Kimberley’s Molly Miller is a mature young lady and a serious athlete. At age 15, she recognizes the physical and emotional toll of high level competition, she knows when she’s at peak performance, and also when qualifying is an achievement.
This past week she has been competing at the U.S. Nationals at Soldier Hollow near Salt Lake City, the 2002 Olympic venue. Placing high at the U.S. Nationals would mean qualifying for the Word Junior Championships as part of the Canadian team.
Molly actually qualified for the World Juniors last year in Thunder Bay at the Canadian World Junior Trials, but at 14 was too young to compete against the U20 field. This year, in order to make the team, Molly would have to be placed top four in Canada under the age of 20.
She entered the U.S. Nationals with high hopes, but also with the knowledge that training setbacks during the past summer and fall may have an effect on her performance.
Molly left for the States on Boxing Day and spent some time in Sun Valley, Idaho for altitude training. Soldier Hollow has a base elevation of 5,463 ft (1,665 m).
In Salt Lake City, Molly had three races to determine a spot on the Canadian team for World Juniors — a 10 K skate, a 1.2 K sprint classic race and a 7l5 K classic race.
“The highlights of my racing include qualifying in the sprint race in the senior’s women division,” Molly said. “I was one of sixty racers to progress to the heats in a category of 257 racers in a senior open women category. Racing with the top skiers in the senior woman’s division from Canada and the US was a lot of fun! My most successful race was the 7.5 classic where I achieved a 18th place finish in the U20 women’s category and a 1st place finish amongst U16 skiers in a category of 150 junior women skiers. I was really proud of this result because I had a downhill crash at the 3 k mark that resulted in a broken pole. I had to work really hard to catch up from this so I was happy with my overall performance in this race.
“This year I had big dreams of qualifying for the world juniors because it would be the first year that I was old enough to qualify. The World Juniors is a U20 category so to make a spot on Canada’s team you must be top four in Canada at the trials under the age of 20. I experienced some pretty significant set backs in my training this past summer and fall so leading up to the US Nationals I had to set more realistic goals for myself. I was very happy with my performance at US Nationals and presently I feel really strong moving in to the second half of my race season. Although this was not my year to make the Canadian team to travel to the World Juniors I am very pleased for my fellow skiers who did.
“As skiers, we all know the sacrifices we each make to compete at such a high level of racing so there is a mutual respect in our sport for each other as athletes. Some of my BC Team ski members made the team this year so I am very pleased for them. As well Canada performed very well at the US Nationals overall and dominated in several races. This is very exciting for my sport and where it is headed in the future.
“For me, attending the US Nationals was a fantastic race experience. The race course is the most difficult I have ever raced so I learned a lot about racing on a challenging course. As well, any time you get to race against top skiers in your own country and others, you learn a great deal about the tactics of racing. I have taken so many valuable lessons home after racing at Soldier Hollow. I am very proud of all that I have overcome in the last six months to be ready for racing this past week.”
Kimberley residents will have a chance to catch Molly and the rest of the Kimberley Nordic team in action this weekend as the Kimberley Nordic Club hosts the Teck Kootenay Cup. Molly will be racing on Sunday and volunteering serving Gatorade to racers on Saturday. Come on up and cheer the team on.