U.S. Ski Team alumna and former NCAA giant slalom champion from Dartmouth Anouk Patty recently caught up with Ski Racing's Edie Thys Morgan to talk about her "dream job" as the new U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport. In the piece, they touch on Patty's athlete-driven approach, her desire to embrace higher education, and her vision for the future. 

As Morgan writes, 

If an NGB was looking for a Chief of Sport, the ideal resume might include some of the following: Former world class athlete and NCAA champion; Ivy League educated MBA with 30 years corporate experience in finance and tech; extensive management and team-building skills overseeing strategic partnerships with professional sports organizations and sporting manufacturers; multilingual; loves to travel; avid recreational athlete in skiing, running, cycling, surfing, tennis and golf.

Anouk Patty’s resume could claim all of the above. The recently appointed USSS Chief of Sport giggles before she says the obvious: “It’s a dream job.”

Not only was Patty a world-class ski racer, but her professional resume is impressive to say the least. After taking some internships in sports marketing, she pivoted to investment banking. Her path included stints at boht JP Morgan and Bain & Company, during which time she got her MBA at Harvard Business School.

“I learned how to work really, really, hard,” Patty says. With that foundation, she took her talents to Silicon Valley and spent the next ten years at Intuit, where, while starting a family, she developed her management and leadership skills. For the next ten years, she remained in tech, mainly at HP, and shifted her focus to strategic partnerships—many in the sports world (NFL teams, Adidas, Under Armour)—related to 3D scanning and 3D printing.

When Patty describes her vision for the future, it does not include medal targets for the next quad or numerical performance markers. That, however, by no means softens her aspirations for top results.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Patty insists, “I want to win races and win medals—lots of them. But without a doubt, the way to get there is by putting in place the right culture, the right athlete support system and the right development programs that help the athletes achieve their dreams, because if the athletes are achieving their dreams, we’re all winning. You know, it’s a pretty simple equation.”

Read the full article at SkiRacing.com.

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee today announced the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, Class of 2022, which will be honored and inducted in a ceremony held Friday, June 24, at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs.

The class of 2022 is made up of eight individuals, two teams, two legends, one coach, and one special contributor, including Olympic champion and winningest female alpine skier of all time, Lindsey Vonn, as well as two-time Olympic medalist Gretchen Fraser, in the "legend" category—the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing (1948, slalom, in St. Moritz, Switzerland). 

The inductees include Natalie Coughlin (swimming), Muffy Davis (Para alpine skiing and Para-cycling), Mia Hamm (soccer), David Kiley (Para alpine skiing, Para track and field, and wheelchair basketball), Michelle Kwan (figure skating), Michael Phelps (swimming), Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing), Trischa Zorn-Hudson (Para swimming), the 1976 Women’s 4x100 Freestyle Relay Swimming Team, the 2002 Paralympic Sled Hockey Team, Gretchen Fraser (legend: alpine skiing), Roger Kingdom (legend: track and field), Pat Summitt (coach: basketball) and Billie Jean King (special contributor). 
 
“It's a distinct honor to welcome the class of 2022 into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame and to celebrate their remarkable individual and team achievements as representatives of Team USA,” said USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland. “Induction into the Hall of Fame adds to the tremendous legacies of these great athletes and teams, and also memorializes the contributions of those members of the “team behind the team” who dedicated themselves to helping Team USA achieve success on and off the field of play.”  

The class of 2022 has represented the United States as athletes at a combined 27 Olympic and Paralympic Games, tallying 129 medals, including 86 golds. There are also two new sports or sport disciplines added to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, with Muffy Davis as a Para-cyclist and the 2002 sled hockey team. Pat Summitt and Billie Jean King become the first female inductees in the coach and special contributor categories, respectively. 

National Governing Bodies, alumni, current athletes, and additional members of the Olympic and Paralympic community were invited to nominate eligible athletes. From there, a nominating committee comprised of individuals from the Olympic and Paralympic movements narrowed it down to a set of finalists. The class of 2022 was determined by a voting process that includes Olympians and Paralympians, members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic family, and an online vote open to fans. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame was one of the first national sports halls of fame to include fan voting as part of its selection process, and this year, more than 432,000 votes were cast across all platforms. 

This will be the 17th class inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, bringing the total to 168 inductees (individuals and teams). The first class was inducted in 1983 and the most recent class was inducted in 2019. Find the entire list of Hall of Fame inductees here.

