Vail’s Kinsella grabs gold and silver at 7 Nations Cup

This week, 13 U16 ski racers from across the U.S. made the trek to the prestigious 7 Nations Cup ski races in Hinterreit, Austria, on Feb. 15-16. Ski and Snowboard Club Vail‘s Kellen Kinsella managed to walk away from the event with a gold medal in the men’s giant slalom and a silver in the slalom.

Three of his home club teammates also brought home top-10 finishes. Allie Resnick walked away with a fourth-place finish in the women’s slalom and Caroline Jones, also of Vail, walked away with two top 10 results, finishing ninth in GS and sixth in slalom. Kaitlyn Harsch added another top 10 with her 10th-place finish in the women’s slalom.

Kinsella won the GS in Hinterreit with a two-run time of 1:47.52 seconds, a scant 0.04 seconds ahead of Austria’s Joshua Sturm in second. Matteo Bendotti of Italy was third, 0.80 seconds off of Kinsella’s pace.

In the slalom on Thursday, Austria’s Lukas Feurstein took the win with a total time of 1:28.82 seconds, 0.59 seconds ahead of Kinsella in second. Davide Damanti of Italy landed in third, 1.33 seconds back.

“I’ve been working hard all summer,” Kinsella told the Vail Daily. “I’ve heard a lot about how the U.S. is not developing athletes, so I just want to prove that wrong and say we’re here, we can ski and we’re going to be good.”

The 15-year-old Edwards, Colo., native finished in 31st and 42nd in last season’s 7 Nations Cup races and his performances this year were made even more special given the fact that his mother, Tracy, is recovering from a recent cancer surgery back home.

“The athletes had some great results over the last two days,” said USSA Alpine Development Director Chip Knight. “Kellen skied well in both races and showed he can compete with the best boys his age in Europe. Allie Resnick’s fourth and Caroline Jones’ two top-tens were also highlights. Above individual performances, the most encouraging aspect was to see how the team showed resilience on day two. Everyone took confidence from Kellen’s GS win and stepped up their performances.”

Complete results from 7 Nations Cup can be seen here:
Women’s GS
Men’s GS
Women’s SL
Men’s SL

2017 U.S. 7 Nations Cup team

Men

Alex Abdow – Stratton Mountain School – 5/14/2001
Patrick Coughlin – Burke Mountain Academy – 4/10/2001
Jackson Jewell – Green Mountain Valley School – 7/16/2001
Kellen Kinsella – Ski & Snowboard Club Vail – 8/7/2001
Nicolas Richeda – Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club – 3/12/2002
Zane Worrell – Ski & Snowboard Club Vail – 8/29/2001

Women

Cleo Braun – Ski & Snowboard Club Vail – 10/29/2001
Berit Frischholz – Ski & Snowboard Club Vail – 8/12/2002
Kaitlyn Harsch – Ski & Snowboard Club Vail – 1/1/2001
Isabelle Jenne – Killington Mountain School – 4/14/2001
Caroline Jones – Ski & Snowboard Club Vail – 6/25/2001
Allie Resnick – Ski & Snowboard Club Vail – 9/1/2001
G.G. Wattenmaker – Sugar Bowl Academy – 9/13/2001