Teens Ian Carmack, Brooke Greenberg headed to Sweden, Norway to XC ski in FIS races

Ian Carmack qualifying in Lake Placid a Nationals to go with fellow Park City cross country athlete Brooke Greenberg to Scandinavia for FIS level racing. Photo: courtesy of PCSS

TRONHEIM, Norway — Brooke Greenberg and Ian Carmack left on Sunday to fly from Salt Lake City to Scandinavia for what’s affectionately referred to as the “Scandos.” The annual Scandinavian Cup is a premier competition for top American junior cross-country athletes to compete in against international peers.

Greenberg and Carmack both cross country ski on the Park City Ski & Snowboard Team. 

Competition Team coach and three-time Olympian Liz Stephen, who raced in the Scandos when she was younger, took five athletes to Senior Nationals in Lake Placid in early January. The athletes got great racing experience in good snow conditions against the best athletes in the country. Highlights included Greenberg placing second and Carmack making it to the semi finals in the Junior Skate Sprint race. In so doing, both qualified for the US Ski & Snowboard U18 Trip to Trondheim, Norway and Ulricehamn, Sweden for the FIS competition.

“I’m super excited, it’s been a dream of mine that I have worked towards for years,” Carmack, a junior at Park City High School, told TownLift the day before he left. “Representing the USA team and meeting new people at the heart of Nordic skiing will be an extraordinary experience.”

This isn’t Carmack’s first time representing the USA team. He also competed in the sport discipline of nordic combined in Slovenia at the World Junior Championships for the PCSS Team after qualifying with two other local teenagers.