No ski jump is the same. Every hill has different trajectories, angles, and feelings to it. This means jumping new hills is very exciting but it can also be very frustrating. Sometimes a hill just works for a jumper and sometimes it can be very challenging. This last weekend in Norway, the hill challenged our team as a whole. I think I speak for our entire team when I say that our results last weekend didn’t reflect our true ability.
On Saturday it was completely dumping snow when we woke up. After sitting at the top of the jump for about an hour they finally made the decision to cancel the jumping. This meant that we would race off of the provisional from the day before. I started in 30th place and skied back to 40th. I don’t like starting that far back in the race. Everyone is gunning to ski up into the top 30 and people go out way too hard and just blow up. I’m much more comfortable towards the front so I can ski my own race. Obviously I’m going to need to learn how to race from any position so it was a good learning experience. The result was incredibly disappointing because I know that I’m capable of so much more but it’s important to move on and stay positive. Sunday was supposed to be even worse weather with extremely high winds forecasted. However, I’ve learned to always plan on competing because anything can happen and it’s important to be prepared mentally. Throughout the night I could hear the wind ripping alongside the hotel with force. When I woke up though, it was calm and beautiful outside. Luckily we were able to compete and I was really psyched to redeem myself on the jump hill. Unfortunately I struggled even more on Sunday and started in 35th place. The results don’t actually portray how the day went for me because I felt a lot stronger in the race on Sunday. I skied in a group for the first 3 laps and we were putting in a solid pace. The wind had picked up a lot in the afternoon and this made it very important to be in a group while racing. At the very end of the third lap a gap formed and I tried to close it but was caught alone in the headwind. I ended up skiing the last two laps alone and at times felt like I was going backwards due to the wind. It was so painful. Once again I finished in 40th place. In other news, USA Nordic Combined had a strong weekend on the World Cup. My teammate Adam Loomis scored his first World Cup points on Saturday finishing in 21st place. This is a huge achievement and everyone was pumped for him. On Sunday my teammate and roommate Taylor Fletcher skied up from 37th to 5th in the World Cup! He also recorded the fastest ski time, which is so impressive. His brother Bryan finished right behind him in 8th. This gives all of us young athletes a lot of confidence that someday we can get to that level. On Monday we left Hoydalsmo at 8 am and drove 10 hours till we reached Falun, Sweden at 6 pm. When I told one of the German athletes that we were driving to Falun he couldn’t stop laughing. The German team flew back to Germany for a few days and will fly back up to Sweden later in the week. It’s incredible how big the budgets for some of these teams are. This weekend we have a team spring on Saturday and an individual competition on Sunday. I’ll update my blog about all the happenings next week!
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First of all, I have updated my website a little bit and added a photo updates and video page. I will be updating the photo page with slideshows from all our competition weeks. On the video page you can check out the full competition videos from last weekend. It's pretty cool so check it out!
The World Cup is HARD. That was one of my many takeaways from last weekend in Schonach, Germany. It was a great experience and I'm grateful for the opportunity to compete against the best in the world. They may not know it but I learned a lot from Bryan and Taylor just being around them, skiing with them, and seeing how they handle different things. They great role models and give me an example of how to be extremely successful on the top level of the sport. To compete in the World Cup athletes have to jump into the top 50 in the provisional jump on friday. I had a solid jump and ended up in 37th, qualifying me for the individual event on sunday. Saturday was a 4x5 team event. All four athletes jump for each nation then ski a 5km leg before tagging off to their next teammate. Team USA had solid jumps but definitely not our best. Taylor Fletcher had the strongest jump for our team. After the jumping we were in 7th place and starting 1:16 seconds behind the leaders. The order we chose for skiing was Bryan, myself, Adam, then Taylor anchoring the final leg. The idea for this was for Bryan to ski up to the Czech team, me to hang with them, then Adam and Taylor to try to move up even further. A downpour of rain began after the jumping and showed no sign of letting up. Bryan skied a really fast leg and did his job and tagging off to me in 8th place right with the Italian and Czech teams. Unfortunately I was not able to hang with either team. Skiing the second lap for the Italian team was Olympic bronze medalist Allesandro Pittin. I hung with him for a few minutes and thought I could hold on