NASJA announces Golden Ski Award winners

The North American Snowsports Journalists Association – East Region has selected Patricia Mangan of Derby, N.Y., and George Steffey of Lyme, N.H., as the 2017 Don A. Metivier Golden Ski Award winners.

Each season, NASJA-East (formerly the Eastern Ski Writers Association) awards the Don A. Metivier Golden Ski Award to the most promising male and female junior alpine racers in the Eastern U.S. The Golden Ski Award has been presented to the top junior male and female skiers in the East since 1969, the year after the modern World Cup circuit started. Many of the Golden Ski winners have gone on to World Cup and Olympic gold as well. In 1975, the Golden Ski was “lost.” In 2007, the New England Ski Museum was given some artifacts, and in that donation was the original Golden Ski. ESWA revitalized the honor, and named it in memory of long-time snow-sports journalist Don A. Metivier, former editor of Ski Racing Magazine.

“The Golden Ski Award is the oldest honor given to junior alpine ski racers that exists today,” said Jim Gregory, chair of the NASJA-East Golden Ski Award Committee. “We are proud this year to honor Patricia Mangan and George Steffey, two extraordinary athletes, and we look forward to watching them pursue their goals and set the bar even higher in the sport we all love so much.”

Patricia Mangan
Patricia Mangan, a member of the U.S. C-Team, had a stellar ski season, starting with her World Cup debut in slalom and giant slalom this season at Killington, Vt. in November. She wrapped up the season with a third-place ranking in the NorAm overall standings and a first-place ranking in the NorAm alpine combined and super-G standings. The 20-year-old athlete had six NorAm podium finishes in total, including two super-G wins at Copper Mountain in early February.  Mangan traveled to Are, Sweden in March as a member of the U.S. Junior World Championship team, and earned 16th in the giant slalom there. At U.S. National Championships in Sugarloaf, Maine, she won bronze in the giant slalom. When Mangan is not racing, she is a bio-medical engineering student at Dartmouth College.

George Steffey
George Steffey, a U.S. D-Team member who previously trained with Stratton Mountain School, had a strong season, ending with a 16th-place ranking in the NorAm overall standings and eighth in the NorAm giant slalom standings. He was also a member of the 2017 Junior World Championships team. In January, Steffey started the year on fire with wins in FIS giant slalom races at Turnau, Austria and Pozza di Fassa, Italy in mid-January. He then took a third place in the giant slalom NorAm at Copper Mountain on Feb. 2. In March, he led the American contingent in the World Juniors slalom, finishing in 11th place from bib 49. At U.S. Nationals in Sugarloaf, Maine, he nearly cracked the top 10, finishing 11th in the giant slalom. Steffey finished the year with gold in giant slalom at the U.S. U19/U21 National Championships at Sugarloaf.

The awards will be presented at a reception at the New England Ski Museum on June 9 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Here is the list of previous Golden Ski Award Winners:
1969: Tyler Palmer, Karen Middleton
1970: Charles Bent, Karen Middleton
1971: Rod Taylor, Judy McNealus
1972: Laurent Gaudin, Jody Palmer
1973: Jerry McNealus, No female winner
1974: No award
1975: Scott Light, Holly Flanders
1976-2007: Award Lost
2008: Bump Heldman, Julia Ford
2009: Nolan Kasper, Julia Ford
2010: Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Julia Ford
2011: Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Mikaela Shiffrin
2012: Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Mikaela Shiffrin
2013: Kieffer Christianson, Mikaela Shiffrin
2014: Sam Morse, Alice Merryweather
2015: Drew Duffy, Nina O’Brien
2016: Ben Ritchie, Cecily Decker