Growing up, Hailey Duke excelled at two seemingly-divergent sports, Alpine skiing and taekwondo, before focusing on the winter sport and working her way onto the full-time World Cup circuit in 2008. As the slalom specialist from Idaho prepares for a possible Olympic debut in 2010, the combat sport remains an integral part of her training program.
What would you consider your athletic highlight during your time on the U.S. Ski Team?
I'm the late bloomer on the team. In 2008-09, I had four World Cup starts in slalom, and I got eighth in Semmering [Austria]. That was cool, breaking onto the World Cup scene.
You had the third-best time in the second run of two events, Semmering and Ofterschwang.
Yeah, I've got to put two of those together. (Laughs.)
In two-run events, do you prepare differently for each run?
You want to be at an all-time high, and have your nerves at the right level. When you throw a strong first run, you realize that you can punch another one in there. Sometimes, you're just a little off. Stuff happens in slalom: poles break, you get a little inside [the gates]. It's crazy, but that's why I like it.
Do you ever get confused during a run?
Usually, it's pretty automatic. Sometimes you have blind spots, or you can't see the gates very well while you're going in-and-out of shadows. Otherwise, it's pretty simple.
Being from Sun Valley, did you look up to Picabo Street as a kid?
Oh yeah, Picabo (view gallery) was the big name when we were little, but the athlete I really followed was Michael Jordan. Not so much, skiing-wise!
Were you as much into taekwondo growing up as you are into skiing now?
My dad [Larry] ran the taekwondo school, and my mom [Jane] and dad were both ski instructors, so it was inevitable that I'd be doing both. I think I progressed much faster in taekwondo. At 16, I went to U.S. Team Trials [finished third in 2001]. That's when things started overlapping. I had to choose one or the other, and skiing was where my passion was.
How do you use taekwondo to become a better skier?
The body awareness and the [plyometrics] that go into taekwondo definitely cross over into skiing. Taekwondo is mostly kicking, and skiing uses a lot of lower body. Not to mention focusing for a certain amount of time, putting your energy into stuff.
Is the timing the same?
It goes hand-in-hand with slalom, speed-wise. It's fast-paced, and you've got to move-move-move.
Not to take anything away from the gates, but the contact you deal with in taekwondo must be much greater.
They're pretty close. In slalom, you come down [the course] and you're going to be hurting somewhere. In taekwondo, you learn how to kick hard, but you also learn how to take a kick. Both sports teach you how to take a hit.
Have you ever hit a gate with the force that compared with a kick?
I had a couple of blows this past year. Once, I flew sideways into a gate, and wrapped around it. It hit my solar plexus so hard! I tried to get my breath back and I couldn't. I was still going down the course, and I couldn't breathe and had to pull out. It felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach pretty hard! I had a welt across my ribs!
Compiled by Martin Thorstensson, NBCOlympics.com
