Jan 10, 2025
Jessie Church, a Paul Smith’s College student and Nordic skier from Bethlehem, New Hampshire, gets interviewed on Thursday before she heads to Torino, Italy on Saturday to compete in the FISU Winter World University Games. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)
PAUL SMITHS — There was a media blitz in the atrium of the Saunders Sports Complex on the Paul Smith’s College campus on Thursday as five of the seven student-athletes representing the U.S. at the FISU Winter World University Games in Torino, Italy next week prepared for their trip.
Two years ago, when the FISU Games were held in Lake Placid, several PSC student-athletes who remember seeing those games were just starting their skiing training. Now, they’ll be competing in them in the Alps.
“It’s a lot of athletes going from a small school,” PSC Nordic and biathlon coach Matt Dougherty said.
Nordic skiers Phil Matthews, Jessie Church and Aidan Ripp; and biathletes Kasia Bosek, Diego Schillaci, Bridget Reusch and Dolcie Tanguay fly out of Boston on Saturday and will be in Italy from Jan. 11 to 24. Competition starts on Jan. 14.
Ripp, of Minnesota, and Tanguay, of Maine, both graduated in May, but can still compete in these FISU Games. They also previously competed in the 2023 games when they were held here. They are returning from Anchorage, Alaska, where they just competed in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard National Championships.
Kasia Bosek, a Paul Smith’s College student and biathlete from Alexandria, Minnesota, gets interviewed on Thursday before she heads to Torino, Italy on Saturday to compete in the FISU Winter World University Games. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)
This team of skiers came to PSC specifically for its Nordic program
“Skiing’s the reason I came to Paul Smith’s,” Matthews said.
Bosek and Church said the same thing.
“It’s why I came here,” Reusch said.
Most of the racers got into the sport because of their parents. Church started skiing as an infant.
Diego Schillaci, a Paul Smith’s College student and biathlete from New Paltz, gets interviewed on Thursday before he heads to Torino, Italy on Saturday to compete in the FISU Winter World University Games. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)
“I was put on skis because the ski boots helped me stand before I could walk, and I would just shuffle around the yard,” she said.
Bosek, a senior, started training in biathlon at age 12. Her father was a marine sniper and built a range and ski trails at their house in Montana.
“He’s so supportive. I love him so much,” Bosek said.
Schillaci learned to ski with his mom. During the coronavirus pandemic, he asked his high school ski coach to teach him how to shoot. This is a newer thing for him and he has no idea how he’ll do, but he said he’ll give it his best.
Matthews’ parents, especially his dad, took him out skiing. He got involved in competitive skiing after hearing an announcement about his high school ski team over the speakers one morning.
Several of the students remember seeing the FISU Games here two years ago.
Matthews made friends at the 2023 FISU Games who he’s still in contact with. Having seen the games here before, he knows what to expect and can better mentally prepare himself.
Schillaci remembers meeting athletes at those Games and looks forward to that. Though it’s a special occasion, he’s in the competitive mindset that it’s “just another race.”
Bosek remembers seeing the FISU Games here and is looking forward to the “great energy” they bring.
Racing overseas, getting to put on the USA race suit and compete against whole new batch of people from around the world is a different feeling.
The Torino biathlon course is brand-new. It was initially built for the 2006 Winter Olympics, and was recently revitalized for the FISU Games, much like venues around here were before 2023. Because of how new the track is, almost no one has raced on it, so no one really knows what it will be like, Schillaci said.
Attending the 2025 FISU Games means something different for everyone. For Schillaci, it’s a great way to cap off his senior year and a bit of a family reunion. His father is flying over and his aunt, uncle and cousin live in Rome, just a train ride away from Torino.
This will be Matthews’ first time leaving the country. He’s been keeping a countdown to departure. When it was at 100 days, he said he was all nerves. Now that it’s just at two days, he’s mostly excited. Matthews, a junior, said he’s as ready as he can be and feels relaxed.
Bosek has competed in Europe before, in high school and in college. She’s excited to be doing it this time with her teammates, and looking forward to cheering them on.
Reusch is in her first year at PSC. She said it feels wild to be competing on such a big stage in her first year. After Nordic skiing in high school she picked up the shooting aspect of biathlon during a gap year to help with burnout and fell in love with sport. The FISU Games will be some of her first races for the season and she’s glad to be seeing progress in her first year.
She feels at home on her team and said she’s made friends that she’ll have for a long time.
Church never thought she would get this far in the sport she loves. It is nerve-wracking and exciting.
It’s “exhilarating” to hit a flat spot on the trail and V2 for minutes. V2 is a skiing technique or “gear,” where they glide at a high speed.
It’s sounds kind of masochistic, Church said, but she likes the pain and the ability to push through that that pain in the sport. It’s really powerful to her.
“It’s a really nice feeling to be in a lot of pain and want to quit, but you just keep going,” she said.
They talk about the “pain cave,” the amount of pain they can be in without passing out or being over the edge. It’s their body telling them to slow down, but in endurance sports, they learn how to be comfortable in that pain cave.
Matthews got hooked on the sport because of how hard it is. Asked why, he initially said “insanity,” but also added that it feels rewarding to accomplish something so physically demanding.
Coverage of the events will be streamed on the discovery+ and Max platforms and online at fisu.tv and recaps of races will be posted to the “FISUtv” YouTube page.
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