STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY NILS RIBI AND KAREN BOSSICK

AJ Hurt missed the opportunity to claim two medals atop the podium during the Opening Ceremony of the U.S. Alpine National Championships on Friday because she was mid-drug test following her wins.

But she made sure she got to stand atop the podium in Sun Valley at least once by winning the Women’s Giant Slalom—the final race of this year’s championships—on Monday.

Hurt led off 79 racers representing the United States, Canada, Australia, Croatia, Norway and Japan by screaming into first place, mounting methodical arcs around 45 gates.

Only Croatia’s two-time Olympian Andrea Komsic and Dartmouth’s Foreste Peterson came close to touching her, failing to do so by seventeen-hundredth and twenty-six hundredth of a second.

The crowd cheered as Peterson roared into first on her second run, despite a slight bobble midway through the course. Then they gasped as Komsic came in a little behind her, but ending up tied with her when their scores were combined.

But Hurt wasn’t about to settle for a three-way tie. The 17-year-old from Squaw Valley attacked the course, which started at the top of the Greyhawk lift, crossed over to Hemingway below the cat track and then reverted back onto Greyhawk.

She turned on the acid burners as she charged back onto the Greyhawk course, with a second run that at 1:05.95 was even faster than her first. And the scoreboard told the story—her combined time of 213.28 was nearly a minute and a half under the others’ time of 2:14.79.

“This is my first time in Sun Valley and I won’t forget it. It’s an awesome course,” said Hurt, whose earlier haul included an Alpine Combined gold and Super G silver. “Today’s course played to my strength, which is arcing big turns. And I’ve been working hard. The only thing left was to keep the stress at bay by livening things up and talking to my friends.”

Foreste Peterson, the niece of Sun Valley residents Jeri Howland and Jerry Edelbrock, was beaming, as well.

“I didn’t do well at all when I competed here at the Nationals in 2016 so I’m really happy with the way I skied this week.”

As with previous contests, the Super G provided hundreds of spectators with some thrilling spills.

Perhaps the most notable was that of Cheyenne Brown, who ran off the top of the course, her skis getting tangled in the orange fencing as she lay helpless on her back.

At the bottom, volunteers Alan and Mary Hogg arranged impromptu autograph sessions between the racers and young girls ranging in age from 4 to 12.

“It’s interesting that they don’t go after the boys’ autographs. It’s the women’s they want,” said Alan Hogg.

Among those going after autographs were Marina and Ella Shaughnessy, India Nie-Wenner and Taylor Hovey. They had racers signing everything from sweatshirts to helmets to their foreheads.

“We get a lot of experience riding up the chair with them and ask them a lot of questions,” said Ella Shaughnessy. “Like we asked: What do you do when you’re nervous? One of the racers told us she thinks ahead to the bottom.”

“I learn by watching their form,” added Scarlet Pringle, who was among a group of six 5- to 10-year-olds.

“We’ve come to feel the energy of the whole thing, for the girls to get a chance to see what they can be,” said Scarlet’s father Chad Pringle, a coach with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation.

Haley Cutler, a Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alum now skiing for the University of New Mexico,  asked the girls about their own skiing as she signed autographs.

“You ski for Sun Valley? “They’ve got good coaches,” she told one girl.

“I’m sorry to see the weekend end,” she added, reveling in her fifth place Super G finish. “But now it’s back to college where I have to catch up on homework.”

The courses used in the national championships will be shortened when the 2018 Junior Alpine Championships  takes place on Bald Mountain Wednesday through Friday, March 28-30.

Sun Valley’s Marketing Director Mike Fitzpatrick said Sun Valley is already looking at other major competitions it can bring to the mountain.

The resort shouldn’t have any trouble getting recommendations from racers and others who took part in this week’s championships.

“This is truly one of the highest caliber nationals I’ve ever seen,” said Kaylin Richardson, a two-time Olympian who emceed the race announcing. “Sun Valley, you have set the bar.”

WOMEN’S GIANT SLALOM RESULTS

1-AJ Hurt 1:07.33 first run, 2:13.28 combined

2 (tie)-Andrea Komsic 1:07.50, 2:14.79
          Forest Peterson 1:07.59, 2:14.79