CERMIS, Autonomous Province of Trento — Just over two years out from the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Maine gained an international spotlight in the world of skiing.
On Sunday, Yarmouth native Sophia Laukli claimed a Nordic ski World Cup title at Alpe Cermis in Italy. A 2022 Olympian, this was her first World Cup win.
"It’s hard to not get super psyched on a performance like that," Laukli, 23, smiled during a Friday Zoom interview from her second home—and training ground—of Oslo, Norway. The Yarmouth High School and University of Utah standout enjoys dual citizenship with the ski powerhouse nation, as her father is Norwegian.
Back in Italy, the World Cup race was on the final day of the 2024 Tour de Ski, a weeklong series of races. At 10 kilometers, Laukli explained, Sunday's stretch was a relatively short race. However, four of those kilometers were uphill, with a maximum gradient of 28 percent.
"I have discovered that I just really like to go uphill," Laukli gave a sly grin.
Each skier has their strengths and others in the field were more technically sound, she said. As a world-class trail runner as well, Laukli's strength is endurance and the ability to propel herself uphill with ease, while her competitors were visibly taxed as the incline increased.
To put it simply, it looked miserable; they looked miserable.
But, coming into the final turns of the race, Laukli remained in second place and fell once. She quickly regained her footing, recovered the ground she had lost, and overtook her competitor soon thereafter.
"When I passed her, I was way too afraid to turn around to see if she was still there," Laukli said. "And so, I was just going all out until the finish."
She blew the field away. She crossed the finish line, pointed to someone in the crowd, and unclipped her skis. Those who eventually finished behind her collapsed in exhaustion. Some gasped for air while race officials tended to them. Laukli had calmly moved to the side of the finish line and carried on a conversation with someone.
Back in Maine, Leslie Bancroft Krichko cheered in her living room.
"I had happy tears for her; just amazing to watch her do that," Krichko said.
Born in Portland and raised in Paris, Maine, Krichko made the US Nordic team for the 1980 and '86 Olympics. She has been an assistant ski coach for Bowdoin College since 2018.
"I would love for Sophia to feel the support from Maine that really helped me," she said. "I also want other Maine athletes—young athletes—to know, 'Hey, here’s someone just like us.'”
Laukli is thrilled to wear the stars and stripes, and while she had watched some of her international peers burn out, she felt growing up in Maine playing soccer and running cross country, in addition to skiing, helped her develop a healthy love for the sport while staying well-rounded.
"I definitely took it for granted in the moment, but now I can kind of acknowledge that it played a big role in where I am now," she said.
With a clear head, and some new hardware, she set her sights set on the 2026 Olympic Games.
