By Lisa Loomis
The road to the Winter Olympics is often told as a solitary pursuit: one athlete, one mountain, one moment at the start gate. But for U.S. ski racer Paula Moltzan, Waitsfield, the path to Cortina, Italy, is anything but solitary.
It is shared with a physical therapist who knows her body as well as she knows herself, and with a sports executive whose job is to make sure elite athletes feel supported, protected and nurtured at the highest level of competition. All three women are connected to the Mad River Valley. All three are heading to the Olympics. And each plays a distinct role in getting athletes to the start – and keeping them there.
Moltzan, 30, is an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Ski Team, competing in slalom and giant slalom. Brie Pike-Sprenger Beckwith, a physical therapist based in Fayston, has worked with Moltzan on and off since she was a teenager and is now one of her most trusted confidantes. Waitsfield native and Green Mountain Valley School grad Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski & Snowboard, oversees the athletic operations of 10 sports, nearly 240 athletes and roughly 200 staff members.
One competes. One keeps the competitor healthy. One builds the environment that allows both to succeed. Together, they represent a quieter Olympic story – one rooted in trust, longevity and community.
KEEPING UP
Moltzan’s skiing story began at Buck Hill, a small ski area outside Minneapolis, where she learned to ski almost as soon as she could walk.
“I’ve skied since I was a year and a half, two years old,” Moltzan said. “Both my parents were ski instructors, and I’m the youngest of three, so I was always trying to keep up with my older siblings.”
That chase carried her to the U.S. Ski Team at age 17 in 2011. Five years later, she was off the team entirely. What followed was a pivotal detour through the University of Vermont – one that Moltzan credits with reshaping her career and her perspective.
“There’s no short version of my story,” she said, laughing. “I was on the team for five years, off the team for three years, and then came back as an independent athlete while I was still in college.”
She earned her way back onto the World Cup circuit through the Killington World Cup, placing 17th in slalom while still a collegiate racer. By the 2019-20 season, she was back on the U.S. Ski Team full time. This winter marks her eighth season since that return.
Moltzan competes in both slalom and giant slalom and is among the most consistent technical skiers on the U.S. women’s team. She placed in the top 20 at Killington and has podiumed in multiple disciplines during her career.
“She’s one of our top athletes on the alpine side,” Patty said. “And she’s also one of the strongest leaders we have.”
PHYSICAL THERAPIST
Long before Moltzan was an Olympian, she was a teenager working with a young physical therapist on the women’s technical team.
“I met Paula when she was 19,” said Pike-Sprenger Beckwith. “At that point, I was working full time as a physical therapist for the U.S. women’s tech team.”
Life eventually pulled Pike-Sprenger Beckwith away from the World Cup circuit. She got married, had children, and settled into a practice at Elevation Physical Therapy in Fayston. But her relationship with Moltzan never disappeared.
“We’ve been working together consistently for probably five years now,” she said. “Definitely since COVID.”
Her role extends far beyond standard rehabilitation. Moltzan has navigated shoulder surgery, chronic tendon issues and, most recently, a back injury suffered just after Christmas.
“I NEED BRIE”
“That one was scary,” Moltzan said. “It lingered. It came in ebbs and flows. And I had this big red-flag moment where I thought, ‘I need Brie.’”
Pike-Sprenger Beckwith flew to Europe on short notice, unsure what she would find.
“She had very acute central back pain,” she said. “We were trying to diagnose it over the phone, and I didn’t really know what we’d be able to accomplish.”
After nearly a week of intensive hands-on work, Moltzan was able to return to skiing with reduced pain and improved mobility.
“At this level, it’s everything,” Pike-Sprenger Beckwith said. “It’s strength maintenance, manual therapy, blood-flow restriction, dry needling, stabilization – and also regeneration. Skiing is incredibly demanding on the body.”
Moltzan is clear about what Pike-Sprenger Beckwith means to her.
“She’s more than just a PT,” Moltzan said. “She’s the person I trust the most with my body. She’s my go-to.”
That trust is why Pike-Sprenger Beckwith will travel to Europe again for the Olympics, leaving behind her husband and their children, ages 4 and 7.
