LAKE PLACID – Andrew Weibrecht is best known to the world as a solid family man, a person giving of his time, an Olympic silver and bronze medalist, avid outdoorsman and having grown up in Lake Placid – This link opens in a new browser tab, one of the village’s greatest fans.
That pecking order, however, changed a bit last February when he and wife Denja, a Lake Placid schoolteacher, welcomed daughter Adalina into their world.
“The experience has been great so far,” Andrew told us. “Obviously, I’m sleeping less than I used to, but that’s not such a big deal because the payoff is there.”
For now, Adalina is content to view the world in the wide-eyed manner of infants as she occasionally joins her parents at the Mirror Lake Inn and joins them on outdoor excursions.
“It has been a transition, but I would say that Denja and I are doing a pretty good job of figuring out how to put all the pieces together now with Adalina.”
Outside the world of fatherhood, Andrew has had plenty to keep him occupied since the end of his most successful World Cup – This link opens in a new browser tab alpine skiing season to date.
In March, after his final race, he underwent yet another shoulder surgery, and has programmed his recovery into a busy life.
“Shoulder rehab is moving along well,” Weibrecht remarked to the blog. “I like to think that I’m a little ahead of schedule just based on where I was at eight weeks out in my previous two shoulder surgeries. I’m looking forward to, hopefully, being able to do more in the weeks to come so that I can get back into my normal routine.”
This has caused him to alter his spring training to a certain degree.
“I’ve been able to do a lot of spinning on a stationary bike. Other than that, I haven’t been able to do a ton. However this time of year we aren’t doing much anyway but since I don’t have a whole lot of recreational opportunities, I figure I may as well make my time productive. Hence, lots of spinning on a bike.”
Another form of spinning that Andrew has done recently involves his favorite fishing rod. Without a doubt, the super G medalist from Vancouver and Sochi could be a guide at some point in his life He knows the prime local fishing holes, and despite his shoulder situation, recently bagged a substantial pike.
“The fishing has been pretty good this spring,” he remarked. “Ice-out was very early but the water actually warming up has been very late because of the consistently cool temps. So on the warmer days, it’s been great, but I think we should see it really pick up in the next couple of weeks.”
As we get further into the spring and summer season, Andrew will have to get his fishing jones out of his system, as his training and business schedules accelerate.
Since the Vancouver Games, he and fellow ski star and Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety have offered ski camps for future Ligetys and Weibrechts. So in the midst of casting and hiking, he’ll be back on snow soon enough.
“We are business as usual at Mt. Hood this summer. I will be out there for the first five or six days of July. Mt. Hood had a record snow year so conditions should be great.”
Thereafter, U.S. Ski Team training gets more serious, as the speed squad seeks conditions in the Southern Hemisphere in our summer months. That process will also entail the requisite equipment testing for the 2016-2017 World Cup campaign, which begins in November.
The Lake Placid/Whiteface Mountain born and bred racer won his two Olympic medals before hitting the World Cup podium. But that achievement was checked off his list last season several times. In fact, at one stage he was ranked second in the overall World Cup super G standings, the discipline that twice brought him Olympic glory.
Anything, in particular, he’d like to achieve in the coming season?
“Not really anything specific other than to keep the momentum from the past couple seasons rolling. I think that things are in a good place. Now it’s just all about building on that consistency and continuing to take things further.”
(Birds of Prey action by Steven Earl)