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Show D-4 Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, February 17-20, 2018 OLYMPIC FLAME Love at the Games no easy trick to land for Park City Olympians Tayl JOEL REICHENBERGER STEAMBOAT PILOT AND TODAY P YEONGCHANG, South Korea — Nordic combined is difficult, Taylor Fletcher insists. The mental battles of timing a jump just right and of squeezing every last drop of energy out of the body during a cross-country ski race are intense. and cross-country skiing in Steamboat Springs. He wasn’t working out at all Thursday night, wasn’t jumping and wasn’t racing, but was standing comfortably bundled up against the South Korean cold on the slopes of Phoenix Snow Park. “I’d always seen her in the gym and obviously I’ve always known she’s a beautiful, awesome girl,” Fletcher said. Above, his girlfriend of two years, Kiley McKinnon, was preparing for one of the biggest jumps of her career, one she had to have to move on to the women’s aerials finals at the 2018 Winter Olympics. His heart raced. His nerves frayed. It was way more difficult than competing himself. “I hate it,” he said. “There’s just something about watching the girl you love going 30 feet up in the air, flipping and twisting and coming crashing back down to the landing hill to stick it, it’s a little nerve-wracking.” Love at the Olympics isn’t always easy. The pair first truly met more than two years ago at a Ski Ball U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team fundraising event in New York City. They started spending time together after that event and soon found out that as professional athletes they both have a lot in common, and seemingly have very little in common. They’re both familiar with the early morning wake-up calls for training and with long months spent away from friends and family while in Europe for training or competitions. Their respective sports, however, were a mystery. McKinnon knew next to nothing about Nordic combined. “I’ve learned so much,” she said. Certainly, dating an Olympian has presented its challenges for McKinnon and Fletcher. Fletcher, meanwhile, has learned to slow down the whirling, cyclonic blur that is an elite aerials jump, often with two or three flips and two or three spins included before skis meet snow. McKinnon is a World Cup season champion and World Championship silver medal aerialist from Madison, Connecticut. Fletcher grew up ski jumping Still, actually getting to watch one another compete is more difficult than it would seem. They’re both typically traveling around the world on competitive circuits that very rarely match up. Fletcher happened to be in Park City last February, where they both live and train, for a World Cup at Deer Valley Resort, and he was there to see her land on the podium, placing second. The only other time he’s seen her actually compete in person, where he’s had to stand bundled up in the snow and endure the nervous sweat of watching a loved one’s performance, was Thursday night as she made her Olympic debut in the women’s aerials qualification round, and again Friday. McKinnon, meanwhile, has made the trip to Steamboat Springs several times in the summer for the annual Fourth of July Nordic combined event and seen Fletcher race on Lincoln Avenue, but didn’t see him on snow until December in Park City when he participated in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. She was tied up with training for her own event during the first 2018 Olympic Nordic combined event but figures to be there in the stand handling nerves of her own when he competes in the next two Nordic combined competitions in the next week. It’s not just finding time to watch each other compete that’s an issue. It’s finding time together at all given their global itineraries. They frequently are left to spend four, six, even eight weeks apart and they do whatever they can to compensate. That means lots of phone calls and Face- Whether training for Olympic Gold or working on a healthier you, massage will help you keep your 2018 goals. Open every day 8:30am to 9pm Winter appointments until 10pm 875 Iron Horse Dr, Park City 435-615-8440 www.kneadamassage.com Call us at RMT for special financing options on all New Holland equipment Model Shown: Boomer™ Compact 24HP Design Park Record Olympic AD 2 - 2018 RMT EQUIPMENT 801-261-2100 4225 SOUTH 500 WEST SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84123 Kiley McKinnon and Taylor Fletcher share a mo aerials finals at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Time sessions. It means finding TV shows they can binge together and talk about. He said they share NBC’s This is Us, men tioning he’s a fan of The Walking Dead bu makes a point to watch that when she’s no around. She said she got him into ABC’s Pretty Lit tle Liars and he doesn’t handle it well when she gets an episode or two ahead of him. “Taylor Fletcher likes Pretty Little Liars,” she said with a grin. “He’s totally hooked.” This fall their quest to spend time together |