U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s A.J. Hurt wins slalom title at U.S. Alpine Championships in Vail

The snow snakes were out in full force at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Vail on Tuesday, but they couldn’t quite take out A.J. Hurt.

“She’s the queen of ruts,” U.S. Ski Team tech coach Zan Spillar aptly noted after Hurt claimed her fourth national title in the final event of the four-day competition.

“It feels good,” Hurt said. “Honestly, the snow felt better than I thought it would. I was expecting it to be pretty beat up.”

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The 2022 Olympian — who was second in Monday’s GS — held on at the bottom of the Golden Peak course, narrowly avoiding disaster on the final few gates. Even though Hurt called the course “grooved,” the 24-year-old admitted her acrobatic maneuvers on the final turns couldn’t completely be blamed on the surface.

“Towards the bottom, I think that was on me,” she said. “I see the finish and I get a little too loose sometimes.”

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After putting 1.34 seconds on Hurt in the first run, fellow World Cup regular Katie Hensien wound up with silver, 0.05 seconds off her teammates’ two-run total time of 1 minute 37.48 seconds. There was a big gap to Sweden’s Sara Rask (1:39.73) in third as Mia Hunt rounded out the domestic podium in 1:39.88. Nina O’Brien, who was second heading into the final, was another victim of the rough stuff up top.

“I was going for it. I straddled the gate in one of the hairpins, which unfortunately can happen,” O’Brien said. “I think all things considered — how much it snowed this morning — it was actually not so bad. I think they did a really awesome job on the hill prep.”

While O’Brien didn’t attend Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, her two younger brothers did and she and her family lived in Cordillera in Edwards for a stint. The current Denver resident enjoyed her time in Vail.

“Starting with the parade and the signing, you could feel there was a lot of really great energy,” she said.

O’Brien finished a career-best 11th in the GS World Cup standings and was part of the fourth-place team finish at worlds in Saalbach, Austria, in February. As one of the bigger names to boot up for nationals, O’Brien said part of her motivation to extending her season is being with the entire U.S. Ski Team in one place.

“Also to get to know some of the younger club kids who are going to be our future teammates,” she added. “For sure I’m exhausted — it’s been a long season — but I guess now it’s over and this is a nice way to end it.”

Leading the local angle after run No. 1 were Liv, Kjersti and Solveig Moritz. The sisters sat in fourth, 11th and 23rd, respectively, but unfortunately all ended up skiing out in their second attempts. Fellow Gore Ranger alumnae Emma Resnick was the top Vail-area finisher. The Dartmouth skier placed ninth but was mostly thrilled about making it to the end of a season unscathed for the first time in four years.

“It feels so awesome to be here, to be strong in my body and in my mind and just put down some solid turns for my family and friends,” said Resnick, who suffered three leg injuries in three successive seasons, the last of which came on Jan. 2, 2024.

“It was definitely a combination of sending it and continuing to trust the surface,” she said of the approach to run No. 2. “When there’s so much snow on the ground, new weather coming in, it’s changing — people were kind of hesitant about what it’s going to feel like. But it honestly worked pretty well. Main Arena is such a fun slalom.”

After finishing 18th in Monday’s GS, Resnick said she’s had a blast on her home hill this week.

“I’m shocked there hasn’t been a U.S. nationals here and they did such a good job,” the 21-year-old said. “The expansion is great, it really makes for a long GS, which is a challenge in a different way.”

Current SSCV skiers Katie McDonald and Anabelle Zurbay impressed in 25th and 26th, respectively. Zurbay was wearing the Irish colors in the race.

“My Grandma was born and raised in Ireland and I was able to get my passport,” said the 16-year-old, who finished seventh in the super-G at the U18 national championships in Aspen last month. Zurbay said her goal is to represent the county at an international event — maybe even the Olympics.

“We’ll see,” she said. “Hopefully World Juniors at least.”