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Annika Landis
Age: 23
How long you’ve been skiing: 16+ years
Your favorite workout: Speeds, or long adventure runs in the mountains
#1 reason you ski race: The #1 reason I race is because of the community of people that nordic skiing attracts and cultivates. I love the selflessness of race volunteers and parents, the friendships among and across teams, and the opportunity for personal growth both in skiing and more personally.
Your athlete philosophy: Put simply: “Talent goes fast, dedication goes faster, happiness goes fastest.” Talent can only get you so far, and you have to be willing to do the small things day in and day out to be successful, but you also have to make sure that what you are doing each day makes you happy and is balanced well with other interests. I race the fastest when I’m happy!
Biography: Annika grew up in Hailey, Idaho and started skiing for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation at seven years old. At first, she was unsure about the whole skiing business, but after her first race victory she was inevitably hooked and continued training and racing for SVSEF through the end of high school, competing in six Junior National Championships.
Annika attended Middlebury College, where under the outstanding coaching of Andrew Johnson and Kate Barton, she qualified for two NCAA Championships and a U23 World Championship. She ended her college career with 21 top-10 results, and five career podiums. Other skiing highlights include 10 top-15 US Super Tour Finishes and alternate for 2021 U23 World Championships. She was also the women’s team caption for two years and helped cultivate the Middlebury Women’s team into a dominating force on the Eastern College circuit, culminating in achieving the highest team score at 2020 NCAA’s before they were cancelled due to Covid-19. Annika found her position as captain incredibly rewarding and enjoyed the role equally to her upward trajectory in skiing.
After college, Annika skied for a year with the SVSEF Gold Team before ultimately deciding to join the Craftsbury Green Racing Project in Craftsbury Vermont. She is excited for a new environment to pursue her goals of racing on the World Cup and getting as close as she can to qualifying for the 2022 Olympics.
In addition to skiing, Annika loves getting out into the mountains for long runs, extreme peak bagging adventures, backcountry skiing, mountain biking and more. When she isn’t scanning cal topo maps for new adventures, you can find Annika working through the New York Times crossword or taking a nap with her black lab Teva. Additionally, Annika hopes to apply her joint degree in Environmental Studies and Sociology towards decreasing the climate impact of skiing.
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