Will Brandenburg first set his sights on the 2010 Olympics as a sophomore at Spokane’s Mead High School.
Brandenburg was already a promising young ski racer, but when he found out the Olympics were heading to the Northwest in 2010, even at the age of 15, his focus narrowed to one goal.
Brandenburg sacrificed a lot of the typical high school fun, gave up football games as a senior in order to train in Chile, and was willing to sacrifice anything else standing between him and a chance to ski in the Olympics just across the border.
Yet up until last month, he wasn’t certain his dream would come true. After a promising season two years ago, Brandenburg missed most of 2009 with a knee injury. And while he was showing signs of improvement, he didn’t figure he was on pace to earn an Olympic team berth this year.
But after a few promising results in January, the 23-year-old was awarded a spot when the team was named Jan. 26.
“It was a surprise,” Brandenburg said in a phone interview from Park City, Utah, where the team was training before heading to Whistler. “Probably two weeks before the (Olympic team) announcements, I thought there was no chance I was going. But my skiing just clicked at the right time, and timing is everything in sports. Everything came together at the right time and I snuck in there. It’s been a pretty crazy couple of weeks, that’s for sure.”
Brandenburg, whose strength is his versatility, will compete in the super combined, which combines a skier’s times in one downhill run and one slalom run.
“That’s something I’m good at,” he said. “I’ve been able to be good at all five events, but I haven’t been able to be great at any event yet.”
Like so many first-time Olympians, Brandenburg will try to find a balance between soaking in the Olympic experience and maintaining his focus on his event, which takes place Feb. 16. Brandenburg said watching New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts players in pre-Super Bowl interviews gave him some insight to what he might experience during the next week.
“It’s kind of similar in the sense that you’re happy to be there, you made it, but at the same time, you’re going out there trying to win,” he said. “I’ll listen to the guys that have been there before and just prepare myself for all that it is.”
Even though Brandenburg is from east of the mountains, he has ties to Snohomish County. His older sister, Emily, lives in Snohomish with husband Craig Quarterman, a Cascade High School grad. The Quartermans have an 11-month-old daughter, which Brandenburg says gives him motivation to visit this area as often as he can.
“I have a little niece there, so I’ve been going back even more,” he said. “And I’m a huge Seattle sports fan, so I try to catch as many Mariners, Seahawks and Husky games as I can.”
That little niece, Reese, will be on snow soon if Uncle Will has any say in it. Brandenburg, who was skiing by his first birthday, already bought Reese her first pair of skis.
As for Brandenburg’s relatives, an Olympic berth for Will was a welcome surprise.
“We were talking at Christmas, and he doesn’t talk about it a lot, but he said, ‘Well, if I don’t make this one, the next one’s in Russia,’” Emily Quarterman said. “I was like, ‘Gosh, we have a kid, pack her up to go to Russia? It’d be a lot easier to go to Vancouver.’
“So yes, we’re pretty excited that we can just get in the car and go.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.
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