The Alpine World Cup in Aspen is only moments away. Although the event is so close, National Teams are doing some last minute placing to see who will race. While everyone was getting their legs back under them on opening day, three ladies from the U.S. Ski Team were battling it out to see who would be eligible to compete in the World Cup event that is only a week away.

Lila Lapanja, Foreste Peterson, and Paula Moltzan had a time trial slalom event to determine who would be going to the World Cup in Aspen next weekend. Paula is no stranger to the Golden Peak Race Arena and it certainly showed. Paula had the fastest time during the time trials and she will now be going to Aspen to compete in her first ever World Cup event for Slalom. Paula came out from Minnesota to Vail to train with Ski & Snowboard Club Vail in 2010 and has been competing phenomenally well ever since. Paula was with Ski & Snowboard Club Vail for one year before she landed a spot on the U.S. Development team.

This past summer Paula was recovering from a shoulder surgery. She had her third shoulder surgery and was unable to train on snow during the summer. Most of her time was spent at the Center of Excellence in Park City getting strong. “This is the first season that she will be starting out fully healthy in three years,” says Paula’s father Mark Moltzan. Paula has been training with Seth McAdams, which has really fine-tuned her skiing abilities. “I really trust Seth. He has been doing great things. Seth texted me during the time trials and said that they were going to select her for the World Cup. Shortly after that I got a call from Paula who was in tears of joy and out of breathe from finishing a run down Golden Peak. To get an athlete to this stage takes a whole village to polish all the necessary skills. Hats off to Aldo Radamus and Dan Stripp at Ski & Snowboard Club Vail for bringing her to the next level. We are bubbling with pride and know that she is capable of doing really well,” says Mark.