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Bolt Zivlovic/BOBO
Graham Houtsma and Hayley Brewster both started in the same place, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, but the Nordic skiers’ respective routes to the World Cup were markedly different.
Both stories are a testament to time and talent. But one depicts the progression of a picture-perfect pipeline, and the other is a classic underdog story.
One person is going from Aspen to Alberta. The other is from Minturn to Minneapolis.
“I was way off the ‘pipeline,’” Hotsma said. The 26-year-old competed in alpine skiing until his senior year at Aspen High School, and left Bates College’s Nordic team after two seasons.
“It’s like the American Dream: If you work hard, you can achieve all your goals. It’s something everyone wants to do, but very few people stick around long enough to actually do it.” ” — Dan Weiland, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail Nordic Program Director
“I’ve definitely taken a very unconventional path.”
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Conversely, Brewster won the junior national title by 15 years. And in January of this year, she won a gold medal in the senior competition. The 20-year-old represented Team USA at the World Juniors and now the U23 World Championships, winning a historic silver medal in the later division on Thursday in Planica, Slovenia. The weekend after Houtsuma’s World Cup debut in Canmore, Brewster will start at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, marking the first World Cup to be held on American soil in more than 20 years.
“She worked hard, but she always had natural talent,” said Dan Weiland, who helped guide the beginning of both ski stories.
“The great thing is that she gets to race her first World Cup at home. It’s hard to think of a better scenario.”
Switching courses
Houtsma was a first-year student when she joined SSCV’s Future Stars program. Weiland quickly realized the natural potential of skate skiing.
“But he literally couldn’t do classic skiing,” said the former program director, a fact that Hotsma acknowledged with a laugh.
“If you look at him now in the classic sprints, he looks like he knows what he’s doing. Graham was a grinder. He worked hard. He wasn’t afraid of that. That’s what he was.”
Hotsuma’s family moved to Aspen, where the fourth-grader enrolled as an alpine skier with the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club. Struggling to justify continued participation at the FIS level, Houtuma decided to follow his older brother into the Colorado High School League’s Ski Meister competition, which is both an Alpine and Nordic test. I did.
“He said, ‘Why don’t you do what I’m doing?'” Hotsma said of the transition, or recommitment, to skinny skiing.
“It was really fun.”
Houtuma qualified for the Junior Nationals as a junior and was selected to represent the Nordics by AVSC coach Maria Stuber (currently program director for the Stratton Mountain School T2 team, Jesse Diggins’ national team). was persuaded to focus on it full time. Stuber, along with Brian Cook and Travis Moore, had to kneel down and teach the fundamentals of raw talent that most athletes learn at age 10.
“When I first started, they were like, ‘Okay, we’re going to do some V1 drills,'” Horza recalls. “And I thought, ‘I don’t know what that is.’ Travis had to pull me aside and explain.”
After making “significant growth” during his senior year prep, Hotsuma placed fourth at the early-season Rocky Mountain Nordic Junior National Qualifier in Crested Butte, beating several college students in the process. Has entered. That led him to consider his NCAA skiing and ultimately attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
“But after that, I was basically off the radar,” he said, contextualizing his national standing, or lack thereof, during his first two years of college racing.
“I didn’t have any outstanding results.” By his junior year, Hotsuma left the team to focus on his studies. He continued to train on the side, but was admittedly “not very keen” and only occasionally participated in civic races and the Eastern Cup.
“I was at a loss, trying to figure out where my love of skiing came from,” he said.
At times, the motivation to prove everyone wrong was intense. However, his mind often wandered into dark areas.
“I was thinking, ‘Why am I doing this?'” he recalled, adding that he always returned to his love of the sport.
“I love high places and low places,” he said. “I thought, ‘I can’t just hang the skis up there.'”
When Bates College canceled its varsity sports season amid the pandemic, Houtsma left for Bozeman, Montana. There, three-time Olympian Andy Newell was organizing the Bridger Ski Foundation program for college athletes in need of racing opportunities.
“We saw great potential in him,” Newell recalled. He was “poured into the development pipeline early” before enjoying a 17-year World Cup career himself. Newell said “a lot of talented skiers” are missing the traditional path from the junior elite to the top senior level.
“My mission with the BSF Pro Team is to help college athletes make the transition to World Cup skiing.”
Hotsuma said the location and Newell’s intention to explain the purpose behind the training elements provided the needed “structure” and “fresh start.” Hotsuma’s confidence blossomed when he made a name for himself on the Super Tour, U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s national circuit for athletes who qualify for World Cups after college.
“Graham continues to impress us year after year,” Newell said.
When Hotsuma arrived at Soldier Hollow for the U.S. Senior Nationals in January, he was on a mission to accomplish a major offseason goal. His goal was to earn a coveted starting spot in the North American World Cup. After finishing 11th in the opening day 10k classic, the skate specialist’s weakest event, he knew it was within his reach.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to make this happen,'” he said. “That’s when I really realized. It’s one thing, I want this to happen. And it’s another thing to think, ‘I can make this happen.’
big jump
Mr. Brewster has done just that in Soho.
