Local Aaron Blunck named to U.S. youth Olympic squad

2012 Innsbruck, Austria

A successful season of competition for local 14-year-old Crested Butte Mountain Sports team athlete Aaron Blunck finished with some big news for the halfpipe skiing prodigy. Blunck found out that he was picked to represent the U.S. at the first-ever Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

Innsbruck is one of the classic venues for the Olympics having hosted both the 1964 and 1976 winter games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) committed itself to the Winter Youth Olympic Games to provide an avenue for young athletes throughout the world to showcase their athletic ability in a format mimicking the Olympic games.
“They’re making it just like the Olympics,” says United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) program manager Abbi Nyberg. “Opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies, the whole thing.”
The first Youth Olympic summer games were held in the summer of 2010 in Singapore and the first winter youth games are scheduled for January 2012 in Innsbruck.
Only one male and one female athlete were picked by the USSA to represent the United States in skiercross, skier halfpipe, snowboard halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle.
“That’s the most amazing part of this,” says Ben Somrak, who was one of Blunck’s coaches this year. “He will be representing the entire country as a 15-year old.”
Blunck’s selection is in part due to timing, but mostly due to talent.
Just this winter, halfpipe skiing was approved as a winter Olympic sport. As a result, it will also be included as a sport at the Youth Olympics.
Furthermore, the Youth Olympics are for athletes born in 1995 and 1996, 15 and16-year-olds.
Blunck was born in 1996.
Still, with the stars aligning for Blunck’s trip to the Winter Youth Olympics, it was far from automatic. That’s where his talent comes into play.
Blunck won his J3 age group and finished in second place overall at the USSA Junior Nationals on March 9.
The effort earned Blunck an invitation to compete in the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships in Stratton, Vermont March 24-26.
Blunck took third place at the Stratton event (the top two finishers were both in their 20s) and was the top halfpipe skier for his age, hands down.
Those two efforts earned Blunck the nod to Innsbruck.
“Aaron is the highest ranking athlete in his age,” says Nyberg. “He’s definitely holding his own so he’ll be a great person to represent the U.S.”
“He has the biggest bag of tricks with the highest level of difficulty of kids his age,” adds Somrak.
Blunck will be entering uncharted territory as far as competition is concerned, with his first real exposure to athletes from other countries.
“He’s going to be skiing against kids from Sweden who ski halfpipe 10 months a year,” says Somrak. “There’s some serious talent across the pond. But Aaron’s not interested in what others are doing and does his own thing and it’s worked out well so far.”
The icing on the cake for Blunck is the fact that his travel expenses will be covered entirely for the first time in his competitive career.
“That’s the cool thing, the IOC is paying for this,” says Nyberg.