The distinguished class of 2022 includes: 

• Natalie Coughlin (swimming – 2004, 2008, 2012): In three Olympic Games, Natalie Coughlin competed in 12 events and won 12 medals, and became the first U.S. female athlete to win six medals at a single Games. She is tied for the most Olympic medals for a U.S. female athlete.
   
• Muffy Davis (Para alpine skiing and Para-cycling – 1998, 2002, 2012): A seven-time Paralympic medalist, Davis has been a part of the Paralympic Movement for 20 years as an athlete, ambassador, volunteer, and active member of several committees. She is a two-term IPC Governing Board member and currently serves on the USOPC Governing Board and USOPC Paralympic Advisory Council.
   
• Mia Hamm (soccer – 1996, 2000, 2004): One of the most decorated female soccer players in U.S. history, competitively, Hamm had 275 national team appearances and 158 national team goals. She is a three-time Olympic medalist, two-time world cup champion, two-time world cup bronze medalist, and was the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002.
   
• David Kiley (Para alpine skiing, Para track and field, and wheelchair basketball – 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992 (summer and winter), 2000): David Kiley is a six-time Paralympian and Paralympic gold medalist across three sports. During his career, Kiley became the only player to play wheelchair basketball in four different decades. Kiley went on to coach in three additional Paralympic Games as a part of the wheelchair basketball team and has served as NWBA Commissioner and President. 
   
• Michelle Kwan (figure skating – 1994 (alternate), 1998, 2002): As the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist, five-time world champion and nine-time world championship medalist. She competed at the senior level for over a decade during the most competitive era of women’s figure skating and was the U.S. women’s champion nine times.
   
• Michael Phelps (swimming – 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016): Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time (28 medals) and the winningest Olympian of all time (23 gold medals). The only male U.S. swimmer to compete on five Olympic teams, Phelps closed out his Olympic career with six medals in Brazil. In 2000, at age 15, he became the youngest American male Olympian since 1932 and his eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games is an Olympic record.
   
• Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing – 2002, 2006, 2010, 2018): The most successful female ski racer in history and with three Olympic medals to her name, Lindsey Vonn is the only American woman to ever capture downhill gold at the Olympic Winter Games and the only American woman with four World Cup overall titles. With an 18-year career that concluded after the 2017-18 season, she is in second place all-time internationally with a career total of 82 world cup victories.
   
• Trischa Zorn-Hudson (Para swimming – 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004): The most decorated Paralympic athlete of all time, Trischa Zorn-Hudson’s incredible career spanned seven Paralympic Games over more than two decades. She is credited with winning 55 Paralympic medals, including 41 gold. Over a 12-year span from 1980 to 1992, Zorn-Hudson was unbeaten in every Paralympic race in which she competed, taking gold in 25 races.
   
• 1976 Women’s 4x100 Freestyle Relay Swimming Team: En route to breaking the world record by almost four seconds, the women’s team defeated a team of what was later revealed to be state-sponsored, medically enhanced athletes from East Germany, in the final event on the swimming program.
   
• 2002 Paralympic Sled Hockey Team: The 2002 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team championship performance led the U.S. to its first-ever Paralympic gold in sled hockey. Going undefeated in Paralympic play, the U.S. twice defeated the 1998 gold medal-winning team of Norway in their undefeated six-game run to the gold medal. Their gold medal on home soil served as a catalyst for the expansion of not only sled hockey in the U.S.
   
• Gretchen Fraser (legend: alpine skiing - 1948): Gretchen Fraser became the first global ski star, winning gold and silver in the debut of alpine skiing’s modern events at the 1948 Olympic Winter Games. In a sport that was capturing global attention after WWII, Fraser was treated as a national hero upon her triumphant return to America.
   
• Roger Kingdom (legend: track and field – 1984, 1988): Roger Kingdom is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 110-meter hurdles in 1984 and 1988. A former world and American record holder, he is one of only two runners to ever win consecutive Olympic titles in the 110-meter hurdles. 
   
• Pat Summitt (coach: basketball – 1976, athlete; 1984, coach): As a coach, Summitt helped lead the U.S. women’s team to gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. During her tenure as the women’s basketball head coach at the University of Tennessee, Summit led the squad to eight NCAA championships and compiled more wins than any other Division I college basketball coach in NCAA history, a record that stood until 2020, and never missed the NCAA tournament in 38 years. As an athlete, Summit won Olympic silver as a co-captain at the 1976 Games. Summit is the first woman inducted in the coaching category.
   
