Voisin qualifies for U.S. Winter Olympic team

by The Daily Inter Lake
| January 13, 2018 6:44 PM

ASPEN — Maggie Voisin is going to get her shot at redemption.

The 19-year-old prodigy from Whitefish qualified for the Olympic Winter Games for the second time on Saturday with a second-place finish in the slopestyle skiing competition at the U.S. Grand Prix event at Snowmass.

Voisin secured her spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, with a second-run score of 89.00.

She first qualified for the Olympics back in 2014, but a broken leg suffered during a training run on the day of opening ceremonies in Sochi kept Voisin out of competition.

Voisin won an Olympic qualifying event last year at California’s Mammoth Mountain, and a second podium finish at a qualifying event locked up her spot on the team.

Norway’s Johanne Kille took gold on Saturday with her first run, which earned a score of 91.6.

Along with Voisin, Kille is among the favorites to earn a spot on the podium in the upcoming Olympic Winter Games. Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru, currently the top-ranked women’s slopestyle skier in the world, will miss the Olympics with a knee injury.

The PyeongChang Games will take place Feb. 9-25.