Ann Battelle (born January 18, 1968) is a world champion and World Cup champion on the

U.S. Ski Team The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and ...

; she competed in the

freestyle skiing Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, Mogul Skiing, moguls, Ski Cross, cross, Half-pipe skiing, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics. It can consist of a ...

events of moguls and dual moguls.

Early years

Former U.S. National Champion and World Cup Champion, Olympian, and Olympic Freestyle pioneer Ann Battelle was born in New York, and raised outside Burlington,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. She was brought up skiing, doing competitive gymnastics, and playing soccer in the early years of Title IX. Also a gifted student, Battelle was advanced in mathematics, was fluent in Spanish at a young age, and played the oboe. She was a member of her highly successful varsity soccer team at Champlain Valley Union High School, in Hinesburg, Vermont, as well as a member of the accomplished varsity gymnastics team. Additionally, she skied with friends every weekend possible and on vacations, where her skills with moguls were apparent early on. At

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

, she played varsity soccer and continued to ski a great deal. Recruited by a former high school soccer coach turned moguls coach in Colorado, Battelle skied moguls competitively for the first time after she graduated from

in 1989, when she was 21 years old. Less than three years later, Battelle competed in her first World Cup on her 24th birthday, on January 18, 1992, in Breckenridge,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, where she placed 16th in Moguls. In the following two World Cups, she placed 5th and 7th (in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburgh. ...

, on January 24, 2002, and in Oberjoch,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on February 1, 2002), which was good enough to earn her a spot on the US Olympic Team for the 1992

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

.Federation Internationale de Ski
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United States Ski Team

On the World Cup, she had 21 podiums, including five victories, in 108 World Cup starts. She is a four-time Olympian in Moguls, placing 21st in 1992, 8th in 1994, 10th in 1998, and 7th in 2002 (in 2002 she was 2nd in the qualifying round). She also competed in seven

FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships The FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships is the world championship organized by the FIS for freestyle skiing. It was first organized in 1986 and is now held every odd year. Currently, the events included in the world championships are Moguls, ...

, her best results coming in Meiringen-Hasliberg,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, in 1999; she was the world champion that year in Moguls and placed 3rd in Dual Moguls. She won the World Cup tour in Moguls in both 1999 and 2000 and won gold and silver at the

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

in 2000. She is also a six-time US National Champion.

References

External links

Ski Net

Steamboat Today

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battelle, Ann 1968 births Living people Skiers from Vermont Middlebury College alumni American female freestyle skiers American freeskiers Olympic freestyle skiers for the United States Freestyle skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics 21st-century American women