QUICK LOOK:

Birth date: 8/26/81
Hometown: Bellevue, Washington
Home Ski Area: Crystal Mountain, Wash.
School: Dartmouth College
Years on U.S. Ski Team: 10
Sponsors: Xbox, Little Hotties, Crystal Mountain Founder's Club
Equipment: Volkl, Tecnica, Marker, Leki, POC

GO TO FULL BIOGRAPHY

Early Start (go to)

• Began skiing at 2 years old; was racing by age 6 for Crystal Mountain Alpine Club
• Won three Junior Olympic titles before being named to the U.S. Ski Team at age 16

Always Active (go to)

• Did many sports growing up-gymnastics, soccer, softball, diving, dance, track, swimming-in addition to skiing
• Selected for All-Conference teams all three years she played High School soccer as a midfielder (Also played on a Premier-1 club soccer team for 7 years)
• Co-held the State record for girls pole vault and won the first girls pole vault Washington State title*

Hitting the Books (go to)

• Graduated from Interlake High School first in her class
• Attends Dartmouth College every Spring quarter and is majoring in Philosophy modified with eastern religion

Setbacks (go to)

• December 1998-blown out right knee while racing Giant Slalom in Italy
• January 2001-blown out left knee while racing Super G in France
• March 2005-diagnosed with arthritis and a condryl defect. Underwent arthroscopic knee surgery
• April 2007- Microfracture surgery on right femoral condyle
  

Comebacks (go to)

• Started the '02-'03 season by scoring her first World Cup points in a Super G
• Soon thereafter became a full-time competitor on the World Cup circuit, scoring top 30's and top 20's in almost every race
• Was a member of the 2003 World Championships team, was the 2004 National Giant Slalom Champion, and is a current member of the A Team

Olympics (go to)

• Overcame a major knee injury to fulfill her dream and compete in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games where she placed 28th
  
• Finished the same 2006 season ranked 10^th in the World in Super G and vowed to compete in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, BC

Down-time (go to)

• Lives with her brother in Bellevue, Washington and is in the process of buying a condo in Seattle, her favorite city in the world.
• Loves surfing, wakeboarding, mountain and road biking, hiking, playing squash, doing yoga, writing, and hanging out with her friends and family.

FULL BIOGRAPHY:

Early Start
From the time Libby could walk, she was always at her brother's heels. Everything her two older brothers did, she had to do too. Constantly chasing after two active boys, Libby quickly developed a passion for athletics, along with the courage and insistence to always "go big." She became addicted to the exhilaration of speed at a very young age and has been fueled by it ever since.

Libby's parents began teaching her how to ski when she was two-years old. By the age of six, she started racing for Crystal Mountain Alpine Club and spent most of her weekends ripping around Crystal Mountain. CMAC's laid-back approach to skiing and ski racing helped Libby to cultivate a deep love for skiing as a sport. She spent a great deal of her younger years free-skiing and exploring Crystal's vast terrain and backcountry.

After winning three Junior Olympic titles, (Super G at age 13; GS and Overall at 14) Libby's skiing began taking her farther from home. She started competing nationally in FIS level races when she was fifteen. She posted competitive Nor-Am results early in her FIS career, and was invited to travel in Europe with the U.S. Ski Team when she was sixteen. Later that same year, the Spring of her Sophomore year in high school, Libby was named to the U.S. Ski Team.

Always Active
Libby enjoyed a variety of sports throughout her childhood. Juggling her time between gymnastics, soccer, softball, diving, dance, track, and swimming-on top of skiing-Libby kept in constant motion. Although demanding, she loved having a busy schedule. The challenge of the different activities obviously helped her to develop athleticism at a young age, but perhaps more importantly, they helped contribute to the self-discipline and commitment that continues to drive Libby toward her goals today.

When Libby was eleven, she was selected for a premier level club soccer team. She continued to play as a midfielder for the same team for the next seven years, routinely finishing as one of the top three P-1 teams in the state. Once Libby entered Interlake High School, she began to play for their varsity soccer team as well. Between the two teams, she was playing soccer seven days per week, even during her first few years on the national ski team. She was selected for the All-Conference second-team both her freshman and her sophomore year in high school, and was an All-Conference first-team selection her junior year. Injury prevented Libby from competing for her high school soccer team her senior year.

