Featured Image: Megan McJames. Credit: Adam Clark

Megan McJames, a former U.S. alpine World Cup racer and Olympian, is excited to share her latest achievement: Trailblazer. The inspiring documentary Trailblazer highlights Megan McJames’ journey to become the first skier to qualify for the Winter Olympic Games after being cut from the U.S. Ski Team.

A female athlete battling against all odds, Megan’s story of grit, perseverance, and self-determination is sure to inspire viewers to follow their dreams in the face of adversity.

McJames explained, “I feel a little vulnerable because the story in this film is my story, and it does not end with an Olympic gold medal like so many Olympic stories that get made into film.”

“I feel that this is a story worth sharing because the empowerment I gained from facing the struggles I went through after being cut from the national team is something that I hope will resonate. I believe the Olympic spirit in this story lives in the lessons learned along the way more than the end results.”

The successful athlete made the courageous decision to share her experiences and revisit her challenges, with the intention of allowing other competitors to connect with her journey and derive valuable insights from the lessons she acquired throughout her path.

 KGB Productions, a Jackson Hole-based film company, grasped onto McJames’ story and wanted to assist her in telling it through screen. 

After a lot of hard work, KGB Productions finalized the film and initially debuted it at the No Man’s Land Film Festival World Tour. From that point, audiences embraced the film at various showings throughout the country. 

Now, McJames and the entire team at KGB Productions are celebrating the upcoming Amazon Prime release of the film that will be available November 1st, 2024, for streaming.

The Journey of Creating Trailblazer 

Post-retirement, McJames wanted to tell her story but had to decide how she was going to achieve that.

She explained, “After I was done, people were telling me that I should write a book. The book should reflect on how I was the first skier to make the Olympic Games after being cut from the U.S. Ski Team.” 

 “However, writing a book didn’t really appeal to me, but I thought I could do a movie on this. The idea was to just share the story.”

 The film has been in production for some time now. With most of the filming concluding over three years ago, there were a few aspects that took longer than expected. 

 McJames discussed the challenges they overcame to get the documentary to where they wanted it, which included rewriting the film to ensure that they could explain the sport so anyone watching it would understand. Also, making sure they didn’t get too far into the weeds of criteria, points, and how alpine racers qualify for the Olympic Games.

 There were also some hurdles with licensing an Olympic film, which prolonged the release. 

“We had to go through all those steps one by one, and that’s why it took so long. But now, it’s a finished project, and I’m so excited to get it in front of people, and hopefully they like it and feel inspired by it.” 

Embracing Vulnerability 

During the documentary, McJames had to embrace her vulnerable attributes as she engaged in intimate interviews surrounding different struggles she faced on her alpine ski racing journey. 

“Vulnerability is correct. Reliving some of those really hard moments and dealing with the bad treatment was challenging. I think it was a good thing because, in the end, as I mentioned, I had no regrets,” McJames explained. 

Her objective of telling the harder parts of her journey was to reveal perseverance through these struggles and show the audience that it can be very empowering to work through the downs to achieve your goals. 

More Independent Racers and Teams Finding Success

In 2012, McJames was cut from the U.S. Ski Team and committed to skiing independently from that point. In the past 12 years, independent athletes and teams have become more common on the World Cup circuit. 

 McJames explained, “I think it’s amazing! Just the idea that there’s not one right way to do things in general, but especially in sport.”

“I think that flexibility is something that no one size fits all. However, it makes me feel proud that people are following their dreams and paving their path the way that speaks to them,” she continued. 

Nevertheless, she does discuss the logistical challenges that independent racers have to be more cognizant about. 

Not being on a national team, she explains, “You are missing the funding, the health insurance, the training, and all of those things you have to all of a sudden organize by yourself.” 

The film discusses these different challenges from the perspective of how to buckle down and learn to navigate through them. 

The Empowerment of Believing in Yourself

McJames hopes that viewers will connect with this story from the documentary and be inspired to pursue their goals despite facing more challenges than expected.

 “In the end, I feel like that empowerment of believing in myself is what made the journey worth it,” McJames explained. 

 She concluded, “I hope that they see the grit and perseverance and they can relate it to their struggle that they’re going through and hopefully find hope that there’s going to be some empowerment and lessons in the end.” 

The film will be streaming, but McJames and KGB Productions will continue to show it live in different locations. Check out a complete list of upcoming tour dates here.