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2006
U.S. Ski Team Athlete Bios |
| LIBBY LUDLOW
A Team
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| Ussa Id: 4817268 |
Height: 5-3 ft/
1.58 m |
Weight: 137 lb/
62 kg |
| Birthdate: 8/26/81 |
Birthplace: Bellevue, WA |
Hometown: Bellevue, WA |
| Years on Team: 8th |
School: Dartmouth College |
Sponsors: Xbox |
| Equipment: Fischer, Lange, Swix |
Club: Crystal Mtn. Alpine Club |
WebSite:
www.libbyludlow.com |
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| Highlights |
· First World Cup points in GS in ’04
· First U.S. title in 2004 (GS)
· ’03: First World Cup top-30, top-25, top-20 (3)
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| Biography |
Libby Ludlow’s parents enrolled her in Crystal Mountain’s racing program so she would become a better skier, never imagining that she would become a member of the U.S. Ski Team. After seven years moving up through the ranks, Ludlow was elevated to the A Team after the 2004 season by virtue of her top-25 ranking in World Cup super G standings. She also won the 2004 U.S. giant slalom title.
Update
Just when Ludlow felt she was ready to make an even bigger surge forward on the World Cup (from injuries to her first Worlds in 2003, then her best all-round season in '04), injuries played havoc with her 2005 season, limiting her to just 14 races. She crashed in the first World Cup downhill of the winter (Lake Louise) and finished the season - after continued pain in midseason - with arthroscopic surgery in March to clean out her left knee. That led to another of the frustrating moments of Ludlow's '05 season: she couldn't defend her GS title at nationals. She was back on snow in June, free-skiing and aiming to ski pain-free so she could earn a spot in her first Olympics.
Start-Up
At 2, she began skiing; at 5, she added racing and she moved up through Crystal’s racing program, winning three J3 championships. She was named to the U.S. C Team with the 1999 season, made her World Cup debut and then lost two of the next three seasons to knee surgery. Ludlow started the ’03 season on the C Team but her burst of World Cup top-20s moved her to the B Team before she raced at Worlds. She was the women’s WinStar Award winner for 2003, which honors the first-year World Cup skier who shows the greatest improvement in ranking throughout the winter’s races. Ludlow won the award twice during the season to clinch the overall honor.
First World Cup
Dec. 4, 1998, at Mammoth Mountain, CA (63rd in SG)
Olympics/Worlds Experience
2003 Worlds – 23rd in downhill
Injuries
2005 - Knee injury in opening downhill at Lake Louise, arthroscopic surgery at season's end. 2001 – Tore her left ACL when she crashed in low visibility during a Europa Cup super G in France. She returned for ’02. 1999 – Tore her right ACL when she crashed during a Europa Cup GS in Italy. Ludlow credits Olympic Physical Therapy in Seattle for her successful bounce-back from each ACL reconstruction.
Personal
Dad’s an attorney, Mom’s an architect and both older brothers raced while they were in college; one returned to coach at Crystal...She attends Dartmouth College every spring post-season...Women’s pole vaulting wasn’t a sanctioned event when she started high school, so Ludlow competed against boys her freshman year; she held the state record for a few years and was runner-up in the state championship her senior year...She enjoys wakeboarding on Lake Sammamish and surfing on Washington’s coast...Wears a four-leaf clover pendant – a gift from her best friend – when she races...Was an all-conference soccer player in high school, also was in swimming and diving, and turned to pole vaulting in high school after playing softball for years....
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