by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
Dirk Grimm remembers when skiing was more about pain and suffering than first-place trophies and top-10 finishes.
It's funny how dealing with a dislocated right shoulder your entire first year of college does that to you.
The native of Unterlemnitz, Germany, and senior UNM men's Nordic skier spent his entire first year racing with a bum shoulder after one of his poles got stuck in the pavement, jammed itself into his shoulder and jarred it loose during a training session with rollerskis in July 2003.
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One week later, he won the European Rollerskiing Championships.
No pain, no gain
That's the thing about Grimm. Whether it's a dislocated shoulder or road rash from a gnarly rollerskiing accident, he doesn't like to take a break - especially when he's winning.
"By the end of that year, it was so loose that when it came out, you could just push it back in," Grimm said. "The problem is to get the surgery or to race? If I got the surgery, that would have been the end of the season. So I just tried to race anyway, and I raced really good."
Grimm finished that first year as an All-American after a seventh-place finish in the classic race at the NCAA Championships.
He backed that up with another All-American honor after two top-10 finishes last year in the classic and freestyle races at the NCAAs.
That's not bad, considering he had to deal with a loose shoulder again last season after popping it out of place during a training session at Soldier Hollow in Utah.
After two surgeries, that pesky shoulder is far from his mind. That's part of the reason he's already won two races, is ranked No. 1 in the Rocky Mountain region in the freestyle and has lofty goals for the last two races of his college career: regionals in Reno, Nev., on Thursday and Friday, and the NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo., on March 9 and 11.
"My expectations are really high right now," Grimm said. "Hopefully I can place top six again. I've won this year in Steamboat already, so why can't I do it again for the NCAAs? It is my last year, so it would be nice to go out with a title."
Need for speed
An NCAA rule forced Grimm to lose one year of eligibility because he was too old when he came to UNM.
It wasn't like he was taking time off though. That was the year he was crowned European champion in rollerskiing - think cross country skiing, but faster and on a street.
And asphalt isn't as friendly or forgiving as snow.
"I go around maybe 50 miles per hour downhill in rollerskiing," Grimm said. "I like driving fast cars, and in Germany you don't have a speed limit on the Autobahn. My top speed was 280 kilometers per hour (174 mph) this summer with a motorcycle. It gives me kind of a kick to go fast."
That need for speed was why Grimm ditched Nordic skiing for rollerskiing in 2001. After winning several races in rollerskiing, he said he had no plans to go back to the slower, less risky snow.
That was until an e-mail from UNM's head Nordic coach Fredrik Lanstedt showed up in his inbox in 2002.
Grimm waited another year and then decided to come cross country ski for the Lobos.
Those two years without Nordic skiing as his main focus didn't hinder him a bit though. In fact, all that time rollerskiing built Grimm like a tank. Now he's stronger, faster and better at sprinting the final leg of races than any of the skiers he's gone head-to-head with this season, he said.
"Since I've been rollerskiing in the summer, I got really strong, especially in my legs and arms," Grimm said. "I'm one of the best sprinters I think in America right now. So I'm waiting totally to the end (of races) to go for it."
Recipe for success
Lanstedt said it's not just the end of races where Grimm shines. It's also his ability to power his way to a good start when there's as many as 50 skiers clamoring for position.
"He's not your typical cross country skier, which is usually a pretty light skier," Lanstedt said. "Dirk is a lot more muscular and has a lot more power. He starts races, and that's really where he excels, when they all go man against man, and so far nobody has been able to beat him."
Couple his raw strength with a work ethic that would make any drill sergeant proud, and Grimm said he's got a recipe for winning.
"It doesn't matter if you just have a coach that is giving you a schedule because you need to go out by yourself and work really hard," Grimm said. "Some people can go out and do it, and others don't. I'm one of those individuals who can go out and compete by myself. When I have a goal - to be top 10, to be European champion - when I have a goal, I do it. This is what makes a skier special."
Special enough to be one of the best skiers Lanstedt's had under his wing in nine years at UNM?
"The way he is skiing now," Lanstedt said, "he's definitely one of the top guys I've seen here before."