for at least a lap, then he took off and left me in his dust. I tagged off to Adam still in 8th place but with considerable time margins to the teams in front of us. Adam and Taylor skied awesome races and we finished up in 7th place right where we started. If I could have hung with the guys skiing my leg better then we could have been in an even better position. Next time I will do better. After the race we were all soaked and had pretty much run out of dry clothes. The area in between our cabins and the race course had turned into a massive puddle. Running back to our cabin after my race I was falling into the puddles almost up to my knees. It was quite the experience and I now believe any race condition will seem balmy in comparison. The rest of the day was spent doing anything possible to dry our clothes. I was blasting my clothes with a hair drying in desperation. On sunday we woke up to a beautiful day and mostly dry clothes. I had my best jump of the weekend in the competition which I was pretty psyched about. My 95 meter jump was good enough for 28th place and 1:16 back in the race. I think it's insane how competitive the World Cup is. In the Continental Cup I can jump into the top 20 with average jumps but a good jump here was 28th! Not only that but the start times are way tighter on the World Cup. This makes for way closer races and if your not on top of your game you will get blown right out the back. The first lap felt like I was in a Nascar race driving a prius. Athletes were just flying past me and there was nothing I could do about it. By the second lap I was all alone towards the back and thought I was having a terrible race. On the third lap I started to see athletes blowing out the back towards me and realized I wasn't all alone at the back. Overall it wasn't a terrible race but I need to really improve my skiing in order to hang in the top 30. Bryan skied up from 33rd place to 9th and Taylor went from 49th to 24th! I finished up in 46th place, first World Cup weekend in the books. It was pretty incredible to see Bryan and Taylor skiing up so far and posting the 2nd and 3rd fastest times. I'm excited to keep learning from them and hope to follow in their footsteps. On monday morning my coach Martin Bayer and I woke up at 3:45 am and drove to Kiel, Germany. We then hopped on a boat over to Norway where we picked up Jasper Good, Colin Delaney, and Michael Ward. From Oslo we drove to Hoydalsmo, Norway where we will be competing in Continental Cups this weekend. Thanks to everyone who make it possible for US Nordic Combined and myself to chase our dream of being the best in the world. It's truly a blessing. Seven weeks ago I sprained my ankle very badly during a routine day of training. The initial feedback was I would be out 2 to 4 weeks. I let out a sigh of relief because I couldn't miss US Nationals and our Europe training camp in 7 weeks!
Well those seven weeks have now disappeared but the swelling and discomfort in my ankle has not. I wish my teammates the best of luck during their travels! I’ve seen how hard those guys have been working all year. I’m excited for them to get a chance to show off that hard work. I had an MRI a few days ago and it showed I still have pretty good tears in my ankle tendons. We are considering a few options and a minor surgery is one of them. I’m realizing that this injury is more severe than initially projected. I’m not going to lie and pretend like this doesn’t faze me. I’m extremely frustrated. I've accepted the fact that as an athlete injuries will occur. A belief of mine is that everything happens for a reason. Maybe I needed to be taught patience, learn humbleness, or be more grateful for what I have. Whichever it is, I know that I've become more educated through controversy than through any kind of glory. I had such huge goals for the season and before my injury I was making huge progress. I just have to change my goals a bit. I’m now making it a goal of mine to be healthy and fully recovered in time for the Junior World Championships in February. Not only that, but I want to finish in the top 10. I will use this goal as motivation everyday during rehabilitation and training. I will come back better than before. Currently I'm in Steamboat rehabbing and mulling about the possibility of surgery. I can still ride my bike, use the ski erg, swim, and stay active in the weight room so I'm staying busy. Starting on Tuesday of next week I will volunteer some of my time to the SSWSC. I'll be working with the U12 Nordic Combined kids. I'm really looking forward to this because after my ski career, my dream is to become a coach. The future of Nordic Combined is something I'm extremely passionate about. Speaking of coaching here are some lessons I've learned and tips I've picked up while being injured. · Getting an X-RAY and MRI are the FIRST things you should do after injuring yourself! · Being injured isn’t an excuse to stop training. Do extra core, yoga, stretching, and other low impact activities. I have even picked up swimming a little! Think out of the box. · Find another hobby that can keep your mind occupied. Going from athlete mode to rehab mode can be tough. I’ve found that staying busy keeps my mind from