• Billie Jean King (special contributor): Billie Jean King’s influence and playing style elevated the state of women’s tennis beginning in the late 1960s. King won 39 major titles in her career, competing in both singles and doubles. In addition to coaching the Olympic gold-medal-winning 1996 and 2000 U.S. women’s tennis teams, King captured a record 20 Wimbledon titles. She was one of the founders and the first president of the Women’s Tennis Association, was part of a group that founded World Team Tennis, and she also founded the Women’s Sports Foundation to support women in sport around Title IX, which continues to have a massive impact on Olympic and Paralympic sport. King is the first woman inducted into this category.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place June 24 and will be hosted by NBC’s Mike Tirico. The event will not be open to the public, but a livestream will be available. 

Media Information: Red-carpet arrivals, interviews and the induction awards dinner at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum will be open to the media. Access information will be available soon.

About the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum offers an immersive and universally-accessible look into the journey of Team USA’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Through interactive exhibits, innovative displays and a comprehensive artifact collection, the Museum instills the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, as well as the Paralympic values of determination, equality, inspiration and courage in every visitor. It honors yesterday's legends with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame while inspiring tomorrow’s legends through entertaining activities and events. The 60,000-square-foot attraction is more than a museum, but a life-changing experience that will continue to educate and inspire the public to take part for generations to come.

About the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame was established in 1979 to celebrate the achievements of America's premier athletes in the modern Olympic and Paralympic Games. The first U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame class was inducted in 1983 during a ceremony in Chicago and included Team USA greats such as Muhammad Ali, Bob Beamon, Peggy Fleming, Al Oerter, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Mark Spitz, Jim Thorpe and the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" men’s hockey team.

 

 

 

 

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Two-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion Mikaela Shiffrin joined fellow Olympic gold medalists speedskater Erin Jackson and figure skater Nathan Chen on NBC's Inspiring America: The 2022 Inspiration List. 

From history-making moments, redemption and turning their challenges into successes, NBC's Craig Melvin hears from Shiffrin, Jackson, and Chen about inspiration behind their journeys as Olympic athletes. Shiffrin, a three-time Olympic medalist who was favored to win multiple medals at Beijing 2022, notably (like Chen and Jackson) endured defeat on the world stage, but got back on her feet to become champion. 

Shiffrin left her third Olympics with zero medals after uncharacteristic mistakes. But, her season wasn’t over. She returned to the top of the podium on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit to claim the overall title, the biggest annual prize in ski racing.

Watch the NBC Inspiring America: The 2022 Inspiration List feature. 

SOS Outreach, a sport outreach and mentorship program serving 15 communities and 24 mountain resorts nationwide, was awarded U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion Award. The award is focused on recognizing a person, group, organization, or program that has contributed significantly and sustainably to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in skiing and snowboarding.

This past season, SOS Outreach and U.S. Ski & Snowboard partnered on opportunities to give participants a unique close-up experience with U.S. national team athletes, including at the VISA Big Air at Steamboat and two community programs in Summit County, Colo. and Park City, Utah. In addition, U.S. Ski & Snowboard will host an SOS Outreach intern this summer.

“SOS Outreach’s work to make skiing and snowboarding accessible for all in our resort communities is really vital to our future as a sport,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. “Its work to bring the values of our sport to youth from underserved communities is really what drove U.S. Ski & Snowboard to partner with SOS Outreach.”

Since the program’s inception 28 years ago, SOS Outreach has engaged over 80,000 youth in resort communities around the country. “These are young people who would not have been a part of the sport,” said SOS Outreach Executive Director Seth Ehrlich. “This recognition goes to each of those kids and to all the ones who will follow them. Our entire team at SOS Outreach is dedicated to continuing our work and to expanding the reach of our impact. Thanks to U.S. Ski & Snowboard for walking with us to make it possible.”

SOS Outreach’s philosophy is that no matter what social, societal or economic barriers exist, every child deserves the opportunity to thrive. Its programs start with powerful outdoor experiences. On the slopes or trails, kids unearth the courage to step outside of their comfort zones, discover new strengths within themselves and develop lifelong skills. Through its proven curriculum, they empower kids in our communities to discover their true potential.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard looked to SOS Outreach to help the organization plot its course in making skiing and snowboarding more welcoming, accessible, and diverse, raising awareness across its membership and the entire sport community.

