Mikaela Shiffrin and Gus Schumacher share top honor while five others named athletes of the year

Every spring, U.S. Ski and Snowboard publicizes its “Athletes of the 12 months” from the earlier season.

These awards are the oldest given out by the group, courting all the way in which again to 1931. However this yr was particular as for the second time ever, two athletes, Mikaela Shiffrin and Gus Schumacher, shared the united statess prime honor — the Beck Worldwide Trophy.

This yr’s crop of athletes had a few of the most profitable seasons in U.S. Ski and Snowboard historical past.

Mikaela Shiffrin
Beck Worldwide Trophy/Alpine Athlete of the 12 months

Shiffrin is taken into account by some to be essentially the most dominant winter athlete in historical past — however this season’s victories don’t even start to elucidate how proficient she is. Regardless of profitable six World Cups and making 13 podiums, Shiffrin overcoming private tragedy following the surprising loss of life of her father solely to courageously put together for a return a month later was nothing in need of exceptional.

Sadly remainder of the season was formally canceled a day earlier than she was scheduled to compete once more due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That is the fourth time Shiffrin, 25, has gained the Beck Worldwide trophy and the fifth time she’s been named the Alpine athlete of the yr — however it’s most certainly not the final time she’ll obtain these honors.

Gus Schumacher
Beck Worldwide Trophy/Cross Nation Athlete of the 12 months

Schumacher continues to defy the percentages and rewrite the document ebook with regards to Individuals and cross-country snowboarding because the first junior skier to win the very best honor since 1975 when fellow cross-country alum Invoice Koch gained the award.

Final yr, Schumacher was one of many 4 members of the Junior Worlds males’s relay group — who took dwelling the primary ever gold medal gained by the USA on the FIS Junior World Cross Nation Ski Championships.

To prime that efficiency from the earlier season, Schumacher took dwelling the primary particular person gold medal by an American on the Junior World Championships, when he gained the 10k Traditional. He additionally helped the Individuals win the 10k relay race on the Junior Worlds once more.

Maggie Voisin
Freeskiing Athlete of the 12 months

After present process knee surgical procedure within the offseason, nobody knew what to anticipate of the two-time Olympian. However via energy and perseverance, Voisin returned with a vengeance and completed on the rostrum 5 occasions from this previous season.

Voisin started to really feel like herself once more after she gained slopestyle bronze on the X Video games Aspen in late January, setting the stage for what occurred a month and a half later in early March.

She began off X Video games Norway with a silver medal in huge air earlier than returning atop the rostrum and profitable gold in slopestyle. Voisin additionally landed a double cork 1260 to shut out the season and set the stage for what could possibly be an enormous 2020 season.

Jaelin Kauf
Freestyle Athlete of the 12 months

Kauf, who gained the Freestyle athlete of the yr award in 2018, is often among the many quickest opponents on the moguls World Cup circuit. However she took time to give attention to different points of her coaching this previous offseason and it paid off this time as she completed the season ranked No. 3 on the planet after making 4 podiums and profitable gold in her final competitors.

A type of different points Kauf centered on was fine-tuning her methods and introducing two new ones: a Cork 7 and a Again Mute. These new methods mixed together with her pure pace have Kauf trending upwards to what could possibly be a really huge season in 2020.

Tara Geraghty-Moats
Nordic Mixed Athlete of the 12 months

One of many prime Nordic mixed athletes to ever compete, Geraghty-Moats took dwelling her second consecutive season title on the Continental Cup after she gained 5 occasions on the tour and completed on the rostrum twice extra — she additionally gained a document 13 consecutive Continental Cups that spanned the earlier two seasons.

Geraghty-Moats was additionally named the FIS Nordic Mixed skier of the yr.

Huge issues are in retailer for Geraghty-Moats in 2020 as ladies’s Nordic mixed makes its FIS World Cup debut subsequent winter, in addition to being part of the World Championships subsequent February in Oberstdorf, Germany.

Greater than the victories and the award, Geraghty-Moats served as a Youth Ambassador through the 2020 Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland this previous yr.

Andrew Urlaub
Ski Leaping Athlete of the 12 months

Urlaub had a breakout season for the Individuals when he scored completed with 5 top-30 finishes on the FIS Cup, together with a fourth place end in Poland — one level off the rostrum.

He additionally carried out effectively on the larger stage when he earned 5 top-30’s on the Continental Cup, and earned a top-20 end on the Junior World Championships in Germany.

Dusty Henricksen
Snowboard Athlete of the 12 months

It was a breakout season for Henricksen when he made historical past on the U.S. Open by touchdown the primary ever Quad Cork 1800 in a slopestyle competitors. That was only the start although as he gained a gold medal in slopestyle on the Youth Olympic video games after which one other gold medal as a World Cup occasion on the Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix on his dwelling course of Mammoth Mountain.