Under 23 Questions with Paddy Caldwell

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 22-year-old Paddy Caldwell, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team/U.S. Ski Team D-team, representing the U.S. at his third U23 Worlds.

On Thursday, Caldwell raced to a career-best ninth in the men’s 15 k freestyle, his first top 10 at U23 Worlds. He finished 18th in Tuesday’s classic sprint for his best-ever sprint at U23s.

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“My full name is Patrick Fitzgerald Waters Caldwell, but you can call me Paddy. I was born in Lebanon, N.H., raised in Lyme, N.H., and one thing you should know about my hometown is it was founded in 1761.

I started cross-country skiing when I was two or three, thanks to Mom and Dad. I currently train in Stratton, Vt., with SMS Elite Team.

If I’m not skiing, you might find me studying at Dartmouth College. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘Unbroken.’

One of the things I’m most excited about for U23/Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow is the new courses at SoHo. One race I’m especially targeting there is the 30km Skiathlon.

The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing or racing was ‘you gotta love it!’

One of the best race memories I have is the mixed Biathlon/ Cross Country, Men/Women team relay in Seefeld, Austria.

If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Johan Olsson.

If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll probably still be chasing snow.

I’m missing zero days of school to be here…

You can follow me on Instagram @paddy_caldwell.”