BECK INTERNATIONAL AWARD Alpine nomination: Ted Ligety Ligety capped a record World Cup season with his fifth and sixth giant slalom victories in March for his fourth World Cup giant slalom title. The sixth win links him to the great Ingemar Stenmark as the only man to have six GS wins in a single season. In February, Ligety won three gold medals at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships to become the first man since Jean Claude Killy 45 years ago in 1968 to win three or more gold in one World Championships. Cross Country nomination: Kikkan Randall Background: Golden Globe WC Cross-country Sprint Competition two years running. 3rd Overall World Cup. 11 WC podiums. Top placements in events outside her specialty discipline and distances. Freestyle nomination: Hannah Kearney Hannah Kearney is no stranger to success. She won the World Cup Moguls Overall Globe yet again making this number four (4). She's an Olympic Gold medalist, World Champion medalist and broke Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup winning streak with 16 wins in a row. This season was a real test for Hannah as she found herself internally injured with just a few weeks before the World Cup season began. She was unable to compete and had to watch the first two World Cups stateside, online, being a fan. She took advantage of this uncanny time off and was able to increase her strength and endurance to new levels. She would return with a vengeance winning her first event back in Lake Placid moving on to win Sochi, World Championships including a bronze medal, Are, Sierra Nevada and winning twice in Deer Valley in both singles and duals. She is dedicated to her performance, her skills increase her confidence and her confidence drives her to push even harder. She is a complete athlete/competitor who is responsible for any fault or weakness and seeks to rid herself of that weakness. Her continued goal is world domination in the sport of mogul skiing and she is the definition of determination and best in the world. Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined nomination: Sarah Hendrickson We nominate US women’s ski jumping team athlete Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) for this honor. The 18-year-old took the gold medal at this winter’s world championships in Italy in women’s ski jumping and has set herself up to be one of the medal favorites for next year at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. She also finished second in the overall battle for the season-long World Cup crown, a title she won a year ago. Sarah’s season-long performance was incredible and we feel worthy of consideration for this award. Snowboarding: Kelly Clark Easily the winningest woman in halfpipe history, Kelly Clark’s meteoric rise established a legacy, and expectations of greatness that only she can top. Kelly won every major event the past two seasons, crushing all records held before. Kelly started the 2012/2013 season with a New Zealand World Cup Halfpipe win. She followed that with a huge victory at the X Games, Sochi World Cup, US Open and European XGames. Adding to this dizzying podium list, she received nominations for an ESPY and Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards. Despite one of the best victory streaks ever, Kelly will still tell you that her most prized achievement is the respect of her female snowboarding peers, and the well-earned reputation of pushing women’s halfpipe riding further than any other, including a first-ever contest 1080 in the pipe last winter. Freeskiing nomination: David Wise David Wise won almost every major event during the 2012-13 season. After coming back from a knee injury last season, David was on a mission to come back strong and dominate the field. His hard work paid off with great results starting with the a win at the XGames, then over to win the Park City World Cup, first at World Championships and finally a win at the Euro XGames. 2012-2013 Results: 1st Park City World Cup 1st Aspen XGames 1st World Championships 2nd Euro XGames PAUL BACON AWARD Cross Country nomination: Craftsbury Outdoor Center (COC) Craftsbury has jumped into the organizing scene the past several years and has been instrumental both regionally and nationally with their ability to host the highest caliber races – with or without cooperation from Mother Nature. Craftsbury again put forth an over-the-top effort in the 2013 ski season. The winter came with a late start, but the savvy COC crew was able to host a full house for Thanksgiving week training and camps, as well as the first Eastern Cup of the season in mid-December. Both events hosted US and Canadian skiers with the Eastern Cup consisting of upwards of 400 racers per day. Last season, the site hosted nearly all Eastern USSA, school and college cross-country ski competitions including the USSA Distance Championships and SuperTour finals. They juggled a multitude of races on their man-made circuit within short time frames spectacularly; special recognition needs to be given for their handling of the Adaptive events in this picture. The efforts included spraying 2 million gallons of water onto their trails; the COC crew moved over 2,500 cubic yards of snow for the Distance Nationals and SuperTour alone. 