Hamden native and Olympic freestyle skier Eliza Outtrim has reached the finals of the women's moguls event in Sochi.
Outtrim's score of 21.51 was good enough to earn her fourth place in the qualifying round of the moguls Thursday. Because she placed in the top ten, she was spared from another qualifying round, and goes directly into the finals on Saturday.
The 28-year-old skier lives and trains in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, but grew up in Hamden, where her parents still live. She attended Hamden Hall until her junior year, when she decided to move to Colorado to train full time.
Outtrim has been moving up the mogul ranks since 2009, and is coming off a breakthrough 2013, where she earned four World Cup podiums, and was ranked fourth in the world. But she struggled late in the World Cup season, and was relieved to qualify for the Olympics, despite what she described as sloppy skiing. This is Outtrim's first Olympics.
Outtrim may have an edge over other skiers in the mogul event: she actually skied the Sochi course last year, where she came in second place. Eliza Outtrim joins her U.S. teammate and gold medal favorite Hannah Kearney in the women's moguls finals Saturday at 1:00 pm Eastern time. The finals will be televised Saturday night on NBC, beginning at 8:00 pm.
