Sophomore student Claire Alexander competed at the 2014 Nature Valley NASTAR National Championship Ski Races in Aspen, Colorado where she ended up winning up the gold medal.  She trained with former US Olympian Chad Fleischer before the race.

“It felt very overwhelming to win because I had no idea it was going to happen,” Claire said. “It was very exciting to walk up on the stage and have the Olympians [Steven Nyman, Stacey Cook, and Heidi Voelker] put the medal around my neck.”

Claire has been skiing since the age of four, and it all started with her and her family visiting their condo in Steamboat Springs, Colorado over the holidays.

“I saw a national race and from then on I knew I wanted to do that,” Claire said. “There was a qualifying race, and I competed. Then I got a letter in the mail saying that I’d qualified for the championship.”

After she had qualified, Claire trained for two days with former U.S. Olympian Chad Fleischer. Chad owns a ski shop in Steamboat Springs, and Claire met him while buying some equipment there.

“We started talking, and then he asked me if I wanted to train with him,” Claire said. “He taught me a lot of things that I hadn’t known before.”

Claire trained twice with the Olympian, and came out from the final race with her best time yet: 25.43 seconds. After all of her fastest times were averaged, Claire was able to beat out fellow racers and win the gold.

“I think the whole experience has bonded my family a lot,” Claire said. “What started out as normal family vacations turned out to be great ski competition opportunities as well.”