Finishing third isn’t so bad when the two people in front of you are an Olympian and a world champion.
Especially when you’re 11 years old.
Durangoan Nicholas Unkovskoy finished with third-fastest time in the slalom at the National Standard Race (NASTAR) Regional Pacesetting Trials last month in Aspen.
National touring pacesetter A.J. Kitt, a four-time Olympian, posted the fastest overall time of the day at 28.84 seconds while Franz Fuchsberger of Edwards was the quickest competitor at 30.03.
Unkovskoy finished the course in 30.09, which gave him a 5.5 NASTAR handicap. It was the lowest of the day other than Fuchsberger’s 5.29.
Racers competing in NASTAR are awarded a handicap based on how much slower their time is than overall national pacesetter Ted Ligety.
Unkovskoy’s 5.5 handicap means he was 5.5 percent slower than Ligety for that particular race.
And that was in his first slalom race of the year.
“He hadn’t trained any slalom up to that point,” said Ivan Unkovskoy, Nicholas’ father. “He hit the course and laid a really awesome run down. It really surprised all of us.”
Nicholas also was racing on brand-new skis, but Ivan thought he might do well after he saw the two practice runs.
He just didn’t think his son would go that fast.
“I just went for it and took a good line,” said Nicholas, son of Ivan and Rhonda Unkovskoy.
Both father and son thought Nicholas had a chance to beat Kitt’s time on his second run, but Nicholas took a turn too wide and brushed his hip on the snow, losing just enough time.
The most important stat of the day for Nicholas Unkovskoy, however, was the fact that he finished in front of his father.
Ivan Unkovskoy finished in 30.85 and for an 8.17 handicap.
“He was down there ahead of me, and you can see the time, so he saw my time and his time, so he knew,” Nicholas said. “He was just kind of laughing.”
Ivan Unkovskoy didn’t experience any feelings of jealousy or paternal dread toward his son.
He was just proud.
“It puts a smile on my face. No pain involved there,” Ivan Unkovskoy said. “It’s not a big pressure race; it’s a fun race.”
That attitude encapsulates the value at the heart of NASTAR racing, which started in 1969 and is participated in at 100 resorts by 6 million skiers, according to its website.
Ivan Unkovskoy has been participating in the program for the “better part of 10 years” and currently is the pacesetter at Purgatory.
The day’s results are posted to the NASTAR website the night of the race, so competitors can compare themselves with other racers across the country by virtue of the handicap system.
“You can see where you stack up, and it gives you something to shoot for in the future,” Ivan Unkovskoy said. “It’s kind of like an interactive community – a real great way to get introduced into ski racing.”
With the regional trials over, the Unkovskoys shift their major training focus to the March NASTAR national championships, which will also take place in Aspen.
Competitors are divided into age groups, and the winners of each age group get to go to Chile to train with the U.S. Ski Team.
“I know he’s been skiing really well last year and trained really well this fall; put a lot of time and effort into his training,” Ivan Unkovskoy said of his son. “He’s at the age where he’s taking more ownership of what he does. All the work he did was paying off.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
