MEN Simi Hamilton
U.S. NORDIC SKIER OF THE YEAR
Simi Hamilton, an Aspen native and Middlebury alumnus, may have
a ridden a rollercoaster of a season, but he certainly walked away
satisfied at the end of the winter. He struggled with illness early on and
had to sit out two consecutive weekends in Kuusamo and Dusseldorf.
Then he stormed back in the freestyle sprint in Rogla to post the
seventh-fastest qualifier and score his first semi-final appearance
on skiing’s biggest stage. He finished 100th, a career best. The midseason doldrums saw him finish excruciatingly close to the rounds
in a handful of sprints before Hamilton finally got his groove back to
post back-to-back bests in his weaker discipline: classic sprinting. In
Lahti, Finland, he took 11th and just three days later finished seventh
in Drammen, Norway, for a career best in arguably the deepest World
Cup sprint field of the entire season. While still developing on the
distance side, Hamilton has podium potential if the current trends
continue. Look for Hamilton to move up to the “A” Team next season.
