Under 23 Questions with Julia Kern

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 19-year-old Julia Kern, of the Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team D-team, who’s representing the U.S. at her third Junior Worlds.

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“My full name is Julia Kern but you can call me jkern.

I was born in Berkeley, Calif., raised in Waltham, Mass., and one thing you should know about my hometown is that it has a sweet view of Boston on my favorite running trails.

I started cross-country skiing when I was one, thanks to my grandparents in Germany, who would feed me gummy bears along the way. I currently train in Stratton, Vt., with the SMS Elite Team.

If I’m not skiing, you might find me doing photography or film stuff. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘1984′ by George Orwell.

One of the things I’m most excited about for Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow is having a home course and country advantage! One race I’m especially targeting there is the classic sprint.

The best advice anyone ever gave me about racing is that all the work is done before race days and race days are the chance to show off all your hard work and nothing can slow you down except yourself.

One of the best race memories I have is racing the classic sprint at SilverStar this season.

If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Stina Nilsson.

If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll probably be working for a marketing or advertisement firm.

I’m missing zero days of school to be here because I am taking off winter term at Dartmouth to travel and race!

You can follow me on Instagram @juliakernski or on my blog.”