Ski and Snowboard Club Vail U16 Alpine skier goes up against top European talent at FESA Games
SSCV/Courtesy photo
Mari Renick tested herself against some of the best European U16 Alpine skiers at the Federation of European Ski & Snowboard Associations (FESA) Games in Les Menuires, France, earlier this month. The Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skier came back with some hardware, too.
Renick earned the silver medal in the super-G on March 6, ripping down the 423-meter Les 4 Vents slope in 1 minute, 10.52 seconds. Burke Academy skier Katie Rowekamp, who would also take gold in the slalom, won the event in 1:09.86 as Germany’s Greta Sachsenroder (1:10.72) rounded out the podium.
“I was very proud of Mari as a coach,” stated Lisa Perricone, SSCV U16 Alpine coach. “She took on the stressors of such a big event and believed in herself enough to perform against the world. Hopefully this is just a glimpse of what is yet to come for her.”
While Renick posted a DNF in the slalom on March 7, she came back from what Perricone described as a “major mistake” in the GS the following day to finish fifth overall in the 45-skier field.
The eight-person American squad sent to the FESA Games qualified at the National Performance Series races in Burke, Vermont, in January. In 2024, Jackson Leever, William Erickson and Lara Huml all represented SSCV at the event, which is considered to be a critical component to the national development program. In fact, Edwards skier River Radamus’ ARCO Foundation, along with World Cup Dreams Foundation, generously helped to fund athlete costs for the project.
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“The goal of FESA Cup is exposure for our best U16 athletes (from across the nation) for Alpine,” Perricone explained. “It gives them a gauge of where they stack up against the world and realistic goals moving forward. This is a prized event we send our best youth to in (the) USA. It’s an honor just to make the event, let alone perform at it.”
Participating nations included Andorra, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United States. In addition to Rowekamp’s golds, Charles Lemerond claimed a slalom gold and giant slalom bronze and Kira Hiebert brought back a bronze in slalom as well for the U.S.
“The Americans really stepped up at this event,” Perricone said before adding that Renick was “a major contributor to the success of Team USA.”
U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s director of Alpine development, Chip Knight, called the team a “very promising group of U16 athletes.”
“And they produced outstanding race results against top-level age group competition from across central Europe,” Knight stated in a press release. “It was impressive to see them rise to the occasion. I’m looking forward to seeing them continue to develop in the years ahead.”
