December 02, 2014 – With the start of the World Cup, the American A-team is back on European soil. For today’s TUESDAY TALK, Taylor Fletcher updates us on the challenges the team has been facing after the restructuring of the sport in the USA in the summertime, the current financial situation and how he evaluates his performance in the first world Cup events.

After you did not take part in the Summer Grand Prix this year, how was it to be competing in Europe again after quite a while?
Taylor Fletcher: It is very nice to be back at the venues of competition and Nordic Sports. This fall we did make a trip to Einsiedeln, Switzerland and Oberstdorf, Germany to have our first and only training camp in Europe. The trip was a very great time and we enjoyed our partnership with the Swiss team.

But I personally HATE not competing and that makes the feeling even better when we got to ski in Ruka now. When I don’t get to take part in a competition, I can’t stand it as I don’t want to miss a shot at doing very well like in 2013.

Like the Japanese, the American team has to deal with a tough travel schedule while being on the World Cup tour which takes place mostly in Europe. What is this winter’s plan, will you take part in all competitions or fly home at some point?
TF: Traveling is part of our schedule that very few teams have to deal with. To get to Ruka, we had our shortest travel ever but it still took almost two days. It is tough on the body and sitting a long time makes the legs and body swells a small bit. At the same time, we are getting pretty good at staying in top shape after the 48 hours of travel to Europe or back to the United States.

This year we are planning on going to most of the competitions, except for Sapporo and maybe Predazzo. Sapporo is going to be too expensive for our team and we would like to take a break and go home to see the family and sleep in our own houses. We are actually going to fly home after Lillehammer due to the open weekend and compete or watch our skiers compete in the Continental Cup in Park City before flying back to Ramsau for the fantastic even that will be held there again. Besides that we will fly home before Sapporo then come back for Liberec and the rest of the season.

With the restructuring of USA Nordic Combined, a tough summer is behind you. How’s the situation now, did you find enough sponsors to make sure you can start in the World Cup?
TF: Our team did go through a very tough spring, summer and fall. After the tough year last year, the ski association pretty much cut our funding from 600,000 per year to 40,000 for Bryan and I. The team worked very hard all year, sometimes not even training to raise money and try to bring in some new sponsors. As of now we are going to get more sponsors, but it is very difficult as the market for our sport is very limited in the United States but at the same time very hard in Europe as we don’t have the large presence here in Europe like some of the larger teams.

Right now we have joined forces with USA Ski Jumping to form USA Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. They have developed their program and development pipeline very well in the last 8 years and will continue to grow and we are very excited to be growing with them.

If anyone is interested in supporting us, they are more then welcome to reach out to any of the team members or our marketing manager Signe Jordet who can talk to them about sponsorships or partnerships. Billy Demong is also working very hard on this and he is more then willing to work with them as well.

On a personal level, both Bryan and I are still trying to find some sponsors as we currently do have a headgear or a ski top sponsor which is very important for continuing in the sport and allowing us to reach our full potential. We could really use all the support that we can get as we were always behind in the funding compared to most of the teams on the circuit.

You as a fast skier who sometimes struggles in the jumping part must be pretty satisfied with the little rule change that if the PCR is used, all athletes can start in the cross-country race which came into effect for the first time last weekend?
TF: Yes, I like the skiing part of it very much, but I have always loved the jumping portion the most. It is tough when you don’t jump as well as you were hoping but that is part of the sport. When I heard they changed the rule for the PCR, I was happy. I believe it is much better now and you can see that even from the back of the field you still have a chance of scoring points.

Still, a rank 36 in the Individual and 18 together with your brother Bryan in the Team Sprint will probably not be exactly what you aim for at a World Cup weekend. How satisfied (or not) were you with your performance in both competitions?
TF: Yes, that being said. Both of us were not very satisfied with our competitions last weekend. Bryan and I have both earned World Cup podiums and were part of the World Championship team in 2013. We know what it takes to get back and we are working as hard as we can to make sure we have the best results possible.

Jumping was a challenge in Ruka, and I have never had much success there, but we have moved on to Lillehammer, where I love to ski. The large hill is a lot of fun for me and the new cross-country course is one of the hardest that we ski all year long. I know I can have great jumps and we don’t need to be that close to the leaders to have a shot at the podium. We just need to jump like we are capable and the results will come.

What are your goals for the upcoming weekend in Lillehammer now?
TF: My goal this weekend first off is to get into the competition and have a jump that I am happy with. Then on the cross-country side, to ski as fast as possible and pass as many people that I can. (laughs)