What now?

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The Closing Ceremony brought the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games to a close on Sunday night. For some, it marks the end of a long road. For others, it was just one competition of many in a busy season - albeit a very, very big event. Here's a look at where some of our U.S. Olympians are off to now.

Shortly after the Closing Ceremony, one of the Games' biggest stars, Lindsey Vonn, boarded a flight to Los Angeles for The Jay Leno Show on Monday. Tuesday, she boarded a plane for Europe to compete in the season's last World Cup races, where she aims to secure the overall World Cup title for the third consecutive year.

Vonn is currently leading the World Cup standings with 1311 points, 137 points ahead of her friend Maria Riesch from Germany. (Competitors who finish in the top 30 of World Cup races receive points on a sliding scale, with 100 points for first place, 80 for second, 60 for third, 50 for fourth, etc.) Vonn has already wrapped up the overall super G title.

Training begins on Wednesday for a women's downhill at Crans Montana, Switzerland. After that, the Vonn-tourage will travel to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, for World Cup Finals on March 9-14.

"I have a lot of work to do," Vonn said after the women's slalom at Whistler. "It's going to be important for me to stay calm, stay focused, and above all get to the finish line in the next six, seven races that we have."

"At this point, I'm happy that the Olympics are over," she added. "It's been an amazing ride - successful and a dream come true in so many ways. Now I'm looking forward to getting back to business as usual. Then I'll be on a long vacation."

After vacation, Vonn plans to jump back into her training, with a long future in ski racing she hopes.

"World Championships are coming up next year, and there's another Olympic Games in Sochi," Vonn said. "It's four years away, and this Olympics came up pretty quick. Four years goes by really fast when you're constantly on the World Cup."

If her hometown of Vail, Colorado, hosts the World Championships in 2015, she hopes to compete then, and even beyond.

"You never know," she said. "There are rumors that Denver is maybe bidding for the 2018 Olympics. If that happens, then maybe I'll be a five-time Olympian."

For some of Vonn's teammates, it was back to business as usual even before the Olympics were over.

Hours after he competed in the Olympic super combined race - clocking the second-fastest time in the slalom portion of the event - Will Brandenburg was on a plane to Aspen, Colorado, for NorAm Finals and the U.S. Alpine Championship downhill race (the national slalom, giant slalom, and super G will be hosted in Lake Placid, New York, later in March).

Joining him in Aspen were 2010 Olympians Steven Nyman, Stacey Cook, Chelsea Marshall, Alice McKennis, and Leanne Smith. Nyman was the runner-up in the national downhill (4/100ths behind Travis Ganong), with Brandenburg in fourth.

In the women's national downhill championship, Smith won her first national title, followed by Cook in second. McKennis and Marshall took fourth and fifth, respectively.

Meanwhile, two other U.S. skiers who won medals at the 2010 Olympics enjoyed hometown parades on Friday, February 26. Andrew Weibrecht rode in the bucket of a Lake Placid, New York, fire truck for a parade down the Main Street of the Olympic village where Weibrecht grew up.

"It's great to be home," Weibrecht told an Adirondack Daily Enterprise reporter before the parade. "It's crazy to think somebody wants to honor me, but it's been awesome to get all this support and excitement from my hometown. That's what has made this whole experience so cool to me."

The parade ended at the Cottage Café owned by Weibrecht's parents. And rumor has it that a special blend of beer called the Warhorse - Weibrecht's nickname - was served.

Weibrecht will rejoin the World Cup circuit in Norway this week and said he plans to compete at U.S. nationals later in March on his home hill, Whiteface Mountain.

Next door in Vermont, the village of Norwich and neighboring Hanover, New Hampshire, held a parade for moguls gold medalist Hannah Kearney. She rode in a red VW Beetle convertible and waved to her supporters in the towns where she grew up, attended school, and first learned to ski.

Kearney was born in Hanover, went to elementary school in nearby Norwich, and then crossed the Connecticut River to Hanover for middle and high school while still living in Norwich.

On Friday, she showed elementary, middle and high-school students in Norwich and Hanover the first gold medal won by the U.S. at the Vancouver Games.

In Vermont, February 26 was declared "Hannah Kearney Day" by Governor Jim Douglas.

"I can't believe it's Hannah Kearney Day," Kearney said. "That is something I've never dreamed of."

Kearney will take a short break at home, skipping next weekend's World Cup event in Japan, before returning to final competitions in Sweden and Spain.

The Nordic combined athletes who made history in Vancouver by winning the first medals for the U.S. in the ski jumping/cross-country racing hybrid also have more World Cups this winter. The World Cup calendar ends with a large hill competition in Lahti, Finland, this coming weekend, then another large hill event in Oslo, Norway on March 13-14.

At some point in the future, Billy Demong will marry Katie Koczynski, whom he proposed to the evening after he won his gold medal in the Olympic large hill event.

No word on whether or not Demong plans to compete in the last two World Cups. And his teammates were also uncertain.

"I've said all along that I'd like to ski next year," said Todd Lodwick who won a silver in the team competition. "After these Olympic games, it's kind of hard. I'm not sure what I'll be up to. Worlds for next year - it depends on the team. I'll discuss it with my family."

As for competing the rest of World Cup season, Lodwick said, "I think so, it's still up in the air."

Johnny Spillane, who won three silver medals in Nordic combined at these Olympics, only knows that he is heading home from Vancouver.

"I need to go relax a little bit," he said. "I'm going to skip the next World Cup. I haven't been home in a month."

When asked if he will compete in the 2014 Olympics, he laughed and said, "I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow." But he did say that he will compete through the 2011 World Championships in Oslo, Norway, next winter.

Several of the bobsledders were also unsure about what the immediate future holds. Their World Cup season wrapped up in January before the Olympics.

Bronze medalist Erin Pac is undecided about her future in bobsledding and might decide to open a bistro instead. In the immediate afterglow of medaling at the 2010 Olympics, she said, "I have no idea yet. I haven't made a decision."

Her teammate, Bree Schaaf competed in her first full world Cup season this year and finished fifth in the two-woman Olympic race. Schaaf said she is having too much fun to stop bobsledding and is excited for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

"We've got incredible coaches, and when you're learning so much every day, it's an opportunity to improve yourself and conquer your fears."

Shauna Rohbock, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist in women's bobsled, struggled with the Whistler track, finishing sixth. But she is not ready to retire.

"I'd like to end [at 2011 World Championships] in Konigssee," she said. "It would be awesome to win a world championship on a German track, and I've won there before."

As for the 2014 Olympics, Rohbock is unsure: "It's tough to say. I don't want to be that person who says I'm done, then you're back again."

But bobsled's new King of the Track will be back. Steve Holcomb, who drove his Night Train sled and crew to the U.S.'s first bobsled gold medal in 62 years, summed it up when he said: "I'm a lifer. I don't plan on going anywhere. I'm living the dream. How can I give it up?"

Don't forget you can follow these, and more athletes' journeys right here on teamusa.org.

 

Tags: Alice McKennis, Andrew Weibrecht, Chelsea Marshall, Hannah Kearney, Leanne Smith, Lindsey Vonn, Stacey Cook, Steven Langton, Steven Nyman, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Winter Olympics