Seth made an appearance on the Today Show this morning to talk with Matt Lauer about his upcoming race on Monday. Check out the video below - Seth's segment is right around the 29:50 mark.
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Seth has arrived in Vancouver and is now less than one week away from the big day, which means it's going to be a whirlwind six days. Here are couple of quick updates on stuff coming up:
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Seth is scheduled to appear on the Today Show on NBC tomorrow morning at 7:30am with Matt Lauer for a quick Olympic preview piece. If you miss it, you should be able to catch the spot at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/
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That Today Show story will be followed up by a longer Olympic profile, also with Matt Lauer, which is scheduled to air next Monday morning, and will include footage and interviews shot here at Sugarloaf. More details on that to come.
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The entire SBX competition will happen in one day (Monday, Feb 15) at Cypress Mountatin, and will be broadcast live on NBC. There will be an official Race Viewing party in the Widowmaker Lounge in the Base Lodge from 2-4pm on Monday where Sugarloafers can gather to cheer Seth on.
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That's the quick and dirty. We'll have more updates throughout the week, and if Seth manages to find some down time in Vancouver look for a post from him as well. And if you'd like to pass along any words of encouragement to Seth, leave them in the comments section below.
We're down to two short days before Seth flies off to Vancouver to get down to the nitty gritty of defending his gold medal, and to wish him well on his quest The Rack (his own bar and grille here at Sugarloaf) is throwing a little get together this afternoon for apres ski. There will be appetizer and drink specials throughout the afternoon, and you can wish Seth luck in person before he heads out on Monday. It all kicks off as soon as the lifts close today, down at the Rack.
Seth is back home after his thrilling X Games performance last weekend, and he'll be resting up here at Sugarloaf for a week before flying out to Vancouver early next week. Of course, resting up is a bit tougher when you're a defending Olympic gold medalist less than two week away from the Olympics. So in between spin sessions at the AGC and some training time on the snow, Seth takes time out to respond to the growing number of interview requests. Earlier this week he sat down with Bill Green from WCSH 6 in Portland (photo below), and yesterday he spent time filming with folks from WGME 13. You'll be seeing Seth's face on TV an awful lot over the coming weeks, and we'll try to keep you updated on where and when to tune in.
January 25, 2010 17:19 by
Seth
So its been a whirlwind since New Years. I spent two weeks in Europe with only two highlights to speak of. Austria's highlight was my first semi-big mountain line of the year on my new Team Eight pow board. Dropping into this chute with 18 inches of light dry pow and the actual feeling of joy while being on my board again was followed up by the Bad Gastein World Cup qualifiying round in pea soup fog, and my first time ever with a result in the 50's. The trials and tribulations of my 7 year history at Bad Gastein live on.
Getting to drive the ten hour trip across the Autobahn through Germany was the second highlight and, despite the snow, it was a speedy classic road trip with Holland, Palmer, Graham and Jason Smith. Things were looking up in Switzerland. A nice apartement with a beautiful view of the Alps that left me stunned daily was a hightlight every morning. The qualifiers turned around at Veysonnaz though and I popped a 2nd place, although in the process I took some landings a little to deep and found myself sore as hell on race day. That soreness slowed me down and resulted in a quick departure from the day's racing in the first round. As it turned out though, my good friend David Spieser from Germany pulled a late pass on Nick Baumgartner in the finals and I got to breathe a sigh of relief as my Olympic spot was locked and I could take the next week off to rest up and let my body get back to an equilibrium.
Getting home to the Loaf brought some great snow, and just the comfort of home was very welcome. I made the drive north of the border to watch the outcome of the Stoneham World Cup, and it was a day of drama for sure. Palmer pulled out a truly inspired performance and made it through to stand on the podium in the 3rd spot. It was one spot short of making the Olympic team, but it reinforced the true champion he has always been.
After a restful weekend at home I now find myself boarding my flight to colorado for the X Games. Here we go again...
Seth
Ed. Note: The X-Games SBX Finals will be broadcast live on ESPN 2 on Saturday, Jan 30 from 4-6pm. Click here for the full schedule and get your TiVo ready.
It probably wasn't quite as dramatic as we might have hoped, and it's not technically official until the US Olympic Committee announces it, but after today's World Cup event in Switzerland Seth's spot on the Olympic team is all locked up, and he'll have a shot to defend his gold medal in Vancouver.
Seth finished 17th today, which by itself didn't do much to lock up his spot on the team. But Germany's David Spieser passed American Nick Baumgartner in the final stretch to take second place and push Baumgartner into third, which was all that needed to happen to officially confirm Seth's ticket to Vancouver.
Four riders will make the US Olympic SBX team, and according to ussnowboarding.com: "In the battle for up to four Olympic starting spots, (Nate) Holland leads the selection criteria with his win last weekend in Austria. Reigning Olympic champ Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) is next with a second place finish in the season opener in Argentina. Three riders now have a third, including Baumgartner, Watanabe and 2002 Olympic halfpipe champ Ross Powers (Okemo, VT). Baumgartner and Watanabe are tied in the first two tiebreakers (next best result), but Baumgartner leads in current World Cup rankings." (You can read the full article at http://www.ussnowboarding.com/news?storyId=2315)
Since there is only one more World Cup stop this season, and only two riders can possibly finish in second place or higher, Seth's spot is a lock. With his ticket to Vancouver assured, Seth will sit out during the final race in Quebec next week, and spend some time back here at Sugarloaf resting up before the ESPN X-Games in Aspen and then the Olympics in Vancouver.
So congrats Seth, from everyone at Sugarloaf. We'll see you soon.
Racers today in Switzerland. For more photos click here.
It comes as little surprise to those of us know Seth and have followed his career, but Team USA recently featured his 2006 Gold Medal run one of the most amazing moments in Olympic history. Seth's memorable run into the history books stands alongside those of such athletes as Jesse Owens, Michael Phelps, Dick Fosbury, Bob Beamon, Mark Spitz, Mary Lou Retton, Jim Thorpe, and fellow Mainer Joan Benoit-Samuelson, as well as many others. A well deserved honor for Seth.
You can check out the full story and video on Team USA's web site at http://teamusa.org/video?fr_story=437eea2bc6fd1cc5681f3496928549a9e2f709e3&rf=bm
In one of the more useful articles that they've ever produced, the US Ski Team web site recently wrote about exactly what is required to represent the United States in the Olympics as a snowboardcross rider. The quick and dirty version is this: it takes A LOT.
The team can only take a total of two men and two women (base on World Cup results) and if there's enough room on the overall Team, they might be able to add one more. Considering that 6 of the top 20 SBX riders in the world right now are Americans, that's a pretty tall order.
As the top American finisher in the season's first World Cup, Seth is already well on his way to earning one of those two spots.
For all the info you can handle on how to be an Olympic SBX rider, check out the full article right here.
In between presentations to the town selectmen, working on his restaurant, and (of course) training for the upcoming Olympics, Seth still has to find time for the periodic publicity function for the US Ski and Snowboard Association. Such was the case this past weekend, when our favorite Gold Medalist took a quick jaunt down to the Big Apple for a brief appearance on the Today Show along with fellow snowboarder Ryan St. Onge, and then attended the US Ski and Snowboard Ball at Gotham Hall.
Seth was a headliner at the event, along with other former Olympic medalists and ski team stars Bode Miller, Donna Weinbrecht, Billy Kidd, and Tommy Moe. While it's more than justified, it's still very impressive that Seth is now regarded among these legends of US skiing. Check out the complete story here.
And in other fun news, we stumbled across this video the other day on NBC's Olympic web site. We think you'll enjoy it :-)