Snowboard team finds podiums in US and Canada

Athletes from the Killington Mountain School Snowboard program have shown the world what they are made of in various competitions throughout the United States and Canada. Program Director Jeff Juneau travled to Craigleith, Ontario with EK Robinson-Leith, Justin Giltz, and Matt Miller where they had a very successful trip. Jeff commented, "Justin battled through the virus to race on Friday, Matt Miller broke into heats both days to land in the top 25 riders in NorAm standings, and EK had a huge breakthrough performance." In her first year of FIS eligibility, EK has been charging through the North American SBX Cup. She posted the second fastest time trial both days but wasn't able to break through into the final heat in her debut NorAm races last week. Two top eight finishes in her first starts was a very impressive and unexpected debut. Craigleith, Ontario was the second stop on the NorAm tour. After a tough day of crashes, EK earned another top eight on Thursday. She was riding great and achieving incredible results for her first season but appeared on the cusp of even more. Jeff explained, "EK has been riding at the same level as the top women in time trials, but had struggled to break through in semifinal heats. Usually, it takes a few seasons to work through the tactics needed to contest the podium at this level. Everything changed on Friday when she qualified in third position, and used it to blast through heats before taking second place in the Big final for the Silver." Next up is Junior Worlds for EK, while the NorAm Ski and SnowboardCross athletes travel to Sunday River.

Halfpipe- Some of our KMS Snowboard Slopestyle team athletes travelled to Okemo on Saturday and Sunday for back to back Southern VT USASA Halfpipe events. On Saturday, Kian Hauschildt landed in third place, while Chris Oko finished in fifth. Sunday brought even better results, with Kian climbing to second and Chris making it onto the podium in third.

Slalom and GS- Xavier Kennedy and Liam Scott travelled to Whaleback for NH USASA series SL and GS races on Sunday. GS in the morning saw both of them make mistakes that cost them the podium. Determined and focused, Liam and Xavier fought back in the afternoon SL to earn second and third place, respectively. Congratulations on the hard won podium!