2 In addition to hosting events Craftsbury, is moving forward to enhance year-round training camps for Nordic, biathlon, running and rowing. This development, along with their emphasis on their successful Green-Team cross-country race team as well vision for the future, makes the site an important USSA/USST partner in the eastern US. Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined nomination: Harris Hill Ski Jumping Committee We nominate the Harris Hill Ski Jumping Committee for this award for their continued dedication in promoting the sport of ski jumping with their annual Harris Hill Ski Jumping tournament, held in Brattleboro, VT every February for nearly 100 years. For the last two seasons the club has undertaken the greater responsibility of hosting prestigious FIS Cups in ski jumping-an expensive and hugely time consuming event. This event helps the US team jump in front of American fans. This two-day event for the US TEAM and US development and regional ski jumpers helps our athletes gain much-needed FIS points. Several years ago the HHSJC completely re-built the ski jump bringing it up to exacting FIS standards, a major project. This Committee is a volunteer-only group and is dedicated to keeping alive the rich traditions of the sport in the United States. Snowboarding/Freeskiing nomination: Copper Mountain Resort Copper Mountain has been a traditional event and early season camp host for USSA alpine and snowboard competitions for many decades. Copper has really stepped up their commitment to Snowboarding and Freeskiing in the last few years. The Copper Race Department has aggressively hosted three Snowboarding/Freeskiing events: Race to the Cup (PGS, PSL), Hole Shot NorAm (SBX/SX) and the US Snowboarding / US Freeskiing World Cup Grand Prix (HP, SS). Copper is also hosting the USASA Nationals, a six-day event with over 2,500 athletes. No other resort comes close to hosting as many high-level Snowboarding and Freeskiing events as Copper. The infrastructure and quality of these events set a new standard. The athletes continuingly provide great feedback about the Copper events and high level of venues. JOHN J. CLAIR JR. AWARD Alpine nomination: Walt Evans FIS Certified Alpine Technical Delegate since 1984 #468 USSA Internationally Certified Coach Assistant Chief of Race for 2002 OWG M/W slaloms USSA/RMD Alpine Committee Chairman 1978-1983 USSA Alpine Committee 1997-2012 Russell Wilder Memorial Award (Youth Development) 1996 3 Halstead Memorial Award Recipient (lifelong contributions to skiing) 2002 USSA’s Alpine Domestic and Development Director FIS Alpine representative to the Youth and Children’s Questions Committee 2006- 2012 Secretary of the FIS NorAm Committee 1997-2012 Cross Country nomination: David Knoop and the National Nordic Foundation David is an at-large member of the CC Committee; he has spent several years as a gold member of the USST Foundation and is the Executive Director of the NNF, National Nordic Foundation. Specific nominee accomplishments in the current season related to the Award: The NNF provides funding for USST Nordic projects involving athletes from USST B- Team status through Junior ranks in Cross-country and Nordic Combined including: World Cup Competitions World Championships World Junior/U23 Championships Continental Cup Competitions, Nor-Am & Overseas Scandinavian Cup Competitions International Training Competitions/Camps North American Training Camps With respect to the criterion: “benefit to US Teams,” it should be noted that athletes jumped directly from NNF support to the red group of the World Cup and a significant number from the 2012/13 season include: 68 - Individual athletes-part of NNF supported international race opportunities. 38 - International development races supported by the NNF, OPA Cup, etc. 10 - International podium finishes on NNF Pillar Projects 7 - Individual World Cup top 10 finishes by NNF supported athletes 3 - NNF supported B-Team Cross-Country athletes qualified for World Cup Finals. 2 - Number of years in a row an American has been on the podium at OPA Cup Finals. Any additional accomplishments which would enhance current season nomination: Dave Knoop assumed the organization’s leadership a few years back and quickly grew the yearly operational level from a struggling $35,000 to well into the six figures and significantly broadened the organization’s project base. The NNF, almost single handedly run by Dave Knoop, is a solid and consistent force in US Cross-Country and Nordic Combined Team campaigns today.