Alpine

SIX SSWSC Athletes moved forward in the World Pro Ski Tour yesterday; congratulations to these athletes:

Trey Seymour
Hig Roberts
Michael Bansmer
Colton Sankey
Kyle Kagan
Chase Seymour
READ ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THE WORLD PRO SKI TOUR HERE

A special part of the World Pro Ski Tour was the Alpine Bank World Pro Ski Tour Junior Challenge which featured Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club racers ages 10-15 competing in a dual race right next to the pro course. It was a team format event, with 8 teams of six club racers, all different ages and genders. Each team was paired with a pro racer who was their mentor and helped them inspect the race courses and gave them tips.

The team mentored by eventual race winner Robert Cone took the win, winning four of the six races. Racing for Team Cone were Adrian Beauregard (12), Isabelle Shoebridge (15), Bruno Bruce (13), Addy Armstrong (12),  Collin Mudget-Furgueson (11) and Gracelyn Jacobson (10). They beat the team mentored by pro racer Michael Ankeny. Racing for Team Ankeny were Jonah Fleischer (14), Merritt Flanigan (12), Cole Contois (12), Kinsley Jacobson (11), Talon Fleischer (11) and Ryan Becker (10). The top two teams had to race through two rounds to get into the finals, with the two winning teams earning scholarships from Alpine Bank.

Final round:

G. Jacobson def. Becker 1.5 seconds

Mudgett-Furgueson def. T. Fleischer 0.76 seconds

K. Jacobson def Armstrong 1.5 seconds

Bruce def. Contois 1.5 seconds

Shoebridge def. Flanigan 0.64 seconds

J. Fleischer def. Beauregard 0.73 seconds

Avery Olson and Caley Goforth with Ted Ligety

Snowboarding

Head Freestyle Snowboard Coach Maddy Schaffrick took a group of athletes down to Copper on Tuesday to compete in the USASA New Years Eve Rail Jam. It was a beautiful day in Copper; all the kids rode great, and it was a fun way to finish out the decade! This was their first of many freestyle competitions for the season. The athletes will be competing in Summit County multiple times over the next few months and their final regional contest will be here in Steamboat in the end of February/beginning of March. Tuesday was a good and fun way to kick off the comp season and the year 2020!

Here are the final results of our local kids in their age groups:

9&under girls - Aimee Wild - 5th
9&under boys - Isaac Weinberg - 5th
10-13 girls - Rocke Weinberg - 6th
10-13 boys - Walker Overstake - 9th, Reed Van Ness - 9th
14&over men - Jackie Clemente - 13th
Open Class men - Marty Boyd - 2nd

16 year old Mary Boyd enjoyed his first year competing in Open Class. Image 1: doing a “tail press” on the “battleship” rail, image 2: getting creative one-footed on the same rail.

Freeskiing

Riley Jacobs is one step closer to becoming another Olympian out of Steamboat Springs.

Last week, the 16-year-old was invited to compete in freestyle skiing at the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland. Jacobs, a first-year Steamboat Mountain School student, will compete in both halfpipe and slopestyle events over the course of Jan. 18 to 22.

“One day, you’re gonna see Riley Jacobs up on the Olympics and on the United States ski team,” said Jacobs’ coach at Vail Ski and Snowboard Club, Willist Engelhart. “She’s definitely a hopeful for them, and she’s only 16 years old, and she has so much more to do. The possibilities are endless for Riley Jacobs.”

While this will be her first and sole opportunity to compete in the Youth Olympic Games, which is for athletes 18 and younger, it’s not the first major competition she’s attended. In April, Jacobs won the National Championship in slopestyle at Copper Mountain. In January 2018, she competed at Lausanne and took fifth in the halfpipe competition at Junior Worlds. She’s even traveled as far as New Zealand to compete in a World Cup event in August. READ MORE HERE