After playing softball for many years, Libby was ready to try something new during the Spring sports season. So, her freshman year of high school she began pole vaulting. At the time, pole vault was not an official event for girls so Libby competed against the boys. Even though she got 10^th place at the Conference meet in boys pole vault that year, her points did not count toward Interlake's score because she was a girl.

Libby helped pave the way for girl's pole vault in Washington State as it slowly became a recognized event. During her sophomore year, *girls pole vault was an exhibition event (meaning it was contested, but it did not count toward team scores.) That year, Libby won the Conference meet, and later went on to win the very first Washington State girls pole vault Championship. After injury prevented Libby from participating her junior year, she returned to compete her senior year when girls pole vault finally became a sanctioned event. She won both the Conference and District titles, in addition to earning second place in the State Championship. Libby co-held the 3A Washington State girls pole vault record of 11' throughout her high school career.

Although Libby always looked forward to playing soccer and possibly pole vaulting in college, she has been forced to set aside those goals in order to accommodate the demands of skiing for the U.S. Ski Team. She is glad, however, that-because the nature of ski racing rewards adaptable athletes- through her training she still gets to enjoy a range of cross-training activities and sports.

Hitting the Books
Unlike most upper-level American ski racers, Libby did not attend a ski academy. Instead, she battled through public school. She attended Interlake High School in Bellevue and took classes part-time at the local community college. During the winter, her absences were frequent and many. Libby would often teach herself with her textbooks on the road and take exams when she returned home. Despite her demanding schedule, Libby's high school experience was a comprehensive one. She graduated at the top of her class with a 4.0 grade point average.

Upon her graduation in June of 2000, Libby was admitted to Dartmouth College. She deferred admission for a year and a half, after which she persuaded the college to make an exception to their Fall enrollment policy by allowing her to matriculate in the Spring of 2002. Libby was the first and only member of the '06 class on campus that Spring. She learned the ropes on her own and found the diversion of attending college to be welcome one.

Going from high intensity athletics to high intensity academics, Libby races off to school in Hanover, New Hampshire every March after U.S. Nationals. Libby says that even though her time at the Nation's fourth-ranked college is strenuous and absorbs her only time off, just being "normal" for ten weeks out of every year is a refreshing break from the ski racing lifestyle. Although the progress is slow--only attending one quarter per year--she figures that making any kind of progress toward a degree will be helpful when she finally does decide to trade in the skis for books. Libby currently has a 3.71 grade point average and will major in Philosophy modified with Eastern Religion.

Setbacks
On December 15^th, barely into her first season on the U.S. Ski Team, Libby blew out her right knee during a European Cup Giant Slalom race in Italy. A couple weeks later Seattle surgeon Dr. Hormel reconstructed her ACL and repaired severe medial and lateral meniscus damage. After the surgery, she rehabilitated at Olympic Physical Therapy in Seattle and attended Interlake high school for the remainder of her junior year. Libby started skiing again in June at Mt. Hood, Oregon.

Libby was just gaining momentum again when-just over two years after her first knee injury-Libby blew out her other knee in a European Cup Super G race in France on January 11^th, 2001. The visibility was poor, and after Libby's crash running number three, the race organizers to decided to cancel the race. Shortly following the injury, Libby had her left ACL reconstructed and had mild medial meniscus damage repaired. She spent the first three months doing rehab in Seattle and working at an espresso bar. Libby then moved to Park City, Utah where she lived and trained for the next six months. She was on snow again by June of that year.

Comebacks
As Libby worked her way back from her injuries, she was faced with the difficulty of catching up to the progress her peers and competitors had made while she was hurt. She claims that it wasn't for a solid two years before she was truly "back" from her injuries, both mentally and physically. The time Libby spent sidelined by her knee injuries had slowed her down, but it certainly didn't keep her down. After paying her dues on the C Team and European Cup circuit for four years, she finally started to get things going.