“U.S. Ski & Snowboard wants everyone to have the opportunity to experience the sense of accomplishment and well-being that participation in skiing and snowboarding brings,” said Club Development Manager and DEI Committee member Ellen Adams. “We commend SOS Outreach for being a leader in bringing youth from all backgrounds to the joy of winter sports.”

With its commitment to being best in the world, U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s focus is often seen as being on developing elite athletes. But Adams cited the work of SOS Outreach, and local clubs nationwide, as being vital to the success of the sport. “Before an athlete is competing at an elite level, and even before they are identified as an emerging athlete, we rely on our member clubs and partners to introduce families and athletes to the sport and help them develop the fundamental skills necessary to pursue their goals,” said Adams. 

DEI Champion Award annual recipients are selected based on a matrixed review of various factors reflecting the nominees’ impact on advancing DEI. The criteria include leadership of DEI in ski and snowboard, advancing education, collaborative coalition-building, development of equitable systems and implementation of effective programs.

The U.S. Ski & Snowboard DEI Committee was founded in 2017 to increase racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic diversity at all levels of skiing and snowboarding. SOS Outreach was the second recipient of the award, after National Brotherhood of Skiers President Henri Rivers was recognized in 2021.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard recently announced its U.S. Ski Team nominations for the 2022-23 season. Of the 22 athletes named to the team this season, six were not on the previous year’s roster, either newly named or renamed: Michael Earnhart, Walker Hall, Zak Ketterson, Will Koch, Finn O’Connell, and Sammy Smith.

To help fans get to know these new(er) faces, FasterSkier is doing a series of interviews, providing insights into the factors that have contributed to the development, progress, and growth of these athletes last season. In this installment, we talk with Zak Ketterson about his renomination to the U.S. Ski Team on its B-Team, his World Cup breakthroughs this past season, and the growth of his club, Team Birkie. 

Ben Theyerl/FasterSkier (FS): Can you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself?

Zak Ketterson (ZK): I grew up in the Twin Cities area in Bloomington (MN). I didn’t really start skiing until 7th grade, when I got into it because my older brother (Jan) was on the high school team. Up until then, I had been into more of the traditional American sports – basketball, football, baseball – and even after my first few seasons of nordic skiing, I really didn’t like it that much better. I really wanted to play basketball, but I kept with skiing because I was having a lot of success in it, which is always fun, and like I said, I was getting to spend time with my brother and our teammates.

My first introduction to competitive skiing was the Minnesota high school league and trying to win the Minnesota state meet. That was the highest level of skiing in my head at the time, and in Minnesota, that’s the thing to win. Even as I progressed to being at Junior Nationals and started competing nationally, I wanted to win the State Meet.

When I got out to JNs, it was like, ‘oh, there’s a lot of good skiers from elsewhere,’ and that made me start thinking I wanted to continue with skiing – maybe do it in college. I went to Northern Michigan University (NMU), so stayed very local because being from the Midwest is pretty important to me. I just think it’s the coolest ski community, and always have, and going to NMU was cool because I got to follow the footsteps of Ian Torchia, Adam Martin, Kyle Bratrud, and go there with Leo Hipp and be teammates with them all – I didn’t have to leave.

Read the Full Story by Benjamin Theyerl at FasterSkier.com

U.S. Ski & Snowboard has recognized longtime ski jumping official Chuck Heckert with its Julius Blegen award - the organization’s highest service. Heckert, who passed in November 2020 was the penultimate volunteer and competition official, with a long and distinguished career of service to athletes.

A native of Grand Lake, Colo., Heckert began coaching ski jumping in 1976 at Winter Park, becoming an international judge in 1993. In the lead-up to the 2002 Olympics, he moved to Utah to oversee the ski jumping and freestyle venues at the Utah Olympic Park serving as a venue manager at the Games. Through the years he expanded his officiating role and remained at the forefront of the sport. In 2017 he received U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Mittelstadt Award for ski jumping officials and was also inducted into the American Ski Jumping Hall of Fame.

“Chuck was the quintessential volunteer and official - a real role model,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. 

