Over the past two years, Trevor Philp found the elusive balance between sport and academics.
Studying at the University of Denver, he earned his finance degree while representing Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics and laying down top-20 finishes on the world cup circuit. The part-time Canmore resident helped the university win an NCAA championship in 2013, studied for hours after races, and showed himself to be one of Canada’s top racing prospects.
“I was totally thrilled with it and had no regrets. I had some worry when I started, and moments where I wasn’t sure if I could balance the two. I couldn’t attend all of the world cups, and I attended some NCAA races. I worked hard and did my best to balance it. I’m very happy I did it through all four years,” Philp said.
This year, the slalom and giant slalom specialist will focus full-time on the world cup circuit, and believes that could translate into even better results. He was 19th in Alta Badia last season, and also finished in the top 30 in Val D’Isere, France and Beaver Creek, Colorado.
“I’m not bouncing in and out of school anymore and I can build off the top 20s from last year. Last year was solid,” Philp said.
At the slalom season debut last weekend in Solden, Philp failed to move on to the second round, but said he’s noticed his stress levels have dropped and his frame of mind was positive.
“I went in with the right approach. I had some tough training leading up to it, but everyone did. It was hard to find the groove. The course went from bulletproof ice to bumpy. It was nice to get into race mode,” Philp said.
He’ll refocus for his next race, Nov. 15 in Finland, and is making adjustments early on to maintain strong mental focus. But, like many newly graduated students, he’s noticing something missing from his life.
“It’s strange entering fall and not having to move to school and pick classes. It’s a lot less stress that way and I can focus strictly on training. I don’t have to worry about hitting the books at night,” Philp said.
“School was a big part of my life. It was annoying at times, but it provided a change of pace for my mind. I will take something else up – what it is, I don’t know right now – but I’m interested in languages. I’ll stay busy.”
Training this year alongside Canada’s breakout star Dustin Cook (who is now out with injury), Phil Brown and Morgan Priddy, Philp was pushed every day to improve his skiing all summer, attending training camps in France, Switzerland and Argentina. The entire technical team is quite young, and motivated after watching Cook win silver in the Super-G at the 2015 world championships in Beaver Creek.
Philp would love to move over to speed skiing, especially super-G, but for now he’ll hone his craft in the technical disciplines. Even at the top level, Philp’s focus was on fundamentals.
“We’re a small group and we’re all good friends. Dustin was able to push me in training,” Philp said. “On the technical side, we worked on a lot of balance. We had a lot of conditions that forced imbalance, so we focused on really entering the top of the turn and really going for carving. In the first half of the turn, if you get your carving done, you can generate a lot of speed.”
Losing Cook before the season even begins will put more pressure on the other young skiers, and Philp said it leaves a definite hole in the team.
“That was a tough one. It’s bad for Dustin, and bad for the team. We had a great summer and to lose him now is really bad timing. He’s our strongest GS skier and had our strongest super-G season as well. He brings a lot of energy. We’ll have to push ourselves without him,” Philp said.
His goal this year is to finish with a top-30 ranking, which would give him more competitive start positions, but he knows he faces an uphill battle against a competitive field.
“The top 30 is a big step to get in there, but I’m going in the right direction.”
