LOCALadk Magazine

Athletes | LOCALadk Going for Gold By Lisa Densmore Ever since Jack Shea won two gold medals in speed-skating in the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the Adirondacks have served as training ground for literally hundreds of Olympic athletes in almost every winter sport. The 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, are no different. Certainly the facilities acquired as part of the region's Olympic heritage are a draw, but it takes more than weight rooms and summer ski jumping to meld a world class competitor. Three likely Olympians in three different sports tell why they've chosen the Adirondacks to help them pursue their Olympic goals. ANNELIES COOK Sport: Biathlon Age: 29 Residence: Saranac Lake, New York Favorite Place in the Adirondacks: Avalanche Lake Winter Olympics will be her first if she makes the cut. It has been a long road. After competing for four years after high school, she did not qualify for the 2006 Olympics in Torino. She returned to Nordic skiing, racing for the University of Utah, however she kept her ski tips in biathlon competing in the national biathlon championships each spring. "I kept in touch," says Cook, who returned to the Adirondacks and biathlon after graduating from college, in © Manzoni/NordicFocus Annelies Cook, a member of the U.S. Biathlon Team, trains in the Adirondacks, particularly in Lake Placid, because her team is located here.While she takes full advantage of the Olympic Training Center and the Olympic biathlon facilities in the area, particularly the rollerski track with four shooting targets at the ski jump complex, she considers the entire High Peaks region her training ground. "Every element is here," says Cook, "I can run on the Jack Rabbit Trail, bike to Keene or go out my door and get in a canoe. There are so many opportunities for crosstraining." Like many American biathletes, Cook was first a crosscountry skier before picking up a rifle. That said, her initiation into biathlon was earlier than most. She first tried biathlon at age 13. "No one reached out to me in Nordic," recalls Cook, "Biathlon got to me first. In high school, the U.S. Biathlon Team invited me to go to a camp. It seemed glamorous. After that I started going to international races. I got to train in Europe in high school!" Despite her early debut on the biathlon scene, the 2014 hopes of making the 2010 Olympic team in Vancouver, "It was a difficult transition after college. I wasn't prepared for the rigorous training of international biathlon." Disappointed when she didn't make the team headed to Vancouver, she trained on her own. A year later, she competed in her first World Cup and World Championship. Since then, she has made impressive progress, going from finishes in the 60s and 70s to a top 15 last winter. LOCALadk Magazine Fall into Winter 2013 45

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