He was selected for the Blegen Award in a vote of past Blegenites, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard board of directors and its awards working group.

Heckert became the 76th recipient of the Julius Blegen Award dating back to 1946. The award recognizes established history of distinguished service and a lasting contribution to U.S. Ski & Snowboard and its membership. It is named in honor of Julius Blegen, a key past leader of the National Ski Association.

He will be honored in late July during USA Nordic’s annual Springertournee when the Blegen Award will be presented to his family.

JULIUS BLEGEN AWARD HONOREES

• 1946 Roger Langley
• 1947 Arthur J. Barth
• 1948 Fred McNeil
• 1949 John Hostvedt
• 1950 Fred C. Bellmar
• 1951 Douglas M. Burckett
• 1952 F.C. Koziol
• 1953 Albert E. Sigal
• 1954 Harold A. Grinden
• 1955 Burton H. Boyum
• 1956 John B. Carson
• 1957 Olav Ulland
• 1958 T. Lee McCracken
• 1959 Robert C. Johnstone
• 1960 Dr. Amos R. 'Bud' Little and Malcolm McLane
• 1961 Sepp Ruschp
• 1962 J. Stanley Mullin
• 1963 Ralph A. 'Doc' DesRoches
• 1964 Robert Beattie
• 1965 Merritt H. Stiles
• 1966 Evelyn Masbruch
• 1967 C. Allison Merrill
• 1968 Willy J. Schaeffler
• 1969 William Berry
• 1970 Earl D. Walters
• 1971 Gustav Raaum
• 1972 James Balfanz
• 1973 Charles T. Gibson
• 1974 Sven Wiik
• 1975 Byron Nishkian
• 1976 Dr. J. Leland Sosman
• 1977 Gloria Chadwick
• 1978 Richard Goetzman
• 1979 Graham Anderson
• 1980 Bill Beck
• 1981 Not awarded
• 1982 Hank Tauber
• 1983 Robert Thomson
• 1984 Ed Hammerle
• 1985 Robert Oden
• 1986 Bill Slattery
• 1987 Jim Page
• 1988 Whiting Willauer
• 1989 James H. “Red” Carruthers
• 1990 Nelson Bennett
• 1991 Tom Corcoran
• 1992 Nick Badami
• 1993 Serge Lussi
• 1994 Fraser West
• 1995 Gerald F. Groswold
• 1996 Anna McIntyre
• 1997 Faris Taylor
• 1998 Irv Kagan
• 1999 Thom Weisel
• 2000 Dr. Richard Steadman
• 2001 Warren Lowry (posthumously)
• 2002 Not Awarded
• 2003 Jim McCarthy
• 2004 Howard Peterson
• 2005 Michael Berry
• 2006 Peter Kellogg
• 2007 Charles Ferries
• 2008 Gary Black, Jr.
• 2009 Lee Todd
• 2010 Tom Winters
• 2011 Joe Lamb
• 2012 John Garnsey
• 2013 Barry 'Bear' Bryant
• 2014 Bill Marolt
• 2015 Allen Church
• 2016 Bob Dart (posthumously)
• 2017 Ted Sutton
• 2018 Bruce Crane (posthumously)
• 2019 Thelma Hoessler
• 2020 Dexter Paine
• 2021 Darryl Landstrom
• 2022 Chuck Heckert (posthumously)

U.S. Ski & Snowboard announces today that Kristen Bourne will join the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team staff as D-Team coach.

Bourne, who has worked with the team on several projects as a ski technician and coach, replaces Kate Johnson, who coached the D-Team for the past two seasons. 

“It was such a great experience to be with this team for the past two seasons,” said Johnson, who will return to the collegiate coaching ranks. “Kristen is an outstanding coach and will make a great addition to the team. I’m looking forward to being a huge supporter of the team from the sidelines.”

Thanks to a Women’s Sports Foundation grant and support from the U.S. Ski Team, Bourne joined the team for the Davos, Switzerland, Dresden, Germany, and Lahti, Finland FIS Cross Country World Cups last season, working with multiple athletes, in addition to joining the service team for ski testing and preparation.

“We were grateful for those opportunities to work directly with Kristen and to expose her to coaching and (ski) teching at the World Cup level,” noted U.S. Cross Country Team Director Chris Grover, who added that Bourne was very instrumental in the team’s success in all of these events. “She meshed super well with the team and added immediate value with both her coaching and teching ability.”

