Eastern junior athletes honored with Golden Ski Award

By Published On: May 2nd, 2016Comments Off on Eastern junior athletes honored with Golden Ski Award

Each season, the North American Snowsports Journalists Association – East awards the Don A. Metivier Golden Ski Award to the most promising male and female junior alpine racers in the Eastern U.S. This year’s winners are Cecily Decker from Saranac Lake, N.Y., who skis for the New York Ski Education Foundation and is a member of the Eastern Regional Training Group, and Ben Ritchie from Waitsfield, Vt., skiing out of the Green Mountain Valley School.

CecilyDeckerDecker ranked 75th in the world in downhill and had 19 top-10 results, including nine podiums with five overall wins. She was first in a NorAm Cup downhill at Lake Louise, first in a FIS giant slalom race at Sugarbush, first in a FIS giant slalom race at Jiminy Peak, first in the downhill and fourth in the super-G at the North American Junior Championships at Copper Mountain, and finished out the season by winning in downhill at a FIS race at Aspen.

 

BenRitchieRitchie was the U16 National overall champion, placing second in super-G, second in giant slalom and first in slalom. In the super-G race, where he started in 38th position, he jumped all the way to a silver medal finish, a truly Herculian effort. Ritchie placed second in the slalom at the Longines Future Champions event at St. Moritz, Switzerland. He was chosen to represent the U.S. in this year’s Hahnenkamm U16 event at Kitzbuehel in a unique team competition. Ritchie also received the 2016 VARA George Tormey Award as Vermont’s top student-athlete.

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, and named it in memory of long-time snowsports journalist Don A. Metivier, former editor of Ski Racing.

“The Golden Ski Award is the oldest honor given to junior alpine ski racers that exists today,” says Jim Gregory, chair of the NASJA-East Golden Ski Award Committee. “We are proud this year to honor Cecily Decker and Ben Ritchie, two extraordinary athletes, and we look forward to watching them pursue their goals and set the bar even higher in the sport we all love so much.”

The awards will be presented at a reception at the New England Ski Museum on Friday, June 10 from 5 to 7 p.m.

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

Press release courtesy of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association

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