wandering and feeling sorry for myself. This has given me the time to get good grades in my online class (I’m also rocking a 4-1 record in fantasy football) · Don’t rush back from injury too soon. If you’re an endurance athlete like me who trains up to 450 hours a year, missing training can be so stressful. JUST RELAX. In the scheme of things missing a few extra weeks wont kill you. Your long-term health is far more important. · Think big picture! My mom always says those three words to me and they help. When you’re starting to turn into an Eeyore (Winnie The Pooh reference) just remember that in the huge scheme of things, an injury is just a tiny blip in comparison to your long life. · Surround yourself with family and friends. I’ve learned that enjoying the company and support of loved ones always makes me feel better. Thank you everyone for your support. I couldn’t do it without you. Love you all! As the title of this post suggests, I have been extremely busy. After the team returned to Park City from Steamboat, testing began. We went through a series of tests to gauge how our bodies are performing. My Vo2 max test was very promising and gave me a glimpse of one of my highest numbers ever. After testing, we had a few weeks to train and prepare for the annual Springer Tourney Competition and US Ski Jumping National Championships in Park City. This consisted of endurance training plus many jumps on the big 120 meter hill. Springer Tourney is always one of the more exciting weeks summer has to offer. Ski Jumpers and Nordic Combined skiers from all around the country gather in Park City to compete and have a good time. One definite highlight of the week was coaching some of the younger kids. Each member of the national team got assigned about 5 kids for a morning on the jump hills. This was a good experience for me because after skiing I want to become a coach. It was cool to see my kid’s progress and learn some new things on the hill. Most importantly though, they were having a blast! Also it was amazing to see how much our sport is growing. There are so many more kids competing now then when I was a young skier. Saturday August 2nd was our first competition. This consisted of jumping the K90 then racing up the Utah Olympic Park on our roller skis. As I've talked about before, I sometimes let my head get the best of me in the ski jumping. This was one of those days. I was feeling confident going into the competition round but ended up trying WAY too hard. I ended up with an 83.5 meter jump, which was good enough to start me in 2nd place. Bryan Fletcher threw down a huge 92.5 meter jump and had a giant lead on the cross-country course. Congrats to Bryan Fletcher on the win, he managed to hold off his brother Taylor and Brett Denney who finished 2nd and 3rd. I came across the line in 5th place then collapsed onto the hot pavement. I was over a minute faster than last year but 5th place isn't where I want to be. Patience is key and I need to be patient with this whole progress. Sunday August 3rd was US Ski Jumping National Championships. This is a huge event and takes place on a huge jump, The K120. I have always struggled with the bigger hills. Growing up in Steamboat I didn't get exposed to them very often. In fact, the summers would be spent jumping a K68. Here in Park City I have gotten more session on the K120 than ever before. This gave me a lot of confidence going into the event. In one of my earlier blog posts I said, "All my top performances have come from an underdog mentality". Well as Nordic Combined skiers up against the top Ski Jumpers in the country, we were the underdogs. I had no expectations for the competition besides wanting to have solid jumps. My first jump was 120.5 meters then I followed it up with 117.5 meters. This was good enough for a 6th place finish. I take improvement very seriously. To me the goal is to always be in a better position than I was before. Last year I placed 17th at US Ski Jumping Nationals so this years 6th was a huge step forward. Big congratulations go out to the podium of Christian Friberg, Nick Alexander, and Kevin Bickner. Also my teammate Bryan Fletcher had a solid day placing just outside the podium. Here is a great article written in the Steamboat Today about the event http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/2014/aug/04/park-city-event-kickstarts-new-era-nordic-combined/ On top of the testing, training, and competing, I have also been working and taking college classes. I was dishes at the Red Banjo Pizza three nights a week. My teammates Michael Ward and Taylor Fletcher work there as well so it’s a good time. I also recently enrolled in DeVry Online College. After taking about a year and a half off from school, I decided it was time to continue my education. It has been weird getting back in the habit of doing homework and managing my time with school. I’m really enjoying it though. Upcoming plans include a US Nordic Combined fundraiser in Aspen from August 14th to the 19th. After that I will be headed to Steamboat for the Steamboat Springs Stage Race. Thanks for all the support! – Ben Berend The weeks seem to be flying by! After my last blog post I spent a couple very productive weeks training