Deer Valley has been announced as an official training site for U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Freestyle team through 2022.
The renewed partnership between the ski resort and the Olympic National Governing Body of ski and snowboard sports for the US was announced Monday just about a month after the FIS World Championships rolled through Park City.
US Ski & Snowboard Director of Communications Tom Webb said the organization is delighted to renew their partnership with Deer Valley.
“It’s one of our official training sites and it’s specifically for our freestyle athletes," Webb explained. "That means that our athletes get to train on Deer Valley’s world class moguls and aerial sites through preparations for the next winter Olympic games in Beijing, China in 2022. Deer Valley for us is an incredibly important partner. We just saw a few short weeks ago the crowd numbers and the excitement and passion for freestyle skiing during the world championships events that we held there culminating in that amazing Saturday night of dual moguls that we saw. For our freestyle athletes to know that they can train in these world class facilities for years to come is a really important part of the training jigsaw that we put together to make sure that we give them the best chance of being best in the world. We’ve had a long partnership with Deer Valley. It really is the number one stop on the freestyle world cup circuit and his been so since 1999 when we first started running events there.”
Although US Ski & Snowboard could look at other venues in the US and even internationally, Webb says that’s unlikely.
“There’s absolutely no reason why we would ever want to move away from that sort of agreement," Webb said. "It’s an incredibly important part of the mix. Again, just looking back to the world championships events a few weeks ago and looking ahead to the world cup that we’ll be staging there in the next season. It’s really one of the highlights of the programs the domestic events we put on every year. There’s a hugely loyal passionate and knowledgeable crowd and it’s just an amazing venue. Both for the mogulists and the aerialists to know that they can train and compete on such incredibly good world class venues right here in Park City that’s a huge part of what helps make them some of the best athletes in the world. We’re very very pleased that we can extend this partnership again.”
Deer Valley’s Senior Communications Manager Emily Summers says that the resort is also pleased to extend the partnership.
“Just another step, another chapter in Deer Valley’s legacy as being this freestyle competition Mecca," Summers continued. "Most people know us as hosting over 20 years of world cups, being an Olympic venue, having now three world championships. We’re working with the mogul and aerial team throughout the winter and with the proximity to the center of excellence we’re thrilled to be able to help them train throughout the season.”
Both parties feel the partnership is mutually beneficial.
“Also, it’s really fun for our guests to be able see aspiring Olympians, past Olympians, people maybe they’ve been watching right here on the slopes practicing while they’re here enjoying their ski day," Summers explained. "It’s just a really nice way to extend our commitment to the sport of freestyle.”
