Dartmouth skiers shine at Killington World Cup

Two Dartmouth College alpine ski racers are making waves on the international stage (eh, ski trails). Nina O’Brien and Elisabeth Bocock both had standout performances at the Killington World Cup in Vermont last weekend.

O’Brien, 27, finished in sixth place in the giant slalom, marking her personal best on the World Cup circuit and an improvement from her 23rd place finish last year. This follows her seventh-place finish in Soelden, Austria earlier this year. 

What makes this more impressive is that O’Brien is making a comeback after breaking her same leg twice in less than two years. She fell in her second run at the 2022 Winter Olympics and broke her tibia, fibula, and talus in her left leg and underwent four surgeries only to break her leg again during a training run the following summer. (Read more about her recovery on NBC).

O’Brien has been a member of the US Ski Team since 2006. She won the NorAm overall title in 2019, and has claimed eight national championships. Skiing runs in the family—O’Brien’s older sister Audrey raced for Dartmouth, her younger brother Christopher skied for the Harvard Cross Country Team, and her youngest brother Preston was captain of the men’s alpine team at Dartmouth.

O’Brien’s year off for recovery allowed her to return to school and finish her degree in economics. O’Brien graduated from Dartmouth in the spring with Preston, who is three years her junior. 

O’Brien reflected on the race’s significance in an Instagram post, saying, “This race is so special, and it’s all about the people. THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support us. To the volunteers and snowmaking team—none of this is possible without you. And to the fans—39,000 of you spent your weekend with us! Thank you for making the race at home so. much. fun!!!”

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Dartmouth student Elisabeth Bocock also had a breakthrough weekend, finishing 23rd in the giant slalom and earning her first World Cup points. Bocock made her World Cup debut just a year ago in Soelden alongside her sister Mary Bocock, 21, also a Dartmouth student. The Bococks are believed to be the first sisters to make a World Cup debut together since 1999, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Mary did not race at Killington this weekend. 

Bockcok went down in the slalom competition the following day and injured her hand. 

One person was notably missing from the competition—Mikaela Shiffrin went down in her second run of the giant slalom at the end of the hill, just as she was leading by .32 seconds and on track to secure her 100th World Cup win.

Shiffrin has a puncture wound and a muscle tear in her obliques. She said on Instagram that she’s unsure when she’ll return to racing as she recovers at home in Colorado. 

“This is another fairly ambiguous injury and really hard to put a timeline on when I’ll be back on snow or back to racing,” she said. 

Shiffrin is the most dominant ski racers in history (men or women). She won her historic 87th World Cup race in March 2023, overtaking Ingemar Stenmark’s 86 wins for the most World Cup wins by any alpine skier.