This weekend's World Cup slalom race in Levi, Finland, features skiers with Vermont ties, as well as a famous neighbor to the east.
Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) is set to open his World Cup season this weekend along side Soelden podium finisher Ted Ligety (Park City, UT). And skiing with them are Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV), Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH) and Nolan Kasper (Warren, VT).
Twenty-year-old Kasper, of Vermont's Burke Mountain Academy, was named to the C team this summer, but has moved up to earn his first World Cup start. The US Ski Team said he earned the slot by winning an inter-squad race held in Saas Fee. Kasper was third in an August slalom in New Zealand behind top World Cup athletes Felix Neureuther of Germany and Matias Hargin of Sweden.
Cochran is from the Vermont ski racing family that owns Cochran's Ski Area. He skied for Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club and for the University of Vermont.
Go get 'em!
Photo of Nolan Kasper courtesy US Ski Team.