After four years in John Kroetz’s Bristol Mountain Freestyle program in New York, Dylan Walczyk’s family packed up and moved to Summit County, Colorado. There, the young Walczyk trained with John Dowling of Team Breckenridge, whom Walczyk calls the greatest influence in his current skiing style. “I attribute much of my success to the use of all different types of coaches from different programs,” says Walczyk. “I was able to pull little things from each one to improve my skiing.”

Walczyk gained his spot on the U.S. Ski Team by winning at the U.S. Selections event for the 2013 season. With a healthy boost of confidence, he went on to earn a third place finish in Lake Placid, the first World Cup event of his career. He rounded out his season ranked eighth in the world after a series of top 10 finishes.

DYLAN SAYS
This season I made the transition from NorAm's to the World Cup circuit. I was filling in for my teammate in Lake Placid and ended up finishing third. It was a long shot for me to even compete on World Cup this year, seeing as I did not have starts at the beginning of the season. However, my result in Lake Placid gave me the starts I needed to continue and really boosted my confidence moving forward to the next events, where I earned multiple top tens, a fourth place in Sweden and finished up the season ranked eighth in the world.

It was great to be able to travel to some really great places with the team this season. Partway through the season we arrived at the Olympic test event in Sochi, Russia. I didn't have my best skiing, but the mountain was amazing and I was able to do some great freeskiing in my off time. 

FIRST TRACKS
Walczyk first started skiing for fun with his parents on the weekends when he was a kid in Bristol, NY. His love for the sport grew stronger through the years, as he balanced both racing and moguls skiing. “I picked mogul skiing because, to me, it looked more fun,” says Walczyk. “I started competing at the age of 10.”