BIOGRAPHY:
East Coast Olympian Nolan Kasper saw his first NorAm race during the 2007 season and quickly upgraded his starting status to World Cup level in time for the 2010 Olympic season, earning a slalom start in Vancouver. That confidence and experience proved to be a catalyst, as Kasper then exploded during the 2011 season to win the Europa Cup slalom title and take his first World Cup podium.

Indeed, the face-value numbers speak for themselves when it comes to Kasper's 2011 season: a podium and four other World Cup top 15 finishes, five Europa Cup podiums en route to the overall slalom title, and 15th in slalom during his first World Championships, but look a bit deeper into those numbers and you can really see the kind of season Mr. Kasper produced: his was second in the Kranjska Gora, Slovenia World Cup slalom by a mere five hundredths to Austria's Mario Matt, and the Europa Cup title was the first for an American since 1989. Oh, and he moved up from 56th to 17th in the World Cup slalom rankings. Big steps? You could say that.

NOLAN SAYS:
"I try to make decisions that are going to be positive, not just for the season but for my career. Earlier in the season, I was struggling a little bit on the World Cup, so I made the decision to go back to Europa Cup to get some confidence."

"It worked. Winning the slalom title wasn't something we'd really thought about. It wasn't a goal at the beginning of the season. I just turned out to be in the right position at the right time and went forward with it and came out with the title. It's pretty cool.”

"Just because I got a World Cup podium doesn't mean I'm entitled to anything or deserve any more respect than I should've had before. I'm young, and I'm going to be the guy who hopefully comes down and shows the older guys what the new wave can do, [and] hopefully be a fresh face on the scene."

FIRST TRACKS:
Nolan Kasper started skiing at New Jersey's Hidden Valley when he was three. He raced on the junior circuit on the East coast and attended Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont before getting a call-up to the U.S. Development Team in 2007. In March 2009, Kasper claimed a bronze medal in slalom—one place behind Olympic teammate Tommy Ford—at the Junior World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, climbed another rung on the U.S. Ski Team ladder, and hasn't looked back since.

OFF THE SNOW:
Kasper is a creative guy and lets it all flow on his blog: http://nolankasper.blogspot.com/. He and teammate Tommy Ford are big on video editing and are very good at it. He's also a man of constant motion and coaches say that he works best when he's occupied. That's why off-season includes hitting the books hard at Dartmouth before going full-on into summer training across the Southern Hemisphere. Oh, and he's into Planking.