Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skier claims historic World Championship medal
Haley Brewster became the sixth American to win a cross-country ski medal at the U23 world championships
Borut Živulović/BOBO
Prior to arriving in Planica, Slovenia for the U23 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships, Haley Brewster all but assured herself of a starting bib at the NCAA championships this March in Steamboat Springs by winning four straight Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association carnival races.
But the University of Vermont junior demonstrated her humility when asked about the prospect of representing the Catamounts in Colorado.
“Definitely depends how fast the rest of the team is, because you can only take three,” she said.
“That’s the cool part. She’s so unassuming,” Dan Weiland said of his former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athlete.
“She has no idea. She’s literally won four races in a row, a national championship in the 20k — it’s like ‘Haley, you’re the girl.'”
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After Thursday’s U23 20-kilometer freestyle mass start, there’s no denying that Brewster has officially arrived as not only one of the best young cross-country ski prospects in the U.S., but perhaps the world.
The former Vail athlete claimed a historic silver medal, finishing just 1.3 seconds behind Switzerland’s Marina Kaelin after a sunny ski around the courses which also hosted last winter’s senior world championships.
Wearing bib 30, Brewster was content to hang in the pack during the first half of the race. She was in 22nd after the first lap and only 20th at the 4.6-kilometer checkpoint.
Norway’s bright superstar Margrethe Bergane — who already has 30 World Cup starts to her name and finished sixth overall at the famous Holmenkollen 50-kilometer skate last March — set the pace for most of the race. She was flanked by three-time NCAA champion and 2022 U.S. Olympian Novie McCabe and several other young women with senior-level international experience on their resumes.
Fifteen minutes into the race, the peloton stretched out, giving Brewster opportunities to gradually move up. The 20-year-old employed smooth V2 uphill skiing, relaxed tucks down the icy technical s-turns and efficient movement patterns over the working flats to slide into the lead group of 10 which had separated by the halfway point. Those contenders were whittled down to eight by the end of the next 3.3-kilometer lap.
Bergane couldn’t shake anyone but looked strong at the front with a lap to go. Then, with two kilometers remaining, McCabe hammered the last steep climb. Eventual bronze medalist Maelle Veyre of France followed, as did Kaelin. Brewster tracked everything as the group of four peeled away from the field.
Veyre found herself in front on the ensuing downhill, with Brewster in her slipstream. Coming into the stadium, the American moved into her own lane and took the lead. The FIS TV announcer noted that the Vail kid’s name hadn’t been said all day.
“But everyone is talking about her now,” he said on the broadcast.
Kaelin had an extra punch on the final finishing riser, but Brewster held on for the silver medal. It’s the sixth U23 individual medal ever earned by the U.S. since the age U23 classification was added to the world junior program in 2006.
Olympic gold medalist and crystal globe winner Jessie Diggins took a sprint silver in 2014. Julia Kern (bronze, 2021) and Laura Valaas (silver, 2007) also won sprint medals. Other than Brewster, only Liz Stephen (bronze, 2008) and Noah Hoffman (silver, 2012) have ever won individual distance medals at the U23 championships.