in Park City. We had an intensity week with no ski jumping then a recovery week with lots of ski jumping. The intensity week consisted of about 15 hours of endurance on my bike, rollerskis, and running. One of my main focuses in training has been my technique on rollerskis. This is my biggest weakness and my coaches and teammates have been very helpful. I have already made some big strides and I look forward to really becoming confident in the way I ski. It helps that my teammates are some of the fastest Cross Country skiers in the sport of Nordic Combined. My favorite thing is to ski behind Taylor Fletcher and just mimic the way he skis. By the end of the intensity week I was ready to put some jump skis on and fly. We started out on the K90 in Park City then moved our way up to the K120. Before every session of ski jumping I have a goal in mind. This goal is something I want to accomplish on that day. I like this way of thinking and recommend it to any athlete or non athlete. I’ve learned that short term or daily goals keep me living and training more in the moment. I also believe that accomplishing all my short term goals will lead to accomplishing long term goals. During the recovery week I accomplished almost all my goals on the jump hill. This gave me a lot of confidence going into the 4th of July competition in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Another thing about me is I love being the underdog. All my top performances have come from an underdog mentality. Over the last few years I have become very strong in the Ski Jumping and being the underdog is no longer possible. When the pressure is on and there are expectations, I sometimes buckle under the pressure. I have been working on putting pressure on myself in training and in small competitions. That way when I’m on the big stage and the pressure is shooting through the roof, I will be prepared and confident. I put a lot of pressure on myself during the 4th of July competition in Steamboat. I came into the day with the mentality that I had to win. I ended up having two solid jumps that got me the win. This was a huge stride mentally and I’m becoming more adept at handling pressure. During our week in Steamboat, the Nordic Combined team participated in the Fish Creek Time Trial on rollerskis. This is one of my favorites because it gives me a good idea of my improvement year to year. Last year I finished the race in 28:40. This year my time was 27:52. I’m still much slower than my teammates Adam Loomis, Michael Ward, Brett Denney, Bryan Fletcher, and Taylor Fletcher. They all had awesome races and are looking very strong. The important thing though is I’m getting faster and with patience and more hard work the trend will continue. After Steamboat, I was fortunate enough to go to Beaver Creek for an awesome bike camp/fundraiser with Olympian Tours. Bill Demong, Taylor Fletcher, Bryan Fletcher, Carl Van Loan, Jed Hinkley and I got to ride bikes with some unbelievable supporters of our sport. The first day we rode 80 miles from Minturn-Leadville-Copper-Vail-Minturn. It was a brutal loop at very high altitude and everyone was cooked. Afterwards Bryan showed me how to fly fish on a beautiful pond above Wolcott. The next day we drove to Aspen, rode up Independence Pass, then over the backside into Leadville. This ride was only about 60 miles but the climbing was significant. Now my team and I are headed back to Park City, Utah to keep plugging away at training. Thanks for all the support! Summer is underway which means many exciting things have been happening. As you know about a month ago I moved to Park City, Utah. This has been great and I'm loving my new teammates, coaches, and training plan. I recently won the Spencer Nelson Colorado All Star Athlete of the Year Award. This was a huge honor and I drove to Copper Mtn with my family and girlfriend to receive the award. We had a great time and I want to thank everyone who helped me earn this award. I couldn't have done it without my family, coaches, and teammates. I also want to give a special thanks to One Way, Feed The Machine, Madshus, Rudy Project, and Honey Stinger. You guys rock! This award also gave me the opportunity to spend some time in my hometown of Steamboat Springs. I got to see my amazing girlfriend Bailey Pugh graduate from high school. She will be attending CU Boulder next fall. I also got to race my favorite bike race, the Rabbit Ears Time Trial. It's an extremely difficult climb up to the first summit of Rabbit Ears. The fastest I have ever finished this race was 40 minutes and 40 seconds. I have always wanted to break 40 minutes which is a tough task! I finished the race in 38 minutes and 45 seconds. I knew I was feeling fit but it's nice to see it written down on paper. While in Steamboat I also started jumping again. It started surprising well and I feel really strong on the jump hill. I'm now back in Park City and looking forward to some hard training. Thanks to everyone for your support I love you all! A lot has happened since the end of the winter, for me, and the sport of Nordic Combined. I came into last winter not really sure what to expect. I knew I had made some huge improvements, but I did not know to what