourself -- all season except for St. Anton, and it cost me badly there. I got too amped, too intense...but, as frustrating as it was, it was a great lesson, too." Comment II: "I have to be calculating with my training. It’s not just training hard; I have to rest hard, too, so I come into a season fresh but totally ready....Right now I have the ability to win World Cups. But what we’re going to do in the summer is increase the probability." Coachquote: "Erik’s doing all the things he needs to get things in line. The day after World Cup Finals [in Are, Sweden], he stuck around and already was testing equipment for this season. He keeps his eye on his goal and has the motivation to follow-through on what he needs to do." - Jesse Hunt Start-up: Schlopy skied when he was 2 at Kissing Bridge, near Buffalo. When the family moved to Stowe, Vt., a few years later, he continued through the Mount Mansfield Ski Club. He went to Burke Mountain Academy and was Eastern junior champ at 14, J-1 slalom/GS champ at 16, on the Ski Team by 18. He suffered a broken sternum and multiple injuries in a DH training crash at the ‘93 Worlds, but rebounded to make the 1994 Olympic Team. Schlopy retired after the ‘95 season to race on the pro tour but decided after the ‘98 season to return to the World Cup. Schlopy paid his own way for training in ‘99 and raced his way back to the Ski Team. "[USSA CEO Bill] Marolt told me he didn’t care how I old I was as long as I could ski fast," he recalled. Getaway: After last season, he and his girlfriend spent three weeks on a remote island in Fiji at the recommendation of Chad Fleischer. Eurobunk: In an effort to reduce trans-Atlantic travel, he and Bode Miller have split the rent for the past two seasons (and through this winter) on a place scouted out in a small village near the Brenner Pass above Innsbruck by ex-Coach Thomas Erhard. Sprechen...? He’s learning German...and his Austrian neighbors, who traveled to St. Anton to cheer him on at Worlds, are culling a few words of English. Text By US Ski Team |
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Biorama Basel |
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