Briley wins 3 golds, 1 bronze in Skimo World Championships in Switzerland

Park City's Griffin Briley wins the U20 Mens Skimo World Championships in the Vertical in Switzerland. Photo: courtesy of United States Ski Mountaineering Association

MORGINS, Switzerland — Griffin Briley of Park City won the skimo (ski mountaineering) gold medal in the U20 mens vertical, sprint, and individual races and the bronze in the U20 mixed relay this week in Switzerland at the World Championships.

 

 

 

 

 

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Monday was the day he won the sprint race in 3 minutes, 22.4 seconds beating out Italy in second place and China in third. That same day the relay was held in which he and fellow Utahn from the team that trains at Brighton Ski Area, McCall Birkinshaw, got the bronze medal in the team youth mixed race. Spain won the race and France was right behind them. The dynamic duo crossed the finish line only about 30 seconds after the winners who came in at the 38 minute mark.

Briley’s finish time in the vertical race was 21 minutes, 22.6 seconds on Tuesday. Austria came in second second, with Spain third.

Friday he got the gold in the individual race, his specialty of the disciplines.

The two USA Skimo athletes each individually won their categories in this years Nationals held in the Wasatch Mountain Range, called the Powderkeg race. 

Bryce Ostermiller of the Park City Ski and Snowboard Team (PCSS) Skimo Team and his teammate Sienna Peterson came in 10th in the Switzerland Worlds in youth mixed relay race.

Adam Loomis is a former USA Skimo National Team member and current sport director and coach of PCSS Skimo where Briley got his start in the sport. He told TownLift, “I’ve known he’s been capable of winning at the highest level, so it wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but it’s still incredible results. He’s meeting and even besting his 2023 World Championship performances – where he took 3rd in the sprint, 2nd in the vertical and 1st in the individual. As Griffin progresses, his commitment has increased accordingly. This year, he made the move to France where he’s training in the Alps amongst some of the world’s best skimo athletes.”

Briley is a class of 2024 Park City High School alumni and a past recipient of the Youth Sports Alliance (YSA) Stein Eriksen Dare To Dream Scholarship.

This event in Switzerland had 400 athletes from 25 countries, a strong showing as the run-up (pun intended) to the 2026 Olympics where skimo will debut.

For a taste of this action-packed sport where athletes race up a mountain, turn around and race back down with the first one across the finish line winning, watch this mixed relay highlights video of the senior class not the U20 in which Briley raced and placed in Switzerland.