Athletes With NH Ties Bound for Olympics

New Hampshire is rich in Olympic history. The 2010 winter games will add to this history with a large number of snowsports athletes with NH ties heading to Vancouver. Competitors from New Hampshire or that have trained extensively here will be competing in downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, freestyle skiing and freestyle snowboarding disciplines.

Three downhill ski racers with ties to New Hampshire will be heading north of the border to Vancouver. Leanne Smith of Conway, NH, who calls Cranmore her home mountain, is making her first Olympic appearance. She competes primarily in Super G and Downhill and has had a very successful winter thus far with several top 30 finishes on the World Cup circuit and a Europa Cup win. Bode Miller of Franconia, NH who grew up on the slopes of Cannon Mountain, has the most World Cup wins of any U.S. male in history and will be competing in his fourth Winter Games. Bode has won two World Cup overall titles, and two silver medals in the 2002 Olympic Games; he plans to compete in all five alpine disciplines at these Games. Jimmy Cochran calls Keene, NH home and is making his second Olympic appearance. Competing primarily in slalom and giant slalom, Jimmy has had consistent top thirty World Cup results this season.

Kris Freeman of Andover, NH, who often trains at Waterville Valley, will be competing in his third Winter Olympics in cross country skiing. Kris has had a very successful career including a recent 4th place finish on the World Cup circuit which is the best finish by a U.S. racer in 26 years in a non-sprint Nordic race. Kris was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2000 and has been able to continue to compete at a World Cup level since that time. Nick Alexander of Lebanon, NH will be competing in his first Games in Nordic jumping.

Dylan Ferguson, who trained extensively at Waterville Valley, will be competing in freestyle aerials. Dylan has progressed rapidly in recent competitions, including sixth and seventh place finishes at World Cup events in 2010.

Michelle Gorgone is a graduate of the Waterville Valley snowboarding program and will be competing in alpine snowboarding. Michelle competed in the 2006 Games and has several podium finishes on the World Cup circuit in parallel giant slalom. Scotty Lago of Seabroook, NH is competing in halfpipe. He grew up on the slopes and terrain parks at Loon Mountain and Waterville Valley. Scotty is a consistent podium threat in top tier freestyle competitions and is a strong medal contender.

Hannah Kearney is a mogul skier who trained on the slopes of Waterville Valley. It will be her second Olympics and she has two wins on the World Cup circuit this season. She has had success for many years on the World Cup circuit, including a gold medal at the 2005 World Championships.

Two of the top adaptive ski racers in the world hail from New Hampshire. Tyler Walker of Franconia and Chris Devlin-Young of Campton are both World Cup Champions. Chris will be competing in his fifth Paralympics with two gold medals already in his possession as well as numerous other Paralympic, World Championship and World Cup medals. Tyler, who grew up skiing at Cannon Mountain, is the defending Downhill World Cup Champion, two-time defending X-Games gold medalist and will be competing in his second Paralympic Games.

New Hampshire ski resorts pride themselves on supporting athletes like these as they progress to Olympic caliber competitions. The Friends of New Hampshire Skiing grant program is funded by New Hampshire's ski resorts and has donated well over $500,000 since its inception in 1978. Of this year's New Hampshire competitors bound for the Olympic games, five have received grants from this program.