The University of Vermont junior was a surprise national champion in the 20-kilometer mass start freestyle, winning just days after placing second in the sprint event. She also started in Canmore, but her main goal before the start of the season was to succeed at the U23 World Championships being held at the same time. Her plan seems to be working, as she has a silver medal around her neck.
“It doesn’t feel real yet. I hope that happens when I get there,” she said when asked about her thoughts on making her World Cup debut in her home country. “Being in America definitely doubles the excitement. It gives me a lot of confidence in what I’m doing in the offseason.”
Brewster said her growth was linear from her freshman year to her sophomore year, but she felt like she took a “huge leap” this year.
“It’s exciting, but it’s also a little bit nerve-wracking to think about whether or not we’ll be able to continue doing it for many years to come,” she said. “I guess you really didn’t expect to be here this year.”
Part of her mental, physiological and technical improvement was during the offseason spent at the Mansfield Nordic Club University summer program under the guidance of Adam Terko and University Assistant Coach Brandon Harhusky. I think it’s thanks to that. She also spent time in the weight room watching movies to correct her “unstable knees,” which caused her to pronate with every step. The emphasis is on removing psychological pressure, and remembering the competition is a privilege.
“I think this definitely helps me ski faster,” she said. “When you realize it’s not something you have to do, it’s something you have to do.”
Have breakfast with Eric Varnes and fangirl about Frida Karlsson
“It’s just crazy,” Hotsma said by phone this week from the Coast Hotel, where teams from the United States, Norway, Sweden and Germany are staying. The relatively short skier got a close look at World Cup sprint champion Eric Varnes that morning at the breakfast buffet and was amazed at his size.
“I look around and I’m like, ‘That’s Paul Golberg, that’s William Poloma, that’s Frida Karlsson,'” he continued, adding that unlike him, he’s been playing on P-TEX boards since college. It knocked out Scandinavian stars. Diapers.
“I’ve been watching you guys on TV, I’ve been studying your techniques, and now I’m standing in line to buy lunch with you.”
When Houtuma was curled up on his couch watching the World Cup on TV as a college student, he never thought he would one day compete against the best players on the planet.
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“I was just watching because I’m a fan,” he said. “I would never sit in the car next to Lewis Hamilton, just like someone would watch a Formula 1 race.”
Weiland said Brewster also has a “reserved” side.
“If you asked her when she won the junior nationals when she was an U16, she would never say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to the World Cup,'” he said.
But there was a breakthrough moment. 2018 Olympic hero Kikkan Randall was a high school student skating with Brewster’s SSCV team at Maroit Park, shortly after teaming up with Jesse Diggins to win the country’s first gold medal in the sport at the PyeongChang Olympics. did.
“I think it was a bit of idolization, but at the same time, I was like, ‘She’s doing a lot of amazing things, and I want to be able to do those things, too,'” Brewster said.
Brewster is excited for Minneapolis because he will be able to team up again with Ben Ogden, the mustachioed Vermont Catamount graduate who has been tearing up the World Cup sprint scene for the past two years. She’s also excited to ski alongside athletes she’s only seen on TV before.
“Sure, I’ll probably still fangirl a little bit,” she said.
What is her main purpose?
“That’s a good question,” she replied. “Well, I guess it’s mainly for fun.”
Like Randall, she will have the opportunity to inspire American fans who have been hungry for a World Cup since the test event at the 2001 Utah Olympics. Brewster’s message to her next generation is to surround herself with good teammates and “don’t compare.” She gives herself to others. ”
“Your progress is your own and you don’t have to look a certain way to get where you want to be,” she said.
Despite the many differences between Hautsuma and Brewster, one striking similarity is their basic message.
“There’s more than one path,” Hotsma said.
Houtuma, who has not competed internationally other than a brief trial run in the OPA Cup last winter, will don the red, white and blue spandex on the biggest stage for the first time. Weyland said this was no easy feat considering the country’s development model.
“He’s an example of how you can get by in the current system,” he said. “It’s like the American Dream: If you work hard, you can achieve all your goals. It’s something everyone wants to do, but very few people stick around long enough to actually do it.” .”
Sylven Ellefson and Hayley Brewster are the only two born and bred SSCV skiers to qualify for a World Cup starting spot. Weiland noted that Noah Hoffman and Chris Freeman also competed for the club but were unable to complete the program.
During a recent Future Stars practice, head coach Eric Pepper gathered his players in a circle and talked about the recent international exploits of Brewster and Rose Horning, who had just returned from the Youth Olympics in South Korea. Weiland was standing on the trail, within earshot of the crowd, with his skis clipped on.
“Eric explained it very well,” Weiland said.
“He said, ‘They started out just like you.'”
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