Nate Galpin is starting his competitive boardercross season early, making the most of every opportunity to better his Olympic chances on the snowboard circuit.
Ketchum's Galpin, 29, is surging ahead on that plan after winning the South American Chilean Boardercross Championships this past weekend at Valle Nevado, Chile.
The Andean resort has been friendly to Sun Valley boarders in recent years; Valle Nevado, a French-designed resort 37 miles east of Santiago, is where Graham Watanabe won his first World Cup snowboard event, nine months after crashing and breaking his pelvis.
With this win under his belt, Galpin finds himself one step closer to making the U.S. Boardercross team heading to the 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino, Italy.
But, in the next five months, both Galpin and Watanabe still face the challenge of earning spots on the U.S. Olympic team. To do so, both will be measured against other Americans in upcoming World Cup races. There are seven World Cups prior to the Winter Games.
It is still uncertain and up to U.S. Snowboard Team discretion how many spots will be granted for snowboarding disciplines including alpine racing, boardercross, and halfpipe.
Watanabe, 23, will be traveling to South America in late August for a South American Argentinean Championships event Aug. 31-Sept. 2. The season's first World Cup follows immediately at Valle Nevado, where Watanabe will travel as an alternate for the Americans.
Last Friday, Watanabe was one of 31 men and 16 women announced as the U.S. Snowboarding national team for 2005-06. He's a member of the SBX "A" team. Snowboardcross will debut at this year's Olympics.
The ski and snowboard season in Chile generally lasts from mid-June to mid-October.
Nate Galpin (center) celebrates his victory in Chile. Courtesy photo
