RACING UPDATE: Wilson as of Wednesday morning placed 2nd in U18 in the Super G.
CHETEL, France — Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Club’s (JHSC) student Mattis Wilson represents Jackson at the FIS World Junior Championships in France and leads the United States on the clock this week.
Jackson’s Mattias Wilson was the top American finisher in the Downhill Training run on his first day on Wednesday, Jan.28. After the training run on Thursday 29, Wilson remained the top American finisher with a time of 2.84 minutes, behind first-place skier and Swiss competitor Livio Hilstbrand.
The 2024 FIS Junior World Ski Championships are hosted in Chetel, France in the Haute Savoie region.
Wilson is the only athlete competing in the comps from Jackson, and the only male athlete racing in the speed events who isn’t a current US Ski Team member.
“The most challenging part of the Speed Venue here is that it’s a place he has never been to, skied at or raced on in his career,”Jackson Hole Ski Club coach Kevin Keane said.
“It’s very firm, fast snow with a surface that is very similar to what World Cup or European Cup athletes ski on all season long. Speeds are as high as 134 km/h or roughly 83 mph,” Keane emailed from France.
Keane says Wilson is skiing with more confidence now than at any other time in his career.
“He’s matured considerably as an athlete in the last few months and this experience in Europe continues to develop his level of focus toward what he is trying to achieve athletically. This level of competition he faces provides a different perspective on the sport,” Keane added.
Wilson is competing against roughly 80 men from over 20 different countries and tomorrow he will enter a Super G race.
With the time difference, it’s an early start for Jackson friends and family to cheer on Wilson but the competition hosts a live broadcast of the races at https://www.juniors2024.ski/live/. The start time is around 3 a.m. MST said Keene but he said he believes viewers can catch full event replays for each day.
Wilson has full days in France: on the hill all day with recovery following. He then tends to equipment preparations and heads to meetings in addition to managing meals and rest.
Wilson’s mom, JoAnn Hoff, flew over for the competition to support her son.
“I have been driving around the Intermountain West for seven years taking Matti to various races… and now here I am in France, something I never would have imagined happening.” Hoffemailed after landing in Geneva.
Hoff continued to say that it’s always exciting “and sometimes nerve-wracking” to stand on the sidelines.
“I love watching because I know that Matti loves it,” Hoff said. “I love traveling not just for the racing but also for the skiing, the locations and the skiing community that goes along with it.”
Hoff said that racing in France is at an entirely different level than in the Northern Rockies.
“The Portes du Soleil area is vast and extraordinarily beautiful. I am here at the finish and there are already fans and cowbells!”
She said that her husband (local ski legend and member of the Jackson Air Force) Benny Wilson was not able to make the ranstlantic journey to be on-piste in person.
“It’s unfortunate Benny was not able to come, he would love it. He said he was getting up at 4 a.m. to watch,” she wrote.
