Hurt Concludes Alpine Championships With GS Title

The final day of racing at the 2018 U.S. Alpine Championships took place on Monday as the fastest women in the country took on the giant slalom in Sun Valley, Idaho. On a prefect day for ski racing with hard snow and blue skies, Squaw Valley native AJ Hurt took home her second national title of the series, winning the GS ahead of a pair of NCAA skiers, Dartmouth College’s Foreste Peterson and Croatian Denver skier Andrea Comsic, who tied for second place.

A particular challenge for the women as there isn’t a more demanding hill the field has raced on all season, the Sun Valley slope proved once again to be a formidable foe as many racers made untimely exits on the steep, hard, and fast pitch that doesn’t let up until you cross the finish line. Fortunately for Hurt, some savvy tactics on the middle and bottom sections of the course proved to be the deciding factor in her decisive 1.51 second victory.

“It’s always difficult but I knew I was capable if I skied my best and that second run was definitely some of my best skiing all year so that felt really good, not only for the result but to just have a good run to finish it off,” Hurt shared in the finish. “The course opened up a bit (in the middle) and went from 24 meters to 27 or 28 and that’s definitely my strength, being able to arc those big turns. I just have to remind myself how it feels to ski like that and hopefully I can carry this momentum on to next year, hopefully.”

Peterson managed to repeat her runner-up performance from last year’s championship GS in Sugarloaf, Maine, and now has some extra motivation to keep skiing as her NCAA eligibility expires this season. After earning her first World Cup starts this winter, look for Peterson to join her Dartmouth teammate and yesterday’s runner-up Brian McLaughlin on the World Cup next season as well.

“I’m really happy,” Peterson said. “I love this hill, it’s really challenging, it’s just in your face all the way down so I’m happy to come away with a podium at least today. You have to go in and show it who’s boss and you have to go into it knowing that you have to attack all the way down. I’ve been on the fence, actually, for the last couple of weeks but I’ve been leaning towards skiing again next year and I think after today I’m definitely hungry for more.”

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail’s Allie Resnick was the surprise of the day in fourth from bib 30. Image Credit: Ski Racing Media/Heather Black

The surprise performance of the day came from Ski and Snowboard Club Vail’s Allie Resnick, who charged from bib 30 to finish an impressive fourth in her first national championships. Resnick even accidentally skied her first run on her training skis after a mixup at the start. With the Vail skier sticking around Sun Valley for the junior nationals later in the week, this will likely not be the last we see of the 17-year-old.

“I’ve never really been on this hill before and it’s really steep and difficult,” she shared. “It’s like a World Cup hill so I had to go out there and give it all I got. It was awesome, I’m really happy with it. The snow was in such good condition that running back in 30th really didn’t matter so I just put it all out there, I actually skied first run on my trainers accidentally, I didn’t realize it till I got to the bottom but it was good and then in the second run I had nothing to lose and it was a beautiful day.”

For complete results, click here.

The 2018 Tom Garner Regions Cup was also awarded to the Western Region team, who finished the series with 2171 points ahead of second place Eastern Region with 1789. Rocky/Central Region finished third with 1347.

The 2018 National Junior Championships begin on March 28 in Sun Valley with the men’s and women’s super-G.