BIOGRAPHY:
Tim Jitloff, like so many Lake Tahoe tykes, was on skis by 2 and free-skied through most of his youth. He stepped up to the U.S. Development Team in 2005, the same year he captured a Junior World Championship, and has kept plugging ever since with three trips to the World Championships.

His passion for skiing is matched by his passion for breast cancer awareness, as his mother is a survivor. In the summer of '09, he hooked up with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and has been helping them raise money and awareness for the cause ever since. Plus, he's good at it and is the top fund raiser annually for Reno chapter of the Foundation.

Jit began dabbling a bit more with speed during the 2011 season with sole purpose of becoming competitive in super combined. It worked. He scored his first combined points in Wengen with a 24th, tagged a 14th at the World Championships then blew the doors off with an eighth a few weekends later in Bansko, Bulgaria.

In seems the wind in his face also helped his GS struggles as well when he found his way back into the points in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia – then bested the World Champion Ted Ligety at the Putnam Investments U.S. Alpine Championships in second place behind Tommy Ford.

TIM SAYS:
"January was a fight last season. I made some great progress finding my race form again since I'd been struggling in giant slalom for about two years. I was getting stale just skiing GS, so I branched out into super combined and the positive results slowly gave me confidence again. Initially I wasn't a huge fan of super combined because it's really a lot of work, but it has allowed me to freshen up my skiing and give me something fun to do since there are only six World Cup GS races in a year. Plus, my slalom is good enough to compete with the best and I love hauling ass in downhill."

FIRST TRACKS:
Capsule report from the guy who started at two at Alpine Meadows - “Since I lived in Tahoe, I grew up free-skiing all my youth and in that free-skiing, I found I enjoyed the thrill of racing. I've been doing both ever since.”

OFF THE SNOW:
Jitloff is officially certified in SCUBA, but he's also into wakeboarding, surfing, road biking, hockey, golf and traveling. Favorite chow is definitely Mexican food, maybe because you simply can't find a good enchilada in Europe. Looks up to Hall of Famer Daron Rahlves and seems to always lose his sunglasses.