Keep Your Eye on Keely Cashman
Keely Cashman can’t remember a time in her life where ski racing professionally wasn’t her goal. The 19-year-old member of the Alpine D Team traces her race roots back to Dodge Ridge, a little resort outside her hometown of Strawberry, California, where she and her brothers started skiing as soon as they could walk. Cashman skied her first race when she was five years old, and once she got a taste, she never looked back.
“There’s not really a time or an exact moment where I decided that this is what I wanted to do. I can’t remember a time growing up where I didn’t want to be the best in the world, where I didn’t want to be on the U.S. Ski Team” she says. “I want to compete on the World Cup circuit, be consistently at the top, and be the best in the world — that’s the ultimate goal.”
When Cashman and her family moved to Squaw Valley when she was eleven and the field grew to more than ten competitors per race, Cashman said it was a rude awakening.
“It was a little bit of a set back when I moved to Squaw just because there were so many girls that I think I did really bad my first race there. But I eventually worked my way up.”
In 2017 Cashman raced in her first World Cup and she took 1st in the Giant Slalom at U.S. Junior Alpine Championships alongside a 2nd place finish in the Slalom. In 2018 she placed 4th in the Alpine Combined and 7th in the Slalom at the U.S. Alpine Championships and she placed 15th in Alpine Combined at World Juniors in Davos, Switzerland. This will be her 3rd season on the US National team.
Cashman’s rise through the ranks is no surprise, in fact, skiing is in her blood. Her father is an ex racer and is currently a coach at Squaw Valley. This season, he’ll travel with her to races as a part-time coach. Her brothers have also raced competitively (her older brother hopes to join the college circuit soon), so her family keeps her on her toes by providing support, motivation, and a little friendly competition.
Cashman holds herself to a high standard and aspires to great success in her career. But her drive to be the best comes from a humble place. Back home, Cashman is constantly trying to train with the younger groups. Training, skiing, and communicating with younger kids helps remind her why she started racing in the first place because she loves to ski.
“I think part of me wants to be at the top so I can inspire the younger generation because that’s been huge for me,” she says. “I hope that I can help them, but they also help me a lot… they’re out there because they love skiing, they love competing, and I think a lot of the time we [older groups] are competing at such a high level that we lose sight of that, we get caught up in the results too much.”
She remembers when she was a kid on the Squaw Valley Ski Team that Bryce Bennett did that for her; he’s the closest thing she has to a “real role model”.
“He definitely has a different approach to it. He’s super relaxed, he’s super funny, and I try and take that approach. He was always super helpful talking to the younger kids and he always helped us out so much.”
Other ways Cashman keeps herself centered is by finding time to get outside. She loves to fly fish because it requires patience, a trait she hopes to incorporate more into her skiing. She also enjoys playing guitar, because it’s a great way to bring the team together and have some fun on the road.
Currently, Cashman and other members of the B and C teams are in Soelden, Austria, training GS, Slalom, and hopefully some Super G if Mother Nature provides more snow. Cashman is feeling good about her skiing and can tell that the hard work she put in conditioning over the summer is making a difference.
“The results this summer in her skiing, the way she’s changed her skiing in a really positive way and the timing that I have seen have been really positive,” says U.S. Alpine Development Director, Chip Knight. “It certainly feels like she’s poised to make a great step forward this year and I’m really excited to see it happen.”
Although she has another week of training left in Austria, Cashman has her eyes set on the Copper block in November, where she hopes to qualify for Killington during time trials and officially meet her first short-term goal of the year. Otherwise, this season Cashman knows what she needs to do to move through the ranks.
“For me, I just need to be consistent throughout the NorAm races because I really need to lower my points. World Juniors is a good way to qualify and move up in the team. Also, NorAm titles, if I can get a NorAm GS title or Slalom title that helps a lot, so hopefully I can do that.”
Keely Cashman knows that the competition is tough and the playing field is deep. But with her family, her team, and the town of Strawberry at her back, she’s confident that when she falls, she’ll get right back up and keep charging forward until she reaches the top.
About the Author: Mackenzie Moran
