DRAPER — It was a moment many years in the making.
"I just could not believe it," said Alta High alum Lacy Schnoor of winning the aerial competition at the Olympic Trials in Steamboat Springs two weeks ago. "I was ecstatic. I've worked so hard, but I've had a couple of injuries. It's been kind of a long road, but I'm happy it finally paid off."
Schnoor's victory earns her a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2010 Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. But more than finally realizing her Olympic dream, she is thrilled to be a legitimate contender on the World Cup scene.
"(The Olympics) has always been a goal," said the 24-year-old. "But more of a goal is to actually do well and be in the top five in the world."
Finally reaching that elite level is something Schnoor has been dreaming about since she was invited to an aerial camp in junior high.
"I was more or less recruited," she laughs about finding Freestyle. "Right before the 2002 Olympics, there was a 'Street to sport' program that went to all the middle schools. They set up simulations for the events in the gym, and they had a bungee system there. I got up on it and flipped and twisted. They asked me to do an aerial camp, in the summer, which I did. I liked it right away."
The Schnoors were recreational skiers, but her father immediately loved the idea. Mom, well, she had to get used to the idea of seeing her daughter vault 40 feet into the air, spin and twist and flip and then land on a mountainside.
"It took her a while to get used to it," Schnoor said. "She thought it was great, but she was nervous."
The second of four children, Schnoor's training as a gymnast helped her quickly adapt to the demands of aerials, in which skiers launch themselves off of kickers that send them high into the air, where they do flips and spins in various forms for points. The toughest aspect of the sport, however, is not flying through the air. It's finding one's feet and landing on a mountainside after the trick is finished.
"I remember seeing it on television on the news, I think, and I remember thinking that it was the craziest thing I'd ever seen," she said.
That crazy event became Schnoor's passion. So much so that she never had any trouble fighting back after two separate knee injuries and a broken bone.
"I was hurt about every other year," she said. "It was a little frustrating knowing that it held me back. Realistically, I could have been doing these tricks two or three years ago."
Those tricks are the two she plans to use in the remaining three World Cup events, as well as the 2010 Winter Games. She landed a double-full-full, which is two flips with two twists on the first flip, as well as her newest trick, a full-double-full, which is the same trick in reverse and a bit harder.
The trick that helped her win was so new to her, she discussed with her coach on the way there whether they should even use it.
"My coach said, 'If you want to win, you might need that trick,' " she said with a laugh. And she wanted to win.
"I was a little jet-lagged, but I did it anyway," she said. "The first one in training, I was pretty nervous. But it went really well, and that gave me confidence."
Aerial skiing is a very physical sport, but it's almost as challenging mentally as it is physically.
"It is definitely very, very mental," she said. "Mostly you have to trust yourself. You have to, now that you've done the trick, that you know what to do and that you're going to be fine. It's always nerve-wracking on a new trick, but there are good nerves, too."
Schnoor said her desire to represent the U.S. in the Olympics was born while participating in the aerial development program.
"It is definitely something that came out of this program," she said. "I thought about it when I was in gymnastics, but I knew that was pretty far-fetched."
Now, it's more than a daydream; it's a reality.
"It's just really exciting," she said of both her accomplishments and her future.
Lacy Schnoor
Birth date: June 12, 1985
Hometown: Draper
Family: Second of four children
Education: Alta High graduate; currently attends Westminster College
Major: Business
Hobbies: Surfing; mountain biking
Equipment: Volkl, Full Tilt Pro-Tec, Bolle
Interesting tidbits: Is a former gymnast and was a high school cheerleader for the Hawks.
e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com