Chris Cook: We're Closing The Gap On The Europeans

Chris Cook skied in both the Team Sprint and Individual Sprint at the Olympics. In the individual sprint, he qualified 16th in the prelim. With the games over, we caught up with him to ask a few questions.

What was your goal heading into the individual sprint?

My goal for the sprint was to qualify in the top 15, advance in the first
heat, then fight for the final.

Tell us about your quarterfinal heat. You had to go up against Tor Arne Hetland and Cristian Zorzi, among others. What was your strategy, and how did it play out?

My heat was real interesting. I knew I had to be in 2nd or 3rd position
coming into the home stretch and try and follow hetlands final move. the
heat however had an unexpected strategy. An austrian took the lead and
slowed it down. I moved in behind zorro then got boxed way to the inside at
the top of the hill. Held on for third postion down the hill but as i made
my move to the right hetland pulled up along side of me tangled with me
stabbed me with his pole killing my momentum and moving me to fifth postion,
which i couldn't get back in the homestretch. overall i just found myself
in bad spots the whole race which was frustrating but sprint racing will do
that to you sometimes.

Tell us a little bit about the sprint relay. What was that race like?

the sprint relay was a tough day. our semifinal heat was real strong. we
got off to a great start. newell skied real well and i faded on my third
lap. I did not feel i skied strong but luckily we could both shift focus
ahead to the individual sprint where we looked to ski faster and stronger.

Anything in particular that you have learned at these Olympics?

I reconfirmed the fact that we are closing the gap on the europeans
espically in the sprint racing. Newell with the second fasted prelim time
is just building confidence for the whole squad, and with some more time we
are looking forward to mixing it up in the finals more frequently.

What is your plan for the rest of the season?

After the games I am heading to the spring world cups in scandanavia.
borelange sprint as well as drammen, then home and possibly off to spring
series.