February 25, 2010 (Whistler, BC) – We caught up with first-time Olympian and U.S. Team skier
“It was good. Relay days – they’re always fun, but it was a long day. For me, tactically, I just wanted to sit in behind the Estonian [Kokk]. I think we were a little bit separated from anyone in front of us, so I knew that making a move on him early, would probably lead to me just skiing the whole race alone. A better time would be at the end, but my decision came down to just waiting, just skiing behind him and getting a good draft on downhills and really trying to recover as much as I could until the last climb before the stadium. Then I kind of put the hammer down to see if I could drop him. Yeah, it was a fun day,” said Hamilton.
The young Hamilton found out last-minute that he’d be anchoring his team in the race, after James Southam, who was originally slated to do the job, decided to rest up for the men’s 50k classic race on Sunday. The unexpected change meant the team’s expectations were in check. “We had no expectations going into it,” admitted Hamilton, but despite the relatively low-pressure situation for the team, Hamilton was still relieved they didn’t come last: “I think that’s always important, in every race.”
After a week of clear skies and mild temperatures, Wednesday brought a dramatic change in weather with heavy wet snow, low visibility, and overcast conditions. Hamilton and his team mates were ready for anything, however: “I think if you come to Whistler, and you expect to have perfect conditions, you don’t have the right mindset. We were all prepared for whatever conditions were thrown our way on the day, and I think the snow stayed good out there and the track didn’t break down too much.”
“It’s been great,” said Hamilton of his first Olympics. “I was psyched with the sprint day [he made it through the qualification round and was eliminated in the quarterfinal, placing 29th overall]. I think right now in my early career, I’m kind of focusing on sprinting over distance, but hopefully that’ll change for the next few years. It’s been a great experience overall.”
“Pretty much the whole 10 days so far has been one big highlight. I think in terms of racing, the sprint was definitely kind of my big day and I felt like I skied well, especially since classic really isn’t my strength in sprinting. The whole thing’s been awesome, just being part of such a great team and being in Whistler is sweet – kind of our backyard – so it’s been awesome being up here.”
The men’s 4x10km relay was Hamilton’s last race of the Games, but he still has a lot planned for the season as well as his time in Whistler. He plans to “Ski up here. Just start training. I’m heading to Europe on Monday, so I’ll try and get a few really good training days in up here and have fun and cheer the girls’ relay on Thursday, and the 30km for them on Saturday and then the men’s 50k on Sunday. I’ll just be up here cheering at those guys, waving the American flag and having fun.”
Look for Hamilton to be making plenty of noise out there on the sidelines on Sunday for the epic 50km men’s mass start classic race as he soaks up the final days of his first – but likely not his last – Olympic Games.