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Vermont’s Stratton Mountain School has made 33 Olympic placements, seen more than 53 of its athletes participate in multiple Olympics and put 120 of them on the U.S. Ski Team.
Now the winter-sports academy is incorporating CrossFit into its ski-racing training.
“Ski racing is a sport where overall athleticism is really, really important, and the CrossFit fills a lot of the gaps in there,” says Mike Morin, alpine program director and head men’s coach. “So if you’re only doing basic lifting or only doing Olympic lifting or only doing plyometrics, you become a little bit too one-dimensional.”
Because CrossFit combines those movements, it helps strengthen weak areas, he adds.
Matt Prendergast, Stratton alpine postgraduate coach and the strength-and-conditioning coach, says ski racing is definitely a power sport.
“CrossFit fits extremely well for it,” says Prendergast, who co-owns CrossFit Wachusett in Fitchburg, Mass. “We do a ton of Olympic lifting.”
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Additional reading: Perception by Eva Twardokens, published March 1, 2007.
