20-for-20 with Peter Carroll

In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes that will be competing at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia.

Here’s Peter Carroll, of the Auburn Ski Club, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Friday and is representing the U.S. at his second Youth/Junior Worlds. On Thursday, he finished 79th in the junior men’s 15-kilometer individual and was 82nd in the 10 k sprint on Saturday.

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“My full name is Peter Myung-Ho Park Carroll but you can call me Galactic President Superstar Freaking McAwesome, Hot Pants, or Peter… Whichever you prefer…. Or can say the quickest…

I was born in Daejeon, South Korea, raised in Truckee, Calif., aka, The Coolest Place on Earth, and one thing you should know about my hometown is that yes, even though it’s in California, we get some of the best snowfall in the US, you know, when we get snow…….

I started cross-country skiing when I was 13 and started biathlon when I was 15, thanks to Sam Zabel, one of my best friends and training partners, and Glenn Jobe, former Olympian and a straight-up awesome, awesome coach. I also owe a huge debt to Mark Nadell, to whom many in my hometown know as Marky Mark, or Captain Nordic. I owe a lot to Mark, thanks Coach. Mark Nadell recently passed away from a battle with cancer. Thank you Mark. Rest easy, this ones for you.

I currently train in Truckee at Auburn Ski Club.

If I’m not skiing, you might find me watching ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and dry firing. I find its really hard to keep good position and have a good trigger squeeze when I can’t help but laugh at that show. It’s great training, but whenever I tell my mom what I’m doing she just rolls her eyes at me.

If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘The Power of One’. Or the encyclopedia, I’ve never had a book that made me enjoy other books as much as the encyclopedia.

One of the things I’m most excited about for Youth/Junior World Championships in Brezno-Osrblie is my birthday on the 24th, I’ll be turning 20! Oh and I’m really excited to race against some fast skiers, too! This will be my second Youth/Junior World Championships, and this year, I’m competing as a junior.

One race I’m especially targeting there is the individual. Hopefully I can ride off of some of Lowell Bailey’s recent success and deliver a solid race with good shooting!

The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing and racing was my first day on skis, my first coach Mark Nadell, told me that I ski like my pants were on fire. He gave me the nickname Hot Pants. He then told me that I actually need to focus on the technique behind the sport and said, ‘A flat ski, is a fast ski’, I repeat that to myself every time I ski, over and over and over and over.

One of the best race memories I have was my third year of ski racing, I qualified first overall for U18s at the Super JNQ in Soldier Hollow, Utah. It was a classic sprint and I had to wear a bike helmet because I had a couple concussions within a year. I called it my speed bucket, it was where I kept my extra speed! I didn’t work very well because I ended up finishing 4th overall in the sprints, but I had a blast the entire day, and got a lot of weird looks for racing around in a pink and blue helmet.

If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Justine Braisaz. I have a celebrity crush on her.

If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll probably be a professional travel bum, I love going to new places. I’d buy a van and turn it into a miniature home and travel as far and as wide as I could! Either that or I would pursue a career as a coach, I love getting out on snow with younger athletes and showing them how much fun this sport can be. I mean, who doesn’t love dashing through powder on nordic skis? Or making up silly rules while you ski, like say, you see a skier who is wearing blue and everyone has to ski backwards until either everyone falls over or you see another skier?

I’m missing about -500 days of school to be here, and my old teachers/professors are probably thinking, ‘Why in the heck hasn’t this kid gone to college already?’

You can follow me on Instagram if you’d like to see poorly edited photos and bad shaky video clips @partyxc_pete.”