Special to the Daily
VAIL – Local Connor Schlegel was hoping to get nominated to the U.S. Snowboard Team’s snowboardcross development team this spring.
Instead, he was surprised to learn he had skipped the development team level altogether, and was nominated directly to the pro team.
For an athlete who has only one World Cup start on his stat sheet, it is a big leap.
“I was pretty blown away,” he said.
But Schlegel says he’s excited to take on the challenge.
After growing up on the Front Range and showing talent for snowboardcross at a young age, Schlegel moved in with his grandparents in Eagle County during his teenage years and began attending the Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy, where he graduated in 2020. He says snowboardcross racing is the main topic of conversation around the dinner table with his grandparents, who have become close observers of the sport.