Peñasco’s Marion Balsamo sets her sights on 2022 Olympics
TWST Park team champion is also five-time national champion
Five-time National Champion of the USA Snowboard and Freeski Association, Marion Balsamo of Peñasco is now one of Taos Winter Sports Team’s most accomplished athletes.
She has her eyes set on the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and is aiming for the next Olympic tryout and Revolution Tour on Feb. 3-6 2021, at Mammoth Mountain in California.
According to her coach and dad, Sam Balsamo, interviewed by phone last weekend, 18-year-old Marion has been USASA National Champion in slopestyle and rail-jam of her age group female category five times, and USASA National Champion in rail-jam in the Women’s Open category in 2019. USASA Nationals were cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
“She transitioned from her age division to the Open Class two seasons ago and has been USASA National Champion in the Women’s Open Class. She dominated the Women’s Rail Jam competition since entering, even taking the ‘best trick’ among the Open Class Men and Women in 2019,” Sam Balsamo said about his daughter’s spectacular showing April 7 last year at Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado.
She also banged it out on the internationally famous and biggest professional rail jam event, “Rails 2 Riches” in Killington, Vermont, in 2017 and was placed on the Revolution Tours Elite list in 2018, but
could not compete on the tour due to financial constraints. Last year was Marion’s senior year, so she went all out and competed in the Revolution Tour and the NorAms at the Aspen Open.
“The Aspen Open took place on the X Game course and was open to pros and amateurs,” coach Balsamo said. “Marion placed fourth at the Aspen Open. The Revolution Tour included international events at Mammoth, Copper and Park
City. She had strong finishes in the Revolution Tour, qualifying to finals in second place and placing fourth on the podium.”
Last year was shaping up to be a banner year for Marion. She ended the Revolution Tour and was invited to the Junior Worlds in St. Lary, France. This was brought to a sudden halt with the onset of the pandemic, and the event was cancelled.
“We spend our time learning air awareness on jumps,” the coach said about Taos Winter Sports Team training, whether for rookies or seasoned competitors. “We practice spinning off jumps in
both directions and getting grabs. We learn how to slide and trick on boxes and rails. We enjoy playing in the terrain park and out of it. The natural features of the mountain are also our playground,” the coach said about Taos Ski Valley and Copper Mountain resorts.
Seven of the team’s park athletes qualified for USASA National Championships in 2020 but were unable to go because it also was cancelled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Marion Balsamo is ranked ninth in the United States on the FIS (Federation Internationale de Ski) points list, the primary international ranking system for skiing. She plans to compete in the Revolution Tour and the Grand Prix Olympic qualifying events this ski season to make it to the 2022 Olympics in slopestyle.
When not riding the rails in winters, she’s riding trails on her horse, and is in her first year of pre-veterinary studies at Colorado State University. Taos News caught up with Balsamo by phone Monday (Nov. 16) about her life and Olympic dreams.
You grew up in Peñasco, graduated from Taos Academy and are enrolled in Colorado State University, correct? Where are you living now?
I’ve been living at home since the first week I was at CSU. They changed all my classes to online classes so I’m in Peñasco doing homeschooling.
At what age did you start skiing and why rail jam and terrain park?
I can’t remember actually. My dad was a mogul skier and my mom grew up skiing, so maybe I started in the womb. Ha ha. I’ve never remembered not skiing. I thought the jumps and tricks were really cool. I guess I was about 8 or 9 years old – me and my younger brother (Sammy, now 16) fell in love with all the tricks.
Who are your slopestyle heroes?
Andreas Hatveit is one. The Norwegian. He’s got a real crisp style – and he has his own full-size lift and terrain park in his backyard! And Kelly Sildaru of Estonia. She’s the best female skier on the rails out there. She’s really great. I like her style, how she grabs her tails. I love skiing with the people I compete with. They push me to be my best. What is your favorite run at Taos Ski Valley? You also train at Copper Mountain in Colorado – why is that? Other than the park, it’s maybe Longhorn or Spencer’s. At Copper Mountain park the jumps are more like what you’d see on the X Games – a competition size-andstyle park.
What was your favorite competition? My favorite was the Park City one, it really played to my strength. I
was able to qualify second into the finals. The jumps were really shaped well.
How do you prepare mentally for competition – anything special you
do in the start gate?
I like to listen to my favorite songs like, “Be a Light” by Thomas Rhett and “Good to be Alive” by Meghan Trainor. I look at the course to see if they’ve made any adjustments,
I look at the terrain. I talk to my friends, listen to my music and maybe dance at the top. Ha ha. I train enough to where I feel comfortable and confident and then at the event, I put it in God’s hands.
What are you most looking forward to this season?
The World Cup courses and getting to train with the best of the best. My goals are to do well and hopefully get on the US Ski Team.