Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumni grab back-to-back Junior World Championship team medals
Fabrice Gallina/Courtesy photo
A pair of Vail locals helped the U.S. claim back-to-back team medals at the FIS Junior World Alpine Championships in Tarvisio, Italy last weekend.
Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumnus Hunter Salani teamed up with Stanley Buzek to win bronze in the team combined on Saturday.
“After Stanley crossed the finish line I knew we had a chance to be on the podium,” said Salani, who contested the downhill leg of the two-person event. “He is a great skier and got the job done, it felt pretty amazing.”
Salani had the Americans in 13th place, 1.35 seconds off the pace, after his run. Buzek then posted the fourth-fastest slalom to bump the duo up 10 places.
“Hunter put us in a good spot on the first run,” Buzek told U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “I knew this snow would be good for me. I thought we would have a good shot and I’m super happy we made it happen.”
Support Local Journalism
The French pairing of Thomas Chaix and Jonas Skabar claimed the gold with an aggregate time of 1 minute, 39.75 seconds while Switzerland finished 0.29 seconds back for silver. Buzek and Salani were just one-hundredth of a second behind the Swiss in third.
On the women’s side, three former SSCV and Vail Mountain School skiers competed. Kjersti Moritz — who was recently named the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Rookie of the Year – raced alongside Logan Grosdidier to place seventh, the top American finish. Tatum Grosdidier and VMS alumna Kaitlin Keane placed 20th while Liv Moritz and Annika Hunt were disqualified in the first run.
On Sunday, Liv Moritz found some redemption, teaming up with Buzek, Reed Sawyer and Elisabeth Bocock to win bronze in the mixed team parallel. The U.S. took down Switzerland in the small final as France beat Sweden for gold.
“The team parallel was so much fun,” Liv Moritz stated. “I think it is my favorite event and it was a great way to kick off the tech races. I think the U.S. has the most fun at the team parallel and the most team spirit.”
The back-to-back medals caught the attention of the area’s most famous skier. Mikaela Shiffrin posted two clapping emojis in the caption of the official U.S. Ski Team’s post lauding the team parallel performance.
Kjersti and Liv Moritz placed eighth and 11th, respectively, in Wednesday’s slalom, the final women’s event on the program.
“I’m really happy with my performance today,” said Kjersti Moritz, who launched herself into fourth after the first run from bib 29. “I was super excited and surprised after my first run when I moved up. This gave me some confidence for second run and I just tried to focus on solid skiing. Overall, I’m really happy with how today went.”
“Today I had some good skiing which I am proud of but I’m overall not satisfied with the outcome because I know I can ski faster,” Liv Moritz added. “But this experience was a ton of fun and I learned a lot.”
The championships wrap up with the men’s slalom on Thursday.
SSCV alumni performances at 2025 FIS Junior World Alpine Championships
Liv Moritz
- Team Combined: DSQ1
- Team Parallel: 3rd
- Giant slalom: DNF2
- Slalom: 11th
Kjersti Moritz
- Team Combined: 7th
- Giant slalom: DNF1
- Slalom: 8th
Kaitlin Keane
- Super-G: 27th
- Team Combined: 20th
- Giant slalom: 30th
Hunter Salani
- Downhill: 8th
- Super-G: 20th
- Team Combined: 3rd
