Under 23 Questions with Katharine Ogden

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at next 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. First up, 19-year-old Katharine Ogden, of the Stratton Mountain School and 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 Katharine Ogden, but you can call me KO. I was born in Seattle, Wash., and raised in Landgrove, Vt., and one thing you should know about my hometown is there are only about 100 people living there.

I started cross-country skiing when I was three, thanks to my papa who is a ski coach. I currently train in Stratton, Vt., with Stratton Mountain School.

If I’m not skiing, you might find me mountain biking. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘Looking for Alaska’.

One of the things I’m most excited about for Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow is racing at altitude. One race I’m especially targeting there is the 10 k skiathlon.

The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing or racing was my dad always tells me, ‘It’s fun to kick ass.’ One of the best race memories I have is when my teammate (Julia Kern) won the relay race in a photo finish at my first JNS at Soldier Hollow in 2012.

If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Heidi Weng.

If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll probably be a recreational skier 🙂.

I’m missing zero days of school to be here, and my teachers are probably thinking, “I don’t have teachers.”

You can follow me on Instagram at @katharineogden.”