SOLDIER HOLLOW NORDIC CENTER — In addition to race wins and national titles, athletes age 22 and under have been racing this week for spots on the American teams that will race at both World Junior/U23 Championships and the U18 Nordic Nations Cup later this winter.
I can’t quite report final team naming for U23 Championships with certainty yet. But here’s what I can tell you now about athletes presumptively named to the World Junior and Nordic Nations teams, qualification for which looks to an athlete’s performance in the first three races here.
This article is based on my reading of the points spreadsheet that athletes and coaches have been poring over all week, which is a matter of public record. I have confirmed much of this by talking with coaches and parents who were present at team naming ceremonies on Friday night. I didn’t check every athlete’s Instagram for this, but many have posted about their team naming there as well; a few such posts are embedded here.
There will be a formal press release from U.S. Ski & Snowboard about this at some point. I will share that once it is available. I have previously reported which coaches will be staffing these trips.
Without further ado, here is whom I currently understand to be going on these trips:
U18 Nordic Nations Cup
Girls:
Athletes who have qualified for this trip based on the listed criteria, and whom I understand to be going, include:
Maeve Ingelfinger (Glacier Nordic)
Ally Wheeler (High Plains Nordic Association)
Natalie Nicholas (BSF)
Amelia Circosta (Craftsbury)
Lena Poduska (Jackson Hole Ski Club)
Niki Johnson (Tahoe Endurance)
Athletes who have qualified for this trip based on the listed criteria but who have declined the spot include:
Neve Gerard (Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Rose Horning (Ski & Snowboard Club Vail)
Sydney Drevlow (Loppet Nordic Racing)
The three athletes listed above are all noted in the spreadsheet as “decline – YOG.” USSS announced in November that they would be representing the U.S. at 2024 Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon, South Korea.
Boys:
Athletes who have qualified for this trip based on the listed criteria, and whom I understand to be going, include:
Lucas Wilmot (Jackson Hole Ski Club)
Murphy Kimball (Alaska Winter Stars)
Henry Magill (Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)
Oskar Flora (APU Nordic Ski Club)
Cole Bothner (BSF)
Daniel McCollor (MSP Ski Club)
Athletes who have qualified for this trip based on the listed criteria but who have declined the spot include:
Tabor Greenberg (Green Mountain Valley School)
Benjamin Barbier (Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)
Landon Wyatt (BSF)
Elias Soule (Alaska Winter Stars)
The first three athletes listed above will be representing the U.S. at 2024 Winter Youth Olympics for nordic skiing. Soule will be representing the U.S. at these Games for biathlon.
World Junior Championships
Women:
Athletes who have qualified for this trip based on the listed criteria include the following. I am not including the “understand to be going” line here because some of these athletes could potentially be racing World Cups in North America in February 2024 instead. Stay tuned.
Sammy Smith (Sun Valley)
Ava Thurston (Dartmouth)
Nina Schamberger (University of Utah)
Evelyn Walton (Dartmouth)
Ally Wheeler (High Plains Nordic Association)
Sofia Scirica (Middlebury)
Neve Gerard and Rose Horning also qualified for this trip; they will instead be in South Korea for Winter Youth Olympics, as noted above under Nordic Nations Cup. Hattie Barker (University of New Hampshire) is the first alternate for this trip.
Men:
Athletes who have qualified for this trip based on the listed criteria include the following. I am not including the “understand to be going” line here because some of these athletes could potentially be racing World Cups in North America in February 2024 instead.
Jack Lange (Dartmouth/SMS)
Trey Jones (University of Colorado/Steamboat)
Lucas Wilmot (Jackson Hole Ski Club)
Matt Seline (University of Alaska Anchorage)
Wes Campbell (Michigan Tech)
Zachary Jayne (University of Utah)
Tabor Greenberg also qualified for this trip. He will instead be in South Korea for Winter Youth Olympics, as noted above. Corbin Carpenter (University of Alaska Anchorage) is the first alternate for this trip.
* * *
On the one hand, USSS has not officially released this information yet with its organizational imprimatur. On the other hand, I stand by my reporting. I will run an official press release once it is made available from USSS. Until then, you can read this spreadsheet and these sets of team naming criteria (World Juniors, Nordic Nations) against each other. Or just ask your friends who was picking up uniforms in the public ceremony at the Zermatt last night.
— Gavin Kentch
So far as I can tell I am the only media outlet interviewing athletes at this year’s national championships. This coverage is happening only because I paid my way to travel down here from Alaska for a week-plus reporting trip. If you would like to support these efforts, you can find my GoFundMe here. (This is still last year’s fundraiser, sorry, because I’ve been busy; the money all goes to the same place.) Thank you for your consideration, and thanks for reading.
