Seizing Opportunities and Surpassing Expectations

Jett Seymour Chamonix: GEPA photos

Jett Seymour is not one to let an opportunity escape him. However, he was momentarily tempted to play it safe when he found himself just over one second behind the leader after the first run of last February’s slalom in Chamonix. After nearly three years of racing on the World Cup and only one finish (a 25th in the Schladming slalom back in 2021), Seymour considered simply going for the result, any result.

“That thought definitely crossed my mind, to just make it down,” Seymour recalls. “I spoke to my brother about a month earlier. One of the things he said that stuck with me was that these opportunities don’t come around often, and when they do, you must take advantage of them. When you’re growing up ski racing, you get the perception that you’ll have all the opportunities in the world. As it turns out, that’s not the case. When the opportunities are in front of you, you have to seize them. I decided to ski as hard as I could.”

Wearing bib No. 59, the Steamboat Springs native shot out of the second run start gate with his hair on fire.

“I knew I had skied the top well. I made a couple of bad turns on the bottom where there was a spine. I remember losing what felt like a lot of speed. I came down and was like, not a great run. Then I saw second and couldn’t believe it. It was also cool to see a good friend, AJ [Ginnis], in the leader’s chair. It was amazing. It still gives me chills to think about it.”

Seymour ended up seventh (and Ginnis second), but the result was a game changer. It transported the U.S. Team athlete to a new perspective.

“I see it as a stepping stone; hopefully more of a confidence boost going into next year, getting to capitalize on those results,” he says.

A few days after that inaugural World Cup top 10, Seymour landed his first career win in the Europa Cup. He’d been notching solid results on international alpine racing’s second-tier circuit for a few years, landing on three podiums beginning in 2021. However, last season’s win underscored the higher step on which he’s arrived.

Early days

Seymour developed an early love of skiing by ripping the slopes of Steamboat with his parents and younger twin brothers (Chase and Trey) every weekend.

“We would be there as soon as the mountain opened. There was no coaching, no pressure. It was all just about enjoying skiing,” he recalls. “I enjoyed being together as a family. It cultivated quite a love. Pretty much throughout my whole childhood, it was about having fun and getting better. All of my best friends were ski racers. Just going and hanging out with them after school at Howelsen Hill, messing around on skis, wreaking havoc, all of that made me love it.”

Seymour was named to the U.S. Team in 2017, swiftly making a name for himself with brow-raising results, including a win on the Nor-Am circuit that season. He competed for the U.S. Team through the spring of 2019 but then had to make the difficult decision between racing with the U.S. Team or, after starting school at the University of Denver, on the collegiate circuit. He chose college, winning the NCAA National Slalom title in 2019.

“The University of Denver is the most successful college [ski] program. I jumped at the opportunity. I had the opportunity to train with guys older than me. I was living with Austrian Tobias Kogler. He showed me a lot about how to take ownership of your career and skiing,” Seymour says. “I had an awesome group of training partners that really elevated my skiing faster than I could have done outside of college.”

However, after Seymour got an invitation to join the U.S. Team’s Europa Cup group in 2021 and proved his podium potential, he put college on hold.

Tough decisions

“Trying to manage school with World Juniors and training was quite a lot,” he says. “When I was able to get World Cup spots with Nor-Am [results], it seemed like this was the time to go all-in on skiing. School will always be there for me.”

With only a few classes remaining toward a finance degree at the University of Denver, Seymour says he will finish “sometime in the next ten years. ”The decision to take the hiatus from school is one of the biggest challenges he has faced thus far in his career. Another hurdle he’s had to leap since starting college is the oft-undiscussed but highly prevalent struggle with depression.

“It’s tough, especially in an individual sport where every millimeter makes a large difference. It’s easy to get down,” he says. “As soon as I started to compete on the World Cup, it got elevated. There are such extreme highs and extreme lows. I’ve had to take a lot of time to train myself and my brain on how to handle emotions differently.”

Now 24, Seymour says his coaches, ski tech Jake Dippy, teammates and family are integral in lifting him during low moments.

Rising up

“I have an amazing support group, especially when times were really hard,” he says. Definitely, my brothers and my parents are a huge help; also, talking to one of my close friends about his experiences with meditation and different ways to train your subconscious. My tech Jake, every day, he brings unbelievable energy. If I’m feeling even a bit low, it gets me psyched up, as well as Luke [Winters] and Ben [Ritchie]. They always bring that positive attitude. It’s always nice having two of my best friends with me. Really, our whole team and coaches always bring a positive outlook. If I have a bad race, it helps me see the light at the end of the tunnel and remember what we’re working toward.”

This winter, Seymour is working toward proving himself as a regular podium threat in World Cup slalom and building his giant slalom skills at the sport’s top level. What’s certain is he will not allow any opportunity that strikes pass him by.

 “I have a unique opportunity to be one of the fastest skiers in the world. That doesn’t come around very often in anyone’s lifetime,” he says. “Seizing that opportunity is something that’s important to me, continuing to push myself and see what’s possible. It was a dream when I was a kid. The dream is now a reality. I’ve gotten further than I ever thought I would or further than anyone else ever thought I would. We’re continuing to surprise ourselves and enjoying the road ahead.”