Years from now, moguls skier Morgan Schild is bound to look back at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah as a special course in her career.
The 20-year-old from Rochester, New York, took third place at the world cup stop in Park City on Wednesday and on Thursday she made it two podiums in a row. With her third-place finish on night two, Schild officially qualified for her first Olympic team. She joins teammate Jaelin Kauf, who qualified after her second-place finish on Wednesday.
Kauf won with a score of 81.37. It marked the fourth podium in six world cups for the 21-year-old who had never landed on the moguls world cup podium before this season. France’s Perrine Laffont was second Thursday, earning 80.38 in the super final.
Schild’s second straight third-place finish came with a score of 78.76.
The Olympic berth is the latest step on the comeback trail for Schild, who this time last year was just coming back on the competition circuit after missing nearly two years because of a knee injury.
Schild was the FIS world cup rookie of the year for the 2014-15 but tore her ACL in March of that season at the junior world championships. She missed 22 months in recovery and rehabilitation.
In her first competition back in January 2017, she got third place. Schild then arrived at Deer Valley and scored her second career world cup victory. Her first came in dual moguls, a non-Olympic event, in March 2015.
The skier nicknamed “Warpaint” for her concentration during competitions and known for pushing the limit on tricks is now going to the Olympics.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
