A few seconds is all it takes to win or lose. Junior Austin Dean has attended a ski academy every November to April since freshman year in order to achieve his lifelong goal: to make it to the Winter Olympic Games. He is currently ranked second in the United States and 28^th in the world; therefore, he believes his chances aren’t far from out of reach.           

Three years ago Dean was invited to compete in the Junior Olympics. At the time he was ranked first in the nation at the U-15 level. At the starting gate, his coach prepared him mentally for the biggest race of his career so far, “You’ve been winning every race this year but for what? What’s your goal?”  Austin simply replied, “To win the Junior Olympics.” He then went on to place second by just 0.01 of a second.

“It was one of the best races in my entire life,” said Dean.            

Every year since he was a freshman, he has left Cleveland from November to April to permanently attend school at the Mt. Hood Ski Academy. Every day, he goes to school in the morning and then skis in the afternoon. He returns to Cleveland in April to finish the school year. Every summer, Dean travels to Chile in South America with the Western Region ski team. He skis in the Andes at 12,000 feet above sea level for two weeks.

            Last year, when Austin was 15, he continued to succeed on the snow. He raced in 26 races throughout the season in Oregon, California, Wyoming, Washington, and Idaho. He won two of the races and was in the top three in five of the races.

           Dean hopes to have a very successful season this year. He has recently been invited to a race which is a step down from the ski racing World Cup, called the Noram. In late November he will go to compete with skiers from all around the world. Dean hopes to win two events, making him eligible for Nationals. If he does well in Nationals, he will be eligible for the US Ski Team, which brings us to his ultimate goal.

            “Ever since I started skiing, I have dreamed about competing in the Winter Olympics,” said Dean. His idol is Bode Miller, who is one of today’s most famous skiers. Miller has won the ski racing World Cup twice, in 2005 and 2008.

            Dean trains all winter, spring and most of summer, exercising on and off the slopes. His daily routine consists of racing the training course nine times, and free skiing the rest of the day.

His favorite event to race is Super G. This event has a very fast, long course where the gates are spread out far away from each other to promote swift, arching turns. Dean also races slalom, which is when the gates are close to each other, Giant slalom, which is when the gates are a little more spread out than slalom, and downhill, which is when there are no gates, just a long track.

            “Professional ski racing has always been a dream of mine and I hope that if I keep trying, I can succeed in winning an Olympic medal,” said Dean.