Ankeny skis to second straight World Pro Ski Tour victory

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – There’s a new force to be reckoned with on the World Pro Ski Tour and his name is Michael Ankeny.

Buoyed by his first WPST win in two years on Monday night at Howelsen Hill, the 31-year-old Minnesotan rode that mental boost – along with his trademark hammer-down style – to another victory on Tuesday.

“It’s huge,” Ankeny said of the power of confidence. “In skiing, you get to a certain stage and everyone’s good. Everyone knows how to arc a turn. Everyone knows how to handle a jump, but it’s the mental aspect that counts. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been in a bit of a rut, against Rob in particular.”

It was defending World Pro Ski Tour champion and leader Rob Cone who found himself in an actual rut on Tuesday night in the final run, closing the gap that Ankeny had created in the first run when he suddenly hit a rut mid-course, abruptly and unwittingly exiting the gates.

“I was kind of arguing with the course yesterday and today because there were deep, Colorado ruts here,” Cone said afterward. “That final run, I was coming back to Michael. I knew I was even closing in on him, then [with] a little bit of tactics, I wanted to just run it as straight as possible to cut line. That’s kind of why I bounced into that rut.”

Other than booting out similarly during a qualifying run on the same course at Howelsen Hill a couple of seasons ago, Cone cannot recall a single other run in his three years of racing on the Pro Tour in which he has skied off-course. Taking second place following Monday’s third place, Cone has landed on every Pro Tour podium this season, but after his back-to-back wins, Ankeny now takes his place as the man to beat.

As it turns out, Ankeny hit a small rut himself in Tuesday’s final run, but managed to stay on course through the finish line.

“That bobble happened right after Rob had his,” Ankeny said. “I had a comfortable lead after the first run. All I was telling myself was, ‘keep attacking,’ because as soon as you take off the gas pedal, that’s when you can get into trouble. At the second gate I slipped a little bit, then I said, OK, let’s get back into it. Rob was coming back. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this plume of snow come up. I was like, oh crap, Rob just messed up. Right when I thought that, I got a little distracted, then went out the back seat.”

As for how he’ll use the $20,000 in prize money he collected over two days of racing, Ankeny said he’s looking forward to splurging.

“I’m going to take my girlfriend on a nice little golf trip, get out of the Minnesota cold,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy that money.”

The race for third place proved nearly as exciting on Tuesday. Monday’s runner up Simon Breitfuss Kammerlander, struggling through jet lag after returning from the Beijing Olympics on Friday, faced Pro Tour rookie, former Norwegian National Junior Slalom Champion Wilhelm Normannseth. The two Europeans fired down both Small Final runs with nearly perfectly synchronized carving, Normannseth edging Kammerlander by about a tenth of a second in each run to round out the podium.

The Norwegian, a successful competitor for the University of Utah, said he decided to make the trip to Steamboat after hearing good things about the Pro Tour from fellow university athletes who had raced in the previous stop in Aspen. He said prior to Monday’s competition, he hadn’t raced in a dual format since winning a Norwegian Championship dual slalom race in 2017, but now that he has the hang of it, plans to become a familiar face on the Pro Tour.

“In general, ski racing is a really serious, super stiff kind of sport,” Normannseth said. “I think that’s why it doesn’t bring in the same amount of money as football or basketball or those big sports. I think if you could make more of a show out of it, it would perform way better on the TV, with a crowd. What they’ve got here at the World Pro Ski Tour is incredible. That’s what I like about it, why I’ll ski a lot more of it in the years to come, I hope.”

The World Pro Ski Tour continues with its men’s and women’s world championship stop in Taos, NM, April 7-10.