7 Things You Didn’t Know About Ida Sargent (Birthday Edition)

On her 26th birthday, Ida Sargent of the U.S. Ski Team shares some fun personal tidbits from Toblach, Italy, three days after she was officially named to the 2014 Olympic team.

Athlete: Ida Sargent

Team: U.S. Ski Team; Craftsbury Green Racing Project (first Olympics)

Age: 26

Hometown: Orleans, Vt.

7 Things:

1. I have been known to drink maple syrup straight and one of the desserts we had when I was growing up was a small bowl of maple syrup.
2. I’m a horrible swimmer and I barely survived swim lessons as a kid
3. My size 35 feet [Euro] are the smallest on the World Cup
4. I love spontaneity and new adventures. During college I was studying abroad in France and I rented a cruiser bike for a week and biked around southwest France and the Pyrenees by myself without a plan just choosing roads that looked cool and a place to stay when I got tired.
5. I only drink out of the right side of my mouth
6. I decided I wanted to go to Dartmouth College when I was 8 years old because I watched the NCAA championships and thought the teal Dartmouth suits with purple snowflakes were by far the coolest.
7. I’m the youngest of three kids and both my siblings are much better skiers than I am but they don’t get out on their xc skis very much anymore.  I owe any success to them though as developed my competitive drive desperately trying to keep up with my sister Elsa and learned how to be tough from my brother Eben during times like when he forced me to ride my bike over 10 miles to school in the 1st grade when we missed the bus.

Bonus Round:

***

See also: Sadie Bjornsen | Sophie Caldwell | Jessie Diggins | Simi Hamilton | Alex Harvey| Noah Hoffman | Andy Newell | Kikkan Randall