U.S. Ski Team’s Cooper Puckett closes out national championships in Vail with slalom title

Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail aren’t exactly Yankees-Red Sox, but there’s still a little on-snow rivalry.

“I think it was like that when we were younger,” Cooper Puckett said after winning the slalom national title at Golden Peak on Tuesday. “It used to be a rivalry for sure, but now it’s all love.”

Puckett and fellow SSWSC alumni Jett Seymour went 1-2 — on enemy soil — to close out the fourth and final day of the U.S. Alpine National Championships.

“You know, coming from Steamboat, I’ve never liked Vail, but I do enjoy being in Colorado,” Seymour added with a smile. The 27-year-old World Cup regular was a tenth behind Puckett after the first run but finished 0.62 seconds back in the end. Jevin Palmquist — another Colorado skier from Team Summit — rounded out the podium in third.

“It’s fun to bring all the best in America together and duke it out for the national title,” said Seymour, who won the slalom title in 2022 and 2023. “Glad to see some of these younger guys, they’re starting to put some heat on Ben (Ritchie), Luke (Winters) and I.”

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Winters claimed the crown in 2024 while last year’s champion, Ritchie, was not in the field. That opened the door for Puckett, who said this winter has been tough at times.

“I came into the season so ready,” said Puckett, who scored World Cup points in his slalom debut on Nov. 16 in Levi, Finland. From there, he said it was a “journey to fight for starts the rest of the season.”

“It was looking like I was in the running for the Olympics, and then the team just had such tough results that we ended up losing two spots, so I didn’t get to go,” Puckett — whose dad and uncle were both Olympians — continued. “I didn’t make it; I didn’t ski well enough, but it was challenging. It just feels amazing to end it this way.”

While he was just 13th after the first split, Puckett found his groove on the lower part of Main Arena. When he saw the green light across the line, he raised his hands in celebration.

“I’ve had plenty of times where I was in that position in NorAms or World Juniors where it didn’t work out and that’s the sport,” the 23-year-old said. “So, when it does work out and you put together two good runs — it’s such a brutal sport — that when you do that, it’s really special.”

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail’s Alex Krupka posted the second-best second run of the day, moving up 10 spots to finish in 17th. Teammate Carson Hume was 19th.

“I haven’t skied much slalom this season and not sure how much I’ll do it next year, so, just came out here today with an attitude of trying to have the most fun I can,” Krupka said. “When I knew I was going to be having a pretty clean course (on the) second run, I just sent it as hard as I could, smile on my face — just happy to be here.”

Krupka, who turned 20 on Monday, placed 13th in the super-G, sixth in the team combined and 11th in the team parallel at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships earlier this month in Norway.

“I had some good turns there. Didn’t really put down any full runs of what I wanted, but it was a great experience and (I’m) hoping to be back there next year,” he said. Another goal is to make the U.S. Ski Team ‘C’ team; he said he’ll find out if he’s made the cut when the FIS base list comes out on April 5. Krupka was happy to compete on home soil on Tuesday, but — like Puckett — found himself in a rivalry race: his older brother, Jimmy Krupka, was also in the field.

“It’s pretty sweet,” Alex Krupka said. “I mean, getting out here and competing with your sibling — you’ve got to give it your all of course. And then the trash talk comes later at night.”