“I'm super excited to be joining the team and to hit the ground running,” Bourne said. “I had a couple of opportunities this past year to get a taste of the World Cup with the team and learn the system. Both experiences left me feeling inspired, excited, and ready for more. I'm really looking forward to getting to know all of the athletes better and being part of their pursuit of excellence and success at the highest level.”

Last summer Bourne also worked with current D-Team athletes Will Koch, Sammy Smith, and Michael Earnhart during a National Training Group camp in Park City. “Due to the poor air quality from all of the fires we spent a decent amount of time indoors on the roller ski treadmill,” she recalled. “We ran interval sessions and distance technique sessions on it which ended up being a great opportunity to work one-on-one with some of the athletes.”

Bourne holds Bachelor's degree in Sports Science from Northern Michigan University, in Marquette, Michigan, and she is currently working on her Master's degree in Exercise Physiology from The College of Saint Scholastica, in Duluth, Minnesota. She is also a former professional cross country athlete having competed in numerous FIS races, and U.S. and Norwegian National Championship events. She was also a two-time member of the U.S. Junior/U23 FIS World Championships Team. 

For the past few years, she has been the assistant cross country coach at The College of Saint Scholastica, and a U23 coach for the Craftsbury Green racing team in Craftsbury, Vermont. She also served as World Cup ski tech for U.S. athlete Bill Harmeyer in Lahti, Finland, last season.  

In addition to cross country skiing, Bourne is an avid outdoorswoman. “I love going on trail runs and adventures with my dogs and I just started dabbling with mountain biking,” she said, adding that she will spend her summer in Craftsbury, Vermont, and spend time working with many U.S. Cross Country Team athletes who spend their summer prep period training in Vermont, while also working with Development Team athletes across the U.S.

Bourne joins an experienced U.S. Cross Country Team staff that includes the following:

• Cross Country Program Director: Chris Grover
• Head Coach: Matt Whitcomb                    
• World Cup Coach: Jason Cork                                     
• D Team Coach: Kristen Bourne
• Development Team Coach: Greta Anderson                                                                            
• Cross Country Sport Development Manager: Bryan Fish                       
• Cross Country Sport Coordinator: Adam St. Pierre              
• Cross Country Communications Manager: Tom Horrocks

U.S. Ski Team athlete and 2022 NorAm Overall Champ Ava Sunshine Jemison, pictured here standing atop the podium in Sugarloaf, Maine, has been named Golden Ski Award winner for the second-straight year. 

Each season the New England Ski Museum presents this award to the most promising male and female junior alpine racers in the Eastern U.S. Their awards will be presented at a reception to be held at the New England Ski Museum at New Hampshire’s Cannon Mountain, Friday, June 10th, from 5 to 7pm.

Ava Sunshine Jemison
This is the second time Ava has won this coveted award. She showed impressive results during her first season as a U.S. Alpine Development Team athlete. Highlights included top-10 NorAm finishes in all five disciplines, including a win in slalom and one in alpine combined, which culminated in her winning the NorAm Overall title. In January, she won the giant slalom at the Italian National Championships, rounding out an excellent European swing that included multiple podium finishes. Ava also earned a silver medal in super-G at the World Junior Ski Championships in Canada and finished in the top-ten in the slalom and alpine combined as well. Over the course of the season, her world rank improved from 430 to 56 in slalom while her giant slalom world rank improved from 263 to 129. Ava’s hard work, dedication, and stellar results have earned her a nomination to the 2022-23 U.S. Alpine Ski Team B Team.

John Kerbaugh 
At the age of 16 in his first year of FIS racing as an U18 competitor, John started strong. At early regional slalom events at Sunday River he sliced through the field and moved up about 100 spots each day. A few weeks later, still starting at the back of the pack, he managed a top-10 finish in an Eastern Cup giant slalom, and he grabbed his first FIS win just a few days after that. By the end of December he was ranked second in the world for his age in giant slalom. He continued to progress throughout the year scoring Nor-Am points in alpine combined and finishing just outside the top-30 in NorAm slaloms on back-to-back days. In March, John became a national champion for the first time at the U18 National Championships in Vail, winning both runs of the giant slalom and taking the overall title by nearly one second. John finished the season with more strong results in giant slalom and slalom. He ended the year ranked third in the world for his age in giant slalom, and 12th in slalom. 

