7 Things You Didn’t Know About Simi Hamilton

Some little-known facts about the 26-year-old sprinter, who moved across the country to Vermont earlier this year to join the Stratton Mountain School T2 Team. On Sunday, Hamilton placed 14th in the Davos Worlds Cup freestyle sprint on an all-around solid day for the US Ski Team.

Athlete: Simi Hamilton

Team: U.S. Ski Team (third year); Stratton Mountain School T2 Team

Age: 26

Hometown: Aspen, Colo.

7 Things: 

1. My sophomore year of high school I rode my bike to school every single day of the school year. The ride is about 4 miles each way and I had to clean my stepdad’s office for two months in order to earn money to buy a super bright light to get home after ski practice during the winter.
2. I prefer sparkling water over still water.
3. I once ‘skitched’ 8 miles behind a school bus during a white-out blizzard.
4. I have climbed the Grand Teton 37 times.
5. The first speeding ticket I got was two weeks after I got my license. Since then I’ve only received two warnings.
6. My favorite thing to listen to on long drives is This American Life.
7. I once ate over 20 red ants with Matt Whitcomb while on a training trip to Sweden in 2004.

Bonus Round:

• Go-to mantra or motto: Harden the **** up.
• What do you miss most while on the road (besides family and friends)? Ski mountaineering at my cabin in the Marble backcountry.
• Best part about being a pro athlete: Besides racking up a ton of miles and getting to eat as many Milano cookies in the United Club as I want, it would be meeting some of the most driven, talented, and passionate athletes in the World from other countries.
• 3 travel essentials: Cholula, Dexter, Alpinist Magazine subscription on my iPad.
• Go-to travel meal or food: Hot waffle with brown (Ghetost) cheese accompanied by a mug of dark coffee when in Scandinavia and fresh baked bread with cheese and sausage and a mug of Emergen-C when I’m outside of Scandinavia
• Song that you could listen to non-stop: “Prehistoric Dog” by Red Fang. It’s got the ability to mellow me out before bed but also fire me up before race time.
• Song you wouldn’t mind never hearing again: Anything by Bruno Mars

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See also: Sadie Bjornsen | Sophie Caldwell | Noah Hoffman | Andy Newell | Kikkan Randall