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| If it looks like Nils is focussed on the camera and not the landing hill in this shot, it’s probably because he was. |
STORY No. 35
NILS STOLZLECHNER
Age 50
Kitzbuhel, AUT
Skigymnasium Stams, US Ski Team
When I graduated 1980 from the Skigymnasim Stams in Austria I accomplished something that no one thought would be possible. Four years prior at my arrival I was kind of a fat kid that was an OK alpine racer but decided to take up ski jumping at 14. Somehow and with luck I survived the learning curve but at the end did not make the Austrian team. In that country that means you are done as an athlete. People that know me, however, know that I am rarely done. I had an US passport and an idea. I found out that the US Ski Team had a new coach, Greg Windsperger. I also found an address for the US Ski Team in Park City so I wrote them a letter asking for a license to compete as an American in the summer events in Berchtesgaden. Before e-mail it took a while for my letter to reach Greg. I received a license (actually never had to show it). In late fall the US Ski Team came to train in Europe and coming from knee surgery it was the first time I had jumped since the previous winter and I hoped to impress the new coach. The guys all seemed OK- Jeff Davis, Jim Maki, Dave Solner, Jim Grahek, Jon Denny I think were on the trip. We went to Passo Rolle, Italy for snow training as well. After that I used all my saved up money to buy a ticket to go to Thunder Bay. That’s where I first met the Canadians, back then with Steve Collins and Horst Bulau two of the best ski jumpers in the world. Under Greg’s new style the team changed fast. Jeff Hastings, who I first met in Lake Placid along with Mike Holland, Dennis McGrane, Mark Konapacke, Zane Palmer and Landis Arnold quickly excelled and by 1982 the US Ski Team had changed its face. John Broman, John Denney and Read Zuehlke from the old guard and a bunch of crazy wild new kids began to score top 15 finishes by 1984. One of the highlights for us certainly was the 5thplace in the team event at the 1985 World Championships in Seefeld, AUT beating Norway. In our best year we had 8 guys place in the top 15! I think the combination of a new dedicated coach, new raw talent and an Austrian kid who was a little arrogant really gelled well. Spending nights sleeping in the inrun tower at Berchtesgaden with Dennis and Landis, having to share a room with John Benzie for two weeks in T-Bay, driving cross country and running out of gas, hitting big birds on the freeway and the fire cracker fights while driving from Oberstdorf to Garmish are experiences that I will never forget. For me the US Ski Team set a path in my life that certainly made me a better person, taught me how to believe in the almost impossible and showed me that hard work pays off! For what its worth, I would do this all over again. I miss the soccer matches and my teammates, am grateful for the opportunity I was given and look forward to the new generation following in our footsteps.
While jumping is no longer an option I have found something else that keeps me in the air J once you get that flight feeling its hard to let it go.
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| Nils’s new source of adrenaline- kite boarding. In addition to competing he has his own line of boards- NJS Design. |