extent. My biggest goal was to get onto the US Ski Team. To do this I new I needed to score Continental Cup points (Top 30 in a Continental Cup). Before the winter started my best result ever was 37th place. The season started in Park City, Utah with three straight days of competing. To say I was a little surprised with my results would be an understatement. The first day I finished in 14th place. This gave me a lot of confidence and I followed it up with a 23rd place the next day. By the end of the weekend I had 26 Continental Cup Points. I was stoked! To see my hard work pay off was so rewarding and I was having a ton of fun doing it. After that weekend however, my performance dropped. I came down with a nasty cold and it took five weeks to get rid of it fully. This affected my training and performance. I learned the hard way that sickness can really derail a season. I got to compete in the Olympic Trials, which was an amazing experience. However, I left the trials with a sour taste in my mouth because I know I could have performed better. I spent the rest of my winter in Europe first competing in the World Junior Championships then finishing the season on the Continental Cup Circuit. I went from January to March with no solid evidence of the skier I was in Park City. I had lost a lot of my confidence and was extremely frustrated. With the help of my coaches and other athletes, I eventually got things on track. The final three Continental Cups of the season took place in Kuusamo, Finland. I finished in 26th, 23rd, and 19th. To end the season like that was huge! I finished the season with 50 Continental Cup points, which is 50 more than I had last winter. I scored 26 points the first weekend and 24 points the last weekend. In between I went about three months without a single point. Two very important words for me as a skier, Confidence and Consistency. When I have a lot of Confidence I become Consistent. When I have a lot of Consistency I become Confident. They work together in either way and with them I can ski to my full potential. After the season ended I was sure I would be named to the US Ski Team. I became Comfortable. I learned that in this sport I can’t ever become Comfortable. I’ll never forget the day I was told that the US Ski Team cut Nordic Combined. I’ve always dreamed of someday representing the US Ski Team. When I was young I decided that I wanted to be a professional skier and I haven’t looked back since. Instead of pouting or feeling like I got screwed, I am more motivated than ever before. In a few days I am moving to Park City, Utah. This gives me the opportunity to be a part of very talented team: Michael Ward, Adam Loomis, Brett Denney, Nick Hendrickson, Bryan Fletcher, Taylor Fletcher, and Bill Demong. I will be living with the fastest Nordic Combined Skier in the world, Taylor Fletcher. This is an amazing opportunity to learn from someone I’ve always looked up to. Everything happens for a reason. I can honestly say this could be the best thing that has ever happened to us. Everyday that I train or compete, I do it to prove all the doubters wrong. Anybody who thinks US Nordic Combined has no future medal contenders at the Olympics or World Championships, my motivation comes from you. My name is Ben Berend and I’m part of the future.
Skiing is a brilliant thing. I can honestly say I learn more about life and about myself from skiing, than I ever did from school. Something about pushing myself to the limit day in and day out really helps me understand myself. First I want to talk about my World Cup experience. Right before the World Junior Championships I got my first ever World Cup start in Oberstdorf. The World Cup is home to the best Nordic Combined skiers in the world. I felt like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert. Competing with all these guys I’ve seen on tv winning Olympic medals was so cool. On the World Cup you must jump into the top 50 the day before to even compete. Some guys show up and can’t even compete because they jumped out of the top 50. It doesn’t sound like a hard task but against these guys it’s difficult! I qualified in 44th place allowing me to start on Sunday. It was bittersweet because although I qualified, I had a bad jump in the competition. However it was a great experience and I had no expectations. Next was the World Junior Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy where I learned a lot. First let me rewind you to last years World Junior Championships for Nordic Combined in Liberec, Czech Republic. I was seventeen years old and it was my first time at this event. I was a rookie with zero expectations. I had my two best competitions of the season and I walked away with a 33rd, a 26th, and a 9th in the team event. I also walked away with a big shiny smile on my face. This year I came into WJC’s with a goal. I wanted to finish in the top 15 and I KNEW I could do it. Honestly in my head I was getting a little greedy and thinking top 10. I’ve never gone into an event with so much confidence. I ended up jumping to 15th the first day and 14th the second day. The first day I skied backwards to 26th and the second day I once again skied backwards to 23rd. During the team event we