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YEAR ATHLETES OF THE
SOME WERE OLYMPIANS, SOME WILL BE. SOME LIVE HERE IN VERMONT, OTHERS WERE RAISED HERE. WHAT ALL THESE ATHLETES SHARE IN COMMON IS THIS: EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCES OVER THE PAST YEAR.
Ian Boswell became a gravel rider almost by default. That's just what northern Vermont dishes out. Photo by Ansel Dickey
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t’s never easy to pick just 10 Athletes of the Year from Vermont. And in a year that straddled two Olympic selection processes – first for the Tokyo Games in July 2021 and then for this winter's Games in Beijing, it was even harder. Vermont has never had a stronger contingent heading to the Summer Games and in the Winter
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Olympics, Vermonters are dominating in teams such as biathlon where six of the eight Olympic team members make Vermont their training ground. But Vermont Sports is about more than just the typical sports that make up the Olympics. And our athletes often excel in ways that don’t involve winning or losing
or head-to-head competition. To narrow this list, we had to tighten our criteria this year. We looked for athletes who had made a significant accomplishment in their sport in 2021 and who still have strong ties to Vermont – they either live here, or their immediate families do. Some, like ski racer Paula Moltzan would have made the cut but
she’s on hiatus from the University of Vermont and living in Massachusetts We recognize that all athletes travel to compete and train, but we wanted to recognize those who keep coming back, who still have family here, and who keep making Vermont proud. Here they are, in alphabetical order.
