Lodwick USA TODAY Olympic Athlete of the Week

Wed, Feb  25, 2009 - By US Ski Team

LIBEREC, Czech Republic (Feb. 24) - The ringleader of unprecedented nordic success in the U.S., Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) can add another win to his scorecard this week after being named the USA TODAY Olympic Athlete of the Week.

"It is nice to see that the USA is getting more interested in the sport of nordic and nice to get recognized for my achievement as an athlete," Lodwick said.

The award made its way to Lodwick after the 32 year old, who had only come out of retirement to compete again less than a year ago, earned two gold medals at the 2009 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships. No U.S. man had ever won a gold in nordic combined at Worlds before Lodwick.

Lodwick's recognition comes one week after fellow U.S. nordic combined skier Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) was also named the Olympic athlete of the week by USA TODAY. Both Lodwick and Demong had also both been recognized as athlete of the week prior to February.

"It was nice, I was also the Olympic Athlete of the Week just after Billy back in December," Lodwick said.

Nordic combined is back in action at World Championships in the Czech Republic Thursday with the team event. Fans can catch the action from Liberec with daily news and video highlights available from the World Championships on UniversalSports.com presented by High Sierra.