jumped well but once again, I skied backwards from 6th to 9th. I know your seeing a trend here. Lots of skiing backwards. Every single day of competition, it was either pouring rain or dumping absurd amounts of snow. These were probably the worst conditions I had ever competed in. This taught me to make the best out of things I have no control over. It’s all about the mindset. When I was riding the slow chairlift up the jump in the pouring rain I would just smile and laugh. When I was walking through a foot of water through the parking lot I would splash around and dance. I tried to keep a smile on my face and be positive but I felt like a completely different skier than when finished top 15 on the Continental Cup. I walked away from these competitions with a sour taste in my mouth. It’s funny how expectations and mindsets can change. A year ago with similar results I was ecstatic and now I was disappointed. I took a step back once I had left Italy and realized there is always something to learn from these situations. As an athlete when you produce good results or make a breakthrough, you want that to be permanent. Well reality check, it’s not! My first six competition of the year went extremely well but I had a setback. I raced through the Olympic Trials a little under the weather and afterwards came down with a nasty cough. This cough lasted much longer than I expected and took me almost completely out of training for two weeks. I couldn’t ski or exercise outside with my lungs so I was reserved to the weight room. In my world, two weeks without exercise is unheard of. By the time I got to Europe I was healthier and had a week to prepare for WJC’s. I learned that I cannot expect top-notch results every single day. Especially when I come in unprepared! Every season has its ups and downs no matter what. The important thing is how you handle it. At first I was really upset because this was the competition I had trained for all year! Now I am excited for what’s to come. I will be on the Continental Cup Circuit for the rest of the year. This will take me to Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Finland. I’m excited to face the challenge I’m having on the cross-country course head on. My fitness isn’t what it was at the beginning of the winter but I’m determined to get it back. Also I have one more year left to compete in the World Junior Championships! Next year I plan on coming in more prepared and stronger than ever. I want to thank the NNF, Rudy Project, One Way, Feed The Machine, Madshus, all my family, and friends for all the support. Love you all!
Wow it's been a crazy month since I last updated my website. Following Winter Start in Steamboat, I traveled to Park City, Utah for the first Continental Cups of the winter. Continental Cups are the step below World Cup and are very competitive! Last winter my best ever result was 36th place. I went into the week with a goal of placing in the top 30. I shattered my expectations on the first day. I had a very solid jump putting me into 4th place! I started the race in 4th and hung the best I could throughout the 10 km course. I remember 7.5 km's into the race I was in 9th place. That's when it kind of hit me how well I was doing. I ended up finishing in 14th place. This was a huge accomplishment for me and gave me confidence that I can be very competitive at this level. The next day I jumped to 13th and finished 23rd. Once again I was in the top 30 which earned me COC points. At the end of the week I had 26 COC points which put me 22nd overall on the Continental Cup Circuit. My results during this week qualified myself for the Olympic Trials, World Junior Championships, and in three weeks I get to compete in my first ever World cup in Oberstdorf, Germany. After the Continental Cups I had a week off in Steamboat and my girlfriend Sofi came to visit for the holidays. It was an awesome relaxing week then off to Park City again for the Olympic Trials. The Trials were awesome and the fans were great! That was the most people I have ever seen spectating for the sport of Nordic Combined. It was an awesome atmosphere with all the fans, my family, and my girlfriend watching. Unfortunately I couldn't put together the jump I know I'm capable of. I ended up winning the practice round with a 92.5 meter jump. My nerves got the best of me and the competition jump was 84 meters and put me towards the back of the race. I was a little discouraged but ended up skiing one of my best races of the year! I learned that I need to work on handling the pressure of big competitions but I also gained more confidence in my racing. I showed myself that if I put a good jump and race together I can compete with the best. So this is now my last week in Steamboat for the winter. I leave January 14th for Europe and return home March 17th. While in Europe I will be competing in my first ever World Cup. I will then travel to the World Junior Championships in Val di Fiemme. After that I will continue onto the Continental Cup Circuit for the rest of the winter. A lot of fun to come and I will update you on all of it! Thank you for all the support. I couldn't do it without you! - Ben Berend
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