FISskijumping: Who would you recap last season form a personal point of view?

Nick Alexander: Last season was a tough one for me. I didn’t achieve my goals and I lost interest very early. It was a good learning experience though, because now I know what not to do in the upcoming seasons.

Peter Frenette: For me it was a great experience. I competed in many competitions and had some of the best jumps of my career. I feel this season was a huge success for me as I had my best results on all levels, including World Junior Championships and the Olympics.

Anders Johnson: Last season was tough. After coming back from the injury I had in summer I had to learn to jump from scratch again and I only had two weeks to do it before the first competition. The results were not as good as I had hoped. But in the other sense I feel like the season was good because I got back on skis by the winter. To qualify for the Olympics was a dream come true, if someone was to tell me that in August I would say they were crazy.

FISskijumping: Did you maybe start with training too early after the ACL rupture? What was the reason for the second surgery?

Johnson: It was a tough call to come back from such an injury so soon, but I wouldn’t have done it without the support of one of the best surgeons and therapists in the US. The reason for my other surgery was a long time injury in my right knee. I decided to end the season early because I wanted to be healthy for the summer and the World Championships.

FISskijumping: What are the plans for the next couple of months now?

Johnson: Since my last surgery I’ve been in gym getting healthy again since March, so it wasn’t much of an off season for me. I rented a house with some friends and have been enjoying my time away from jumping. Now with both knees back to 100 % I have started some of my pre-season training again.

Alexander: I went to Austria on May 14th and I’ll be training with an Austrian coach until September or October.

Frenette: In the next few months I will continue to train and start to jump. In July I will compete in the US Nationals in Park City and then I’ll hopefully head over to Europe to compete in some FIS and Continental Cups.

FISskijumping: Nick, you had a very good summer last year. What are your goals for this year’s Grand Prix?

Alexander: I’m hoping to return to the same or a higher level as last year during the SGP. But most importantly I want to have fun again. I’m looking to reinvent the way I look at skijumping and make some major changes.

FISskijumping: Being a skijumper in the US is everything but easy. Where do you get your motivation from?

Frenette: I draw motivation from the love for the sport and the fact that the US is not known for great skijumpers and I hope to become a great skijumper.

Johnson: Being from the US in skijumping you are the underdog team. But after some good results from myself, Nick Alexander, Peter and Nick Fairall it doesn’t seem like that we are that far away. I draw my motivation from the love I have for the sport. If I wouldn’t love it I sure would not be sacrificing as much as I do to try and reach the top level. But in the end of the day you have to do what you love and I love skijumping too much to give up and quit.

Alexander: I draw motivation from the sport. There is no feeling like when you soar to the bottom of the hill, especially in competition. I also get motivation from my supporters and fans.

FISskijumping: Is there a chance that skijumping will get support of the USSA any time soon?

Johnson: To be honest no. I think that the USSA gave up on skijumping a long time ago. The change that we would need to be winning World Cups. It’s unfortunate that they don’t support us. We would have a much easier time to accomplish what we would like in our careers. But we can only deal with what we are given, dwelling on the lack of support gets us nowhere. We have to move forward and worry about what we can control, which is getting better and winning competitions.

Alexander: It’s very hard to get support from the USSA. Their goals for athletes are extremely high. Who knows when we’ll get support, maybe never. Project X could end up becoming something like USA Skijumping. We will see, only time will tell.

Frenette: I really don’t know the chances. I believe if our team is able to compete on a high level we will get support. But until then we just have to keep doing what we are doing.

FISskijumping: Peter, how surprising was it for you to be nominated for the Olympics at age 17?

Frenette: I was very surprised. I had not really expected to be a contender for the team so it was definitely a great surprise.

FISskijumping: You are still attending High School. How do you manage to combine this with a sport that involves so much travelling?

Frenette: I’m attending High School and will graduate in about a month. It has definitely been hard combining school and the sport, especially this year where I travelled so much. I’m just finishing making up work from last winter. It has been hard, but it was worth it.

FISskijumping: Anders, as part of the Olympic team you had the chance to meet Barack Obama in the White House.

Johnson: Yes, it was a once in a lifetime experience to meet President Obama and the First Lady. Something that not many people can have the chance to do, so it was a really great experience.

Related links:

Colby and Jones coaching Americans »

Tags:  skijumping| usa | alexander | johnson | frenette

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