Boise High grad makes case for Olympics with another national ski title
Boise High graduate Sammy Smith is having quite the week in Lake Placid, New York.
Smith won her second national cross country skiing title this week at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, clocking the fastest time among 189 skiers in the classic sprint on Friday.
Smith also won the race last season. This time she finished the 1.5-kilometer course in 3 minutes, 14.95 seconds — nearly 7 seconds ahead runner-up finisher of Katie Weaver, of Alberta World Cup Academy.
Smith finished atop the skate sprint podium on Tuesday, putting her in excellent position to be one of eight women who will represent the U.S. cross country ski team in Milano Cortina next month at the Winter Olympics. U.S. coaches must select the team by Jan. 20.
Also a standout in soccer at Stanford, Smith started at left back in the NCAA national championship game on Dec. 8, leaving her little time to prepare for the ski season.
It didn’t seem to matter.
Smith also finished third among Americans (fifth overall) in the 10-kilometer classic in 29:47.3 on Sunday and was 11th in the 20-kilometer freestyle on Thursday.
The 20-year-old has represented the U.S. in soccer at the U-17 women’s World Cup in 2022. She won a bronze medal for her country at the 2023 Pan American Games and went to Spain with the U-19 national team again in 2024.
“Obviously, it’ll be challenging to figure out a few things with school, but I’m hoping the university will work with me (for potential absences next month),” Smith told Nordic Insights after Friday’s race. “I feel like I have some pretty good arguments to be gone.”
