BIOGRAPHY:
TJ Lanning calls Park City home, but he is definitely from Montana. The top-ranked junior in the world in his age group for slalom and super G in 2001, injuries have kept him from reaching the potential he showed early in his career. Indeed, with multiple top-10 finishes at the World Cup level and a trip to the World Championships, Lanning has the speed to land on the podium, but that will have to wait until at least the 2013 season.

After missing the last third of the 2009 season and nearly the entire 2010 season due to injuries (a torn ACL at Kitzbuehel in '09 and a fractured neck at the opening race of the '10 season), Lanning decided to take the entire 2011 winter off from racing. The break allowed his body to heal entirely, but he's not ready to start pushing things back into the race world. After meeting with coaches, the 2012 plan is to ski and train throughout the winter, but to hold off on jumping into the start gate until the muscle mass is back to handle the rocket-fueled speeds of the World Cup.

FIRST TRACKS:
He began skiing at three and, as he worked his way from the Farm Team to the “big leagues” with the Park City Ski Team, Lanning was one of the nation’s most-watched juniors rolleing into his teens. In 1999, Lanning was the super G champ and silver medalist in slalom at the Western J3 JOs. During the ’01 season, he was ranked No. 1 in the world for his age group in slalom and super G.

OFF THE SNOW:
When healthy, he's waterskiing, wakeboarding and doing just about anything active, including riding the random mechanical bull. When in injury recovery mode, he's still kayaking, stand up paddling and hitting up full yoga sessions. Plans for his summer recovery 2010 included heading to Hawaii to receive his certification in yoga. Flip the coin, though, and he's all Montana—bird and elk hunting, ripping around on snowmobiles with the family, etc. Call him a modern day renaissance man.