Nina O'Brien and Drew Duffy were selected by the North American Snowsports Journalists Association - East Region (NASJA-East) as this year's winners of the Don A. Metivier Golden Ski Award. The award is given to the most promising male and female junior alpine racers in the eastern U.S. Nina O'Brien skis out of Vermont's Burke Mountain Academy and Drew Duffy, from Warren, competes out of Green Mountain Valley School. The awards will be presented at the New England Ski Museum's annual spring reception on Friday, June 12, from 5 to 7 p.m., in Franconia, New Hampshire.
Duffy started out the 2014-2015 season roughly, with a number of DNFs, as skiing on the edge can do. He finished ninth in the super G in December at the NORAM's in Panorama, British Columbia, and 16th in the super G at Hafjell, Norway, in the World Junior Championships. Then things started to come together for him. He won the U.S. Alpine National super G Championship in March at Sugarloaf, Maine, from starting position 30 and followed that up in April with fifth in the super G at Sunday River, Maine. He then placed first in the super G and second in downhill at FIS competition in Aspen, Colorado.
The Golden Ski Award has been presented to the top junior male and female skiers in the East since 1969, the year after the modern World Cup circuit scoring system started. Many of the Golden Ski winners have gone on to World Cup and Olympic fame. In 1975, the actual Golden Ski trophy was "lost." In 2007, the New England Ski Museum was given some artifacts and in that donation was the original Golden Ski Award. Eastern Ski Writers Association revitalized the honor and named it in memory of longtime snow sports journalist Don A. Metivier, former editor of Ski Racing Magazine.
"The Golden Ski Award is the oldest honor given to junior alpine ski racers that exists today," says Jim Gregory, chair of the NASJA-East Golden Ski Award Committee. "We are proud this year to honor Nina O'Brien and Drew Duffy, two extraordinary athletes, and we look forward to watching them pursue their goals and set the bar even higher in the sport we all love so much."
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