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Parkites Alex Hall, Casey Dawson, Ashley Farquharson clinch Olympic spots

The Parkites become the latest to secure a trip to Beijing

Olympian Alex Hall flies through the air during the 2019 World Ski Championships in Park City. Hall finished in first place at the World Cup’s stop in Mammoth Mountain to secure his spot at the Olympics.
Park Record file photo

Alex Hall knew that the only thing he could do to punch his ticket to Beijing was to win. And at Sunday’s slopestyle World Cup stop at Mammoth Mountain in California, he did exactly that.

The Park City native freeskier scored a 95.5 on his last run of the day to pass Nick Goepper and steal the win. Hall will join Mac Forehand and fellow Parkite Colby Stevenson, who came in 15th, at the 2022 Olympic Games next month. He’ll be making his second Olympic appearance after his previous trip to South Korea in 2018, when he failed to qualify for the finals.

“I’m so stoked,” Hall said via FIS. “I think I’m speaking for everyone when I say I’m a little tired right now. We got on the lift at like 7:45 this morning, but we all just pushed through and made it happen. I’m just hyped to lay it down though. My body was feeling tired, so I kinda surprised myself.”



Speedskater Casey Dawson, meanwhile, became another Parkite to qualify for the Games after this weekend’s Olympic trials in Milwaukee. Dawson didn’t win an event at the Olympic trials, but he was officially named to the Olympic team as one of seven men to represent the United States. Luge athlete Ashley Farquharson also made her first Olympic team this week.

A trio of moguls skiers from Park City traveled to Mont-Tremblant, Canada, for one more World Cup event before coming home for this week’s event at Deer Valley Resort. Nick Page led the way with a seventh-place finish on Friday and a fourth-place finish on Saturday, his best of the season. Cole McDonald finished 16th on the first day and then 21st on the second. Bradley Wilson came in 30th and 24th, respectively.



The current overall moguls World Cup standings place Page in ninth, McDonald in 10th and Wilson in 14th. On the women’s side, Madison Hogg came in 28th on both days.

In cross-country skiing, Rosie Brennan captured this year’s national championship at Soldier Hollow in the women’s 20K freestyle mass start on Jan. 4. Brennan won the race by a minute and 20 seconds, while Park City’s Sydney Palmer-Leger finished in seventh. For Brennan, it was also a chance to race at home in front of her friends and family.

“It was so great to race at home and have my family and friends cheering me on the whole way,” Brennan said via U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “With COVID, even my Mom has been unable to watch me race for years, so it felt really special to be able to race with a hometown crowd before heading to Beijing.”

 

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