By Sammy Miller
Copy Editor
Junior Eric Ashkarian is taking his skiing talents to new heights.
Ashkarian began to ski when he was just 3 years old. His father, Steve, was a ski and snowboard instructor who taught him how to ski and snowboard for one year and allowed him to pick which one he wanted to pursue. Nevertheless, he choose skiing. Ashkarian trains on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., and he also trains during any long breaks that Costa has off when he is not competing.
“I ski for the Diamond Peak Ski Education Foundation based out of Lake Tahoe and have been on the team for three seasons now,” Ashkarian said.
Ashkarian’s favorite part of skiing is the fast-paced dynamic of it. According to Ashkarian, racers only get two chances to finish the fastest, and there is so much to think about while traveling quickly down a slope. Another part of skiing that he loves is the speed disciplines called super-g and downhill. In these disciplines, he is able to get to practice on skis that are a foot and a half taller than him and get up to speeds as high as 50 mph. Here, he is able to ski off jumps and other terrain variations, and he realizes that he has to take risks in order to succeed in this sport.
“Whenever I’m skiing, I never think about crashing or injury because it messes with my focus,” Ashkarian said. “When you sign up for ski racing, you can’t think about things like that because it’s the kind of sport where you have to take risks to get the highest results.”
This season, Ashkarian moved up to the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) age group, which is a very high caliber of skiing, according to Ashkarian. Now that he is a part of FIS, the first task that he has to accomplish is qualifying in his division that is comprised of racers from Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe. He has to do this in order to compete against the top 100 skiers from the western side of the country, including California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Utah.
“What’s really cool about FIS is that it is the international governing body for skiing, so I can enter into races in Europe,” Ashkarian said. “Last weekend, I had my first FIS race in Big Sky, Montana, in which I placed in the middle of the pack, which I was really happy about.”
Over the past seven years of ski racing, Ashkarian has learned so much, especially about discipline and focus. He has seen how skiing is not only physically challenging, but also mentally rigorous. Ashkarian’s coach, Konard Rickenbach, has also taught him that when focus is lost on a course, mistakes are made that would cost valuable time. According to Ashkarian, getting focused before a race is difficult, but what he does is get mad in the start gate, so that he can ski an aggressive and fast run.
“I have a coach who doesn’t tell me what is bad or what I can improve on; instead, I must observe my skiing, self-analyze, and communicate my findings to him,” Ashkarian said. “It’s very hard to notice the small things when I’m skiing, but it helps me get better because I don’t have to rely on my coaches, since I can analyze my own skiing [performance].”
Ashkarian looks up to skier Steve Nyman because despite him being older than the average ski racer, he is determined and still keeps with it. Ashkarian also got the opportunity to be coached by Nyman at a camp in Mammoth. He admires Mikaela Shriffin because she is such a really young ski racer but is breaking records for a number of World Cup wins and the number of discipline and overall goals that have been set for many years past. She is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, which Ashkarian hopes to accomplish with Team Armenia.
“I am interested to ski in college in conjunction with my studies because I love the sport, and I want to keep with it as long as possible,” Ashkarian said. “I’m also keeping the possibility open for skiing at the Winter Olympics for Team Armenia, which would be spectacular if it happens.”
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