Kendahl Roufa Photo: Skapare Photography & Camden Palmquist Photo: U.S. Ski & Snowboard
Two Americans make their World Cup debuts at Levi.
When World Cup SL season kicks off this weekend, the spotlight will be on Mikaela Shiffrin closing in on her 100th World Cup win, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen making his SL return, and all the players battling for the coveted reindeer.
With much less fanfare, near the end of the pack, two Americans will make their World Cup debuts. Both earned starts for the 2024-25 World Cup SL tour through the NorAms. Kendahl Roufa finished third in the 2023-24 NorAm SL standings as the second North American, while Camden Palmquist finished second in the SL standings as the first North American.
Roufa is an independent racer who trains with Apex2100’s postgraduate program. Palmquist is starting his fourth year on the Stifel US Ski Team.
WORLD CUP DREAMS:
When Kendahl Roufa stumbled across her goal sheet from age 14, it said, “Race the Levi World Cup.” The Telluride native laughs about that now because she had long since dismissed the goal as a pipe dream. After a slow start to her FIS career due to injuries and two gap years with Ski Club Vail post high school, she decided to move on and was excited to ski for Colby College.
However, this thought kept bugging her: “If you go to Europe and throw yourself in, you’ll find out if you actually want to do it or not.” After one term at Colby, she rejoined her coach, Andrew Keating, who by then worked for Apex2100 coaching their PG program.
One season stretched into two, and last season Roufa also hit the entire block of eastern NorAms and the NorAm finals. Roufa had secured a World Cup SL start for this season when the series wrapped up in Panorama. It was an unexpected bonus. “The World Cup spot was not on my mind,” says Roufa
She decided to use the opportunity for the experience and already had a team of peers at Apex2100. Two women from Apex—Dženifera Gērmane and Reece Bell—are full-time on the World Cup, but Roufa is part of a Europa Cup focused group. The team is based in Italy and includes women from small nations like Kazakhstan, Latvia, Hungary and the Netherlands. Roufa enjoys the cross-cultural experience of getting to know athletes from non-Alpine nations. “Hungary was never really top of the mind when I thought of European ski racing, and I think it’s really special to see that every nation kind of has their own skiing style, their own work ethic.” She enjoys learning from them all.
MENTAL APPROACH
Stepping into your first World Cup starting gate is a huge moment. Alex Tilly gave her some advice for Saturday. The former British World Cup skier works with some of the younger Apex girls and advised Roufa to soak in the moment: “You’re never going to have another first World Cup.” Tilly urged Roufa to ignore the hoopla and ski like she knows how and “give weight to the emotions you’re feeling.”
Roufa plans to fully take Tilly’s advice: “It’s a super low-pressure zone because I don’t have the weight of the world’s eyes on me. I just get to go out and have fun and see what happens.”
In addition to the race itself, Roufa is looking forward to her parents being there. “Just talking to them on the phone, I can hear the excitement in their voices,” she says. “So I think that’ll be really special.” She’s enjoying the northern lights, spectacular sunsets, delicious tacos, and looking forward to a Santa sighting and some more reindeer time. “I’m kind of taken aback every time I see the reindeer,” says Roufa. “I’m like, ‘Wait, you guys are real?’”
A successful day will be putting a run down that she can be proud of that “represents good fundamentals, good tactics, good movement—just good basic skiing,” she says. That, and sending it: “It’s not just to get to the finish line.” She’ll also be fueled by the reality of a dream come true. “I never thought this would happen, but I just kept my head down and I just kind of kept doing what I thought I needed to do.”
STEPPING UP TO THE BIG LEAGUES
On Sunday, it’s Camden Palmquist’s turn to push out of his first World Cup gate. For the 21-year-old Stifel US C Team member, earning the World Cup start was part of his plan. “That definitely was the goal for last season,” says Palmquist. In addition to a win and two podiums on the NorAm tour, Palmquist also scored bronze medals in the US National Champs Sl and the World Junior Team parallel. He considers the latter a highlight of his young career. “This season, the focus will be on Europe Cups—fighting for podiums and skiing on that level. When I’m skiing well, and when it works in the schedule, I’ll do World Cups.”
Before joining Team Summit in CO, Palmquist started his racing career in Buck Hill. From age 10, he dreamed of racing in the World Cup and had plenty of Buck Hill role models to follow. “I’ve always been kind of chasing Isaiah Nelson around and trying to keep up with him.” Like so many Buck Hill alums, Palmquist will continue to pursue multiple events, as will his cohort of YOB 2003’s on the C Team. They travel with GS and Super G skis all season. “We’re all training as a group, and we’re all still trying to fight for multiple disciplines and to be good all-around skiers.”
He came to Levi from a training session in Val Senales, Italy. Despite near-freezing temperatures, the training has been excellent. During his downtime, Palmquist keeps up with his schoolwork at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he is halfway through his college degree. After the World Cup, he and his group will stay in Levi, where they will kick off the Europa Cup season.
GAME DAY APPROACH AND GOALS
Palmquist is keeping expectations in check and is hoping to keep it simple on race day. “It’s still red-blue, and you’re still making the same turns. I’ve done that a lot, and I know how to do that, so it’s really just kind of trying to remove myself from the race environment and make it more just skiing, normal race.”
His mom and younger brother Trevor will be on hand to watch. His younger brother Jevin, a new member of the US Ski Team and aspiring World Cup skier, will be taking notes. “Obviously, I’d like results, but if I just go out and ski like I know how to and just really go for it, I think those will come. Hopefully, I can throw one down. It’s gonna be fun. I’m really looking forward to it.”
About the Author: Edie Thys Morgan
