BIOGRAPHY:
Will Brandenburg comes from a family of swimmers, but his favorite sport is on frozen water. He broke through dramatically in the 2007, then after a few injury plagued seasons, his hard work scored a coaches discretion spot for the 2010 Olympic super combined. He didn't disappoint, turning a 19th in the opening downhill into the second fastest run of slalom behind teammate Ted Ligety and ahead of gold medal winner Bode Miller to finish the race in 10th.

The World Championship season started out with a bang when Brandenburg was eighth after the opening run of slalom in Levi and was leading in the second run before going out near the bottom, but the speed was definitely there. Unfortunately the bad luck stayed with him for a good portion of the year and with it followed DNFs.

Two runs did come together just after Christmas with a 24th in the classic Adelboden slalom, then followed it up with a 22th in the Chamonix super combined before a sore knee socked him pretty hard before the World Championships and continued to hamper him through the rest of the season.

WILL SAYS:
"I have the ability to ski fast and I need to control that so I can be more consistent. I’ve struggled with that my whole career – understanding when to be aggressive but safe. I’ve learned how to execute it in training, but on race day I’ve got a lot more work to do."

"The big thing for me is controlling my emotions and not letting a mistake hang over my head going into the next race. At the start of the year, Levi, Finland was a great race for me. About 15 gates from the bottom I was holding the lead on the second run and straddled a gate."

"It was hard for me to let that go. I went to Val d’Isere, France, and had another great first run. Halfway down the second run, again with the lead, I straddled a gate. I needed to let those mistakes go and focus on the positive things that happened in those races. I didn’t do that and it cost me in the second half of the season."

"I just want to reach my potential in skiing. I don’t know what that is, but I think I’ve only touched a little of it. I’ll do whatever I can to get there."

FIRST TRACKS:
Walking at six months, on skis at 11 at Ski Bluewood in Walla Walla (“It was free to ski; it wasn’t free to go to the babysitter”) and into racing at about 7. Played Little League baseball and High School football, but snow won over and began training full-time with ski racing as a freshman. Consequently his freshman year also marked the first trip to Europe for the prestigious Topolino races in Italy and joined the U.S. Ski Team program in 2006.

OFF THE SNOW:
Brandenburg played everything when he was a kid and still loves to hoop, which makes sense as he's a ridiculous fan of the Zags. "I went to the same elementary school as [ex-Gonzaga star, now emerging NBA player] Adam Morrison; I was there when he was in high school. A ski family, his parents met at [Montana’s] Bridger Bowl.