STOWE –– The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum (VTSSM) will present a virtual Red Bench Speaker Series, “Celebrating Vermont’s Olympians: Inspiring Journeys to the Winter Games,” featuring four women from the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.
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The talk will describe how they got their start, what it meant to make the U.S. Olympic Team, and who inspired them along the way.
Peter Graves, the television sportscaster and race announcer known as “the voice of skiing in America.” will moderate a conversation with Olympic gold medalist Barbara Ann Cochran, cross-country skier Trina Hosmer, snowboarder Betsy Shaw and freestyle skier Donna Weinbrecht.
A member of the Cochran ski family, Barbara Ann won Olympic gold in Slalom at the 1972 Winter Games. A U.S. Ski Team member from 1969–74, she later became an educator, coach and mentor to young athletes. She has been inducted into both the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame and the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, and lives in Starksboro.
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Cross-country skier Trina Hosmer represented the U.S. at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics, the first to include women’s Nordic events. A lifelong racer and Masters World Champion, she is a leader with the New England Nordic Ski Association.
Raised on the slopes of Bromley, Betsy Shaw transitioned from alpine skiing to snowboarding and went on to compete in the sport’s Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano Games. A former World Cup Giant Slalom champion and Burton Team rider, Betsy now lives in Scotland
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The first Olympic gold medalist in women’s freestyle mogul skiing (1992), Donna Weinbrecht rose from training on small slopes in New Jersey to dominating the World Cup circuit with five overall titles and 46 victories. Today, she shares her passion through her ski camps and clinics at Killington.
The virtual event begins at 7 p.m. via Zoom. A donation helps support the museum’s mission to collect and preserve Vermont’s skiing and snowboarding heritage.
Register for the event at vtssm.org/new-events