In November of 2002 Libby raced in a World Cup Super G in Aspen, Colorado. She placed 29^th, scoring her very first World Cup points. Her results took off from there, soon scoring her first two top-30 results in World Cup Downhill (Lake Louise, Alberta,) and an 18^th in Super G (Val D' Isere, France.) Libby continued to consistently score top-30 finishes and became a regular on the World Cup circuit. That same season, Libby was delighted to compete at the 2003 World Championships. She placed 24^th, with her parents-watching her race in Europe for the first time-in the crowd. She finished the '02-'03 season ranked 28^th in the World in Super G. Libby was promoted to the B Team and also was awarded the Winstar World Cup Circuit's "Rookie of the Year" award.

Although she had a slow start to the '03-'04 season, in the end, Libby made it her career's best. Her 14^th place finish in Super G, and 18^th place finish in Downhill in Veysonnaz, Switzerland, kicked off a World Cup scoring spree which included her first Giant Slalom World Cup points (19^th place, Maribor, Slovenia.) A career-best finish of 11^th place in Super G in Are, Sweden sealed Libby's World ranking at 25^th, securing her position to race in World Cup Finals, as well as a spot on the A Team.

At the 2004 U.S. National Championships in Alyeska, Alaska, Libby got 3^rd in both the Downhill and the Super G. A vicious gate-whipping in the Super G, which caused her to black out for six gates and find blood seeping through the leg of her suit in the finish area, didn't deter her from attacking in the Giant Slalom race. Libby ended up winning the National GS despite the huge contusion covering her left thigh. Ecstatic to win her first U.S. title in what she considers to be the most challenging discipline, Libby thought it fitting that she overcame adversity to do it. It seems to be something she's gotten good at.

Olympics
In the Spring of 2005, after ending her season early to have surgery on the condryl defect and arthritis plaguing her right knee, Libby questioned if she would ever compete in ski racing again, let alone participate in the Olympic Games the following year. Having difficulty simply walking and fearful of the longevity of her knees in the future, Libby wondered if her lifelong goal of becoming an Olympian was still a realistic one.

Ready to commit to the process, Libby decided in late May that she was going to do anything and everything in order to realize her dream. Returning to snow in July, and taking every supplement known to support joint health, Libby submerged herself once again in the daily quest to make it to Torino. She found that by taking every possible measure to create a healthy environment for her knee, she ended up feeling more empowered and confident overall. By the time the first race of the season rolled around, Libby was the strongest and best prepared she had ever been.

In the end, the commitment and hard work paid off, because just 10 months after her surgery, Libby was named to the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team. Although she was disappointed with her 28^th place finish in the Super G, Libby walked away from her first Olympic experience with nothing less than a positive outlook. She had overcome so many obstacles in order to finally become an Olympian, and just getting a small taste of the Olympic buzz had fueled her enough to want to continue competing another four years in order to get a second shot.

Libby couldn't be more excited to have the 2010 Olympics in her "backyard" in Vancouver, BC. With her first Olympics barely under her belt, Libby is already shooting for the 2010 Games. She is confident that in her twelfth year on the U.S. Ski Team, at age 28, she will be primed and ready to go for gold in Vancouver.

Down-time
Libby spends most of her time training and competing around the world, but she always looks forward to going home to the Seattle-area. She devotedly regards the northwest as the most beautiful place in the world, and her own Crystal Mountain as the best skiing in the world.

When Libby has some rare time off from the Team and school, she lives with her brother Doug, his girlfriend Ashley, and their dog "Luna" in Bellevue, Washington. She is very close to her family and frequently goes to her parent's house on Lake Sammamish to eat her mom's food and play with their dog. Libby also likes to spend time with her oldest brother, Ben, who also lives nearby.

In addition to wakeboarding on Lake Sammamish, Libby loves to go surfing. She surfs mostly on the chilly Washington coast, but does appreciate warmer water when she can get to it. While she's home, Libby has fun supplementing her regular workout regimen with mountain and road biking, hiking, playing squash, doing yoga, doing pilates, and attending strength conditioning classes offered through a division of her physical therapy clinic. Although Libby will tackle almost any physical test, she also takes pleasure in an array of other activities. She writes prose and poetry, cooks, and loves photography and art. Spending time with her friends and family is a priority when Libby has time away from skiing.