The Golden Ski Award has been presented to the top junior male and female skiers in the East since 1969, the year after the modern World Cup circuit started. Many of the Golden Ski winners have gone on to World Cup and Olympic gold as well. In 1975, the Golden Ski was "lost." In 2007, the New England Ski Museum was given some artifacts, and in that donation was the original Golden Ski. ESWA revitalized the honor. “The Golden Ski Award is the oldest honor given to junior alpine ski racers that exists today,” says Jim Gregory, Chair, of the New England Ski Museum’s Golden Ski Award Committee. “We are proud this year to honor Ava Sunshine Jemison, for the second time, and John Kerbaugh, two extraordinary athletes. We look forward to watching them pursue their goals and set the bar even higher in the sport we all love so much.”

Previous Golden Ski Award Winners:
1969: Tyler Palmer, Karen Middleton
1970: Charles Bent, Karen Middleton
1971: Rod Taylor, Judy McNealus
1972: Laurent Gaudin, Jody Palmer 
1973: Jerry McNealus, No female winner
1974: No award
1975: Scott Light, Holly Flanders
1976-2007: Award Lost
2008: Bump Heldman, Julia Ford
2009: Nolan Kasper, Julia Ford
2010: Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Julia Ford
2011: Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Mikaela Shiffrin
2012: Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Mikaela Shiffrin
2013: Kieffer Christianson, Mikaela Shiffrin
2014: Sam Morse, Alice Merryweather
2015: Drew Duffy, Nina O’Brien
2016: Ben Ritchie, Cecily Decker
2017: George Steffey, Patricia Mangan
2018: Jimmy Krupka, Abigail Jewett
2019: Ben Ritchie, Claire Thomas
2020: Ben Ritchie, Zoe Zimmermann
2021: Ben Ritchie, Ava Sunshine Jemison

Release courtesy of Jim Gregory, Chair: Eastern Ski Writers Golden Ski Award, presented by the New England Ski Museum.

Contact:
Jim Gregory (cell: 609-505-6252, email: nyleski@verizon.net)

Following a crash in Cortina d' Ampezzo, Italy this past January, Olympian Breezy Johnson announced she would sit out the upcoming Beijing Olympics to focus on healing. Johnson, who was seventh in the downhill at PyeongChang in 2018, was a favorite—along with Italy's Sofia Goggia, who was also injured recently at Cortina—for the downhill win in Beijing.

Recently, Johnson caught up with Ski Racing to discuss her injuries and her return to snow plan. She said, 

“I basically had a bad cartilage lesion when I crashed in Cortina. I tore a large chunk of cartilage off of my knee. I actually tore my ACL earlier in January and was succeeding in skiing without it,” Johnson said.

After the first crash, Johnson opted out of the upcoming speed events in Zauchensee, Austria. Feeling recuperated and ready to race a week later, she finished fourth in the first downhill training run in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Then she crashed during the second training run, tearing the meniscal roots in the same (her right) knee. 

“The only reason I didn’t talk about tearing my ACL when I did it is that I feel there’s a lot of judgment in our sport about ACL tears and re-tears,” she says. “People may think, ‘do you really think you can do this without an ACL?’ I told myself yes.  I was going to try to compete without it. I did compete without it. What people are doing and what people are capable of is somewhat their business. Remember, you’re not in my body. You’re not in my shoes.”

As far as her return back to the mountain, Johnson is hopeful for a September return and will be working hard in the gym at the USANA Center of Excellence in the meantime. “Mentally, obviously, I’ve been struggling. Physically, it’s coming along,” she says. “Our goal is to get back on snow in September. We’re on track right now, working really hard in the gym all the time.”

Read the full article at SkiRacing.com. 

With three-time Olympic medalist Jessie Diggins leading the way, the U.S. women’s cross-country team has made major strides in recent years.

But outside of the athletes competing, the world of cross-country skiing remains something of a boys’ club.

“Women are really underrepresented in ski coaching, but also in the technician roles, which are massive in cross-country,” says U.S. cross-country program director Chris Grover.

A new proposal submitted to the FIS cross country committee by U.S. Ski & Snowboard aims to change this paradigm. Under the new guidelines, each cross-country team on the World Cup circuit will receive a maximum of eight “course access” bibs, so long as two are used by women.

Read the full story by Alex Azzi at OnHerTurf.NBCSports.com