AJ Hurt is laser-focused on tech

By Published On: November 19th, 2021Comments Off on AJ Hurt is laser-focused on tech

AJ Hurt has always considered herself a tech skier, but never considered herself a slalom skier. The last two seasons, Hurt doubted she would race slalom due to her high world rank in the discipline. But by the end of the 2020-21 season, Hurt scored World Cup points and took home a podium finish at junior world championships — both achievements in slalom. The 20-year-old Hurt, who once questioned her technical ability in the discipline, has turned her focus to slalom and to the technical events, at least for now. 

Hurt entered last season optimistic yet realistic in her final year as a junior racer. The objectives were simple: ski your best and hopefully score some World Cup points. Kicking out of her third Soelden start, Hurt wanted a strong finish to build momentum and end a two-year streak of DNFs and DQs. Alas, she left Soelden with another DNF but had decent momentum in her skiing leading up to the Lech parallel a few weeks later. Lech turned out to be her turning point as she picked up her career-first World Cup points, finishing 25th. 

Between the Lech parallel in November 2020 and her final World Cup start in Are, Sweden in March 2021, Hurt scored points in an additional six World Cup races across four different disciplines, including slalom.

A.J. Hurt (USA). Photo: GEPA pictures

“Last year was the first season I was finally successful in any World Cups, which was pretty awesome,” said Hurt. “It felt like once I got the ball rolling it seemed to be like I could keep qualifying in the other events that I haven’t really done a lot, or at all. And [that was] very relieving after so many DNFs and struggling.”

Hurt’s season concluded at world juniors, striking out in her two favored events, GS and super G. Unexpectedly, however, she landed a podium in slalom, finishing third in her final race at the prestigious event. 

Reflecting on her previous season, Hurt saw the opportunity to continue to work her way through the World Cup ranks and continue to advance her point profile. During her second day of spring training at Palisades Tahoe, Hurt crashed and bruised her knee, which resulted in a missed three-week block of training, but the team compensated with a personalized camp to make up for the lost time. 

Once recovered, Hurt and Magnus Andersson, head women’s World Cup tech coach, traveled to Belgium for five days of indoor slalom. The indoor slalom training camp was a wakeup call for the newly discovered tech skier, who left exhausted yet inspired at the rate she progressed in her slalom technique. The young racer, who just last season scored in four different events, started to find her footing in the technical disciplines, a theme we expect to see throughout the 2021-22 season as she turns her focus to GS and slalom while sprinkling in an occasional super G here and there. 

“I definitely still think that GS is my strength,” said Hurt. “I feel like two years ago, or even last year, I wasn’t even sure at the beginning if I was going to ski any slalom because my points were in the 50s. Now, I feel more confident and really hope I can do both. It’s hard to be a tech skier and only do one event.”

A.J. Hurt (USA). Photo: GEPA pictures

Refreshed, recovered, and enlightened, Hurt kicked off her 2021-22 season with a strong 20th-place finish at Soelden on Oct 23. Conditions, she says, were ‘absolutely perfect,’ but she says training with her teammates leading up to the race was a big part of her success.

“I try not to worry too much about results and not have too many expectations, just to ski the way that I have been working on and do the right things. Hopefully it will fall into place,” said Hurt. “I think just training together as a team before the race and pushing one another every day allowed us to ski our best.” 

Hurt was one of four Americans to score in the top 30 at the season opener, a feat four years in the making. With Soelden in the rearview mirror and the season kicking into gear with Levi and Killington, Hurt is pleased with the opening result but focused on the upcoming races.

“There is so much season left that I think it’s important to just try and carry that momentum on through the year,” said Hurt. “I’m just working on my skiing and chipping away. It’s not all going to happen at once, but I just have to trust it’s going to happen.”

As for the remainder of the season, which will (hopefully) include her Olympic debut, Hurt remains focused on incremental goals: one training run, one training day, one race at a time.

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About the Author: Karina Schwartznau

Born and raised in Bonney Lake, Washington, Karina grew up ski racing for Crystal Mountain and PNSA. She competed for 14 years across the world until settling in Salt Lake City, where she attended the University of Utah and achieved degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. She currently resides in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.