“It takes a community,” she said. “My mom is here. My sister lives in The Valley. Friends step in. My husband understands skiing – he’s lived it – and he always gives me the green light.”
LESS VISIBLE
Patty’s role in the Olympic ecosystem is less visible but no less critical. As chief of sport for U.S. Ski & Snowboard, she oversees everything athletic – from grassroots development to elite World Cup teams.
“I’m responsible for all of the sports side of the organization,” Patty said. “Ten different sports, 240 athletes and about 200 staff.”
A former U.S. Ski Team member herself, Patty raced downhill in the late 1980s and early 1990s before winning an NCAA championship at Dartmouth. Her leadership philosophy is informed by both success and hardship.
“It’s not an easy sport,” she said. “The weather’s hard. You’re on the road constantly. You’re living with people all the time. And sometimes, historically, the experience wasn’t great.”
Now, she has the authority to change that.
“When we go to World Cups – and especially the Olympics – you want athletes to have the people around them who love them, nurture them and support them,” Patty said. “That matters.”
INCREDIBLY VALUABLE
That belief led her to fully support Pike-Sprenger Beckwith’s presence with the team.
“While Brie does the hands-on PT, there’s so much more she gives,” Patty said. “Having a woman there who is caring and nurturing, especially in a high-stress environment, is incredibly valuable.”
Moltzan’s support system also includes her husband, Ryan, who serves as her ski technician.
“He’s responsible for about 45 pairs of skis,” Moltzan said. “He tunes four to seven pairs a day. It’s a full-time job.”
Ryan travels with her year-round, ensuring her equipment is race-ready – an often overlooked but essential piece of elite skiing. The overlap between personal and professional lives runs deep: Ryan is longtime friends with Pike-Sprenger Beckwith’s husband, who once mentored him in the sport.
LIVES OVERLAP
“All of our lives overlap,” Moltzan said. “It’s really special.”
For the first time since the COVID-restricted 2022 Games in China, Moltzan’s family will be in attendance. Her siblings and four nieces and nephews – many of whom have never been to Europe – will make the trip.
“It’s exciting, but the Olympics are work,” Moltzan said. “I probably won’t have much time, but just knowing they’re there means a lot.”
MRV IS HOME
Though Moltzan grew up in Minnesota, Vermont has become home. She bought a house in the Mad River Valley this summer, joining a community that has embraced her as one of its own.
That support extends to her sponsors, including Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Bag Balm, and Northeastern Reproductive Medicine.
“They’ve really taken me in,” Moltzan said. “It means everything.”
Lawson’s is planning an early-morning watch party for one of her Olympic races – a small-town celebration for a global stage.
Pike-Sprenger Beckwith sees Moltzan’s community impact firsthand, including through her children’s school.
“At Fayston Elementary School, there’s this little fox named Frederick Fox,” she said, laughing. “Paula sends photos of him from wherever she’s racing, and the kids track him on a map. It’s pretty amazing.”
As the Milano-Cortina Games approach, schedules will be relentless. Patty expects to attend one to three events per day across multiple venues. Pike-Sprenger Beckwith will split her time between therapy rooms and race hills. Moltzan will focus on three events and the narrow margins that define Olympic success.
PULL TOGETHER
But all three women share a common understanding how they are intertwined.
“It takes special athletes like Paula,” Patty said. “People who want to win on the hill and then come down and pull everyone together.”
For Moltzan, that collective effort brings confidence.
“It allows me to step into the start gate knowing I’m in the best form of my life,” she said. “On the biggest day of my life.”
Olympic Schedule, Women's Ski Racing
Women’s Alpine Skiing Schedule (Cortina d'Ampezzo)
- Feb. 8 (5:30 a.m. ET): Women's Downhill (Medal Event)
- Feb. 10 (8:00 a.m. ET): Women's Team Combined (Medal Event)
- Feb. 12 (5:30 a.m. ET): Women's Super-G (Medal Event)
- Feb. 15: Women's Giant Slalom (Run 1 & 2)
- Feb. 18: Women's Slalom (Run 1 & 2)
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