What’s the official name of this ski team? Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation XC Gold Team (Sun Valley or SVSEF)
Where is it located? Ketchum, Idaho
Who’s the coach? Chris Mallory
Who’s on the roster this season? Jake Adicoff, Kevin Bolger, Katie Feldman, Bentley Walker-Broose, and Peter Wolter
What’s different from last year? Several athletes moved on or retired, including Sarah Goble, Sam Wood, Peter Holmes, and Karl Schulz. Johnny Hagenbuch headed east to ski for Dartmouth. Bentley Walker-Broose, a member of the Australian National Team, is a new addition to the squad, following the path previously trod by such U.S.-based high-level Aussies as Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton, and PK Kovacs.
What were some highlights of last season? Jake Adicoff took home three medals from the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, gold in the 4 x 2.5km mixed relay and silver in the 20km classic visually impaired and 1.5km skate sprint visually impaired. Sam Wood was his sighted guide in each race. These were Adicoff’s third Paralympics.
Kevin Bolger made his first Olympic team, finishing 17th in the skate sprint and skiing the anchor leg for the American men’s 9th-place relay team. On the World Cup, Bolger made two sprint heats during the 2021/2022 season, with a best of 12th in the Lillehammer skate sprint and 16th in the Lenzerheide skate sprint stage of the Tour de Ski. Bolger was renamed to the U.S. Ski Team B-Team this spring.
Peter Wolter placed 9th in the 30km skate at Soldier Hollow for the team’s best result at 2022 U.S. Nationals, with Katie Feldman not far off the mark with 11th in the 20km skate. Feldman was 9th in the 42km skate at Spring Series. Feldman and Wolter both had three top-10 finishes on the SuperTour, highlighted by Wolter’s third in the 10km skate in Lake Placid.
Bentley Walker-Broose made his World Cup debut in December, placing 98th in the Davos skate sprint qual and 101st in the 15km skate. He had several starts at U23 World Championships in Lygna in February, with a best showing of 48th in the skate sprint qual.
Racing last month in the southern hemisphere, the team put in a strong showing at the Kangaroo Hoppet, with Wolter taking the overall win and Walker-Broose finishing 8th. The pair also went 2–3 in the 10km classic in the Australia/New Zealand Cup, and logged an additional four top-five finishes in Australia/New Zealand Cup races last month.
What does the coach have to say? Here’s Chris Mallory:
“This summer, like most years, we try and put in a good block of training here in the valley in June and July. We typically have around 10 collegiate athletes here training for the summer, so that’s a always fun to have a bigger group assembled working together. This August the Gold Team went down to Australia for an extended camp on snow there, which we hadn’t done for 5 years or so. That seemed pretty beneficial for the team to have a new training environment during the heat of the summer, and they got to do some racing as well in the Kangaroo Hoppet and the national FIS series.
“We’ll do a dryland Camp in October alongside the National Team in Park City, and then prep here before heading to SilverStar, and then back to Sun Valley for Period 1 SuperTours. We’ll have athletes chasing goals both domestically and internationally so I’m looking forward to helping the team progress wherever the season takes them. Kevin will start the year on the World Cup, and we’ve got some other guys knocking on the door there, trying to take that next step. Jake will split time between the domestic circuit and Para World Cup, and Katie has her sights on some of the Visma Classics over the second half of the year.”
How can you get more information or follow the team? website | Instagram
Elsewhere in this series: Bridger | Stratton | Team Birkie
