Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club skier Jeremy Nolting is one of the top U18 Alpine skiers in the country. 

Traveling with 12 other SSWSC skiers, Nolting competed in the 2023 U18 Alpine National Championships at Mittersill Resort in New Hampshire, earning second overall in the competition after a series of races from March 11 to March 14. 

“It was a new place for me so it was really exciting to test new boundaries at new venues and new experiences,” Nolting said. “I would say I skied more consistent versus super fast. I never had one race where I did especially well, I just finished all the races in a good place.”

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Nolting began nationals on March 11 with his best result, a second-place finish in the downhill race where he had a combined time of 1 minute, 52.49 seconds between his two runs. He edged out the third-place skier by just one hundredth of a second. 

The following day, Nolting took fourth in the super G, less than half a second behind the top racer, and he came in 10th on March 13 in giant slalom. 

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To close out the week, Nolting was faced with his favorite race of them all, slalom. He was looking forward to the race all season but despite it being his best discipline, he had barely practiced in slalom for the month leading up to Nationals because of traveling so much. 

“I hadn’t trained a single day of slalom in the month leading up to that race,” Nolting said. “I had raced two slalom races, so I had been on my slalom skis two days over the last month.”

Regardless, Nolting felt at home on his slalom skis and took fourth in the slalom race on March 14, to solidify his second-place overall finish at the U18 National Championships. He said the week prior to Nationals was “demoralizing” because he skied poorly in preparation for the event. 

“I was just hoping I could find my groove again and do as well as I could have,” Nolting said. “I think I definitely skied well, not quite as well as I could have, but definitely got some confidence back, especially in the later events.”

While the East Coast mountains are typically icy and more firm, Mittersill saw nearly 40 inches of snowfall in the weekend prior to nationals and was hit by a storm just days before. 

SSWSC Alpine coach Chad Fleischer said the weather made it feel more like Steamboat which played to his athletes’ advantage. 

“U18s were great races with good snow and weather conditions,” Fleischer said. “Our guys skied really well but I do believe we tried to use a bit more muscle versus feel given the East Coast conditions.”

Steamboat’s other top competitor, Roman Elvidge, took fifth overall in the competition, which included a third-place finish in super G. 

Nolting, Elvidge and others placed so well at nationals that the Rocky/Central team won the overall Regions Cup through its top placings across all disciplines. 

Nolting will soon compete at the U.S. Alpine National Championships starting April 1 at Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. 

Fleischer loved what he saw from his athletes at U18 Nationals and is excited to close out the season over these next few weeks. He thinks the best is yet to come for his athletes and the Alpine program as a whole.

“Our guys are skiing really well and I look forward to closing out this final month of racing,” Fleischer said. “The incredible hard work, determination to be fast and positive team environment is working and we are going to continue to learn, push hard and be ready for what lies ahead.”