AOTW: Inspired by Olympians, Leveque and Stiassny put on gold medal performances at state ski meet

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The day after a historic showing by an Alaskan at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy, a pair of prep skiers put on performances that led them to the top of the podium.

Service’s Jack Leveque proved once again he is the top youth skier in the state by winning both state ski meets and defending his Skimeister title, the top honor for a prep skier.

“I felt good, I woke up this morning, I was feeling good I went jogging a little bit, starting feeling good, then I warmed up and felt even better. Then I raced and felt even better again,” Leveque said after the race.

The 16-year-old set a blazing time of 12:29.1 in the 5-kilometer freestyle race on Thursday, finishing 42.2 seconds ahead of the next skier. The junior followed up that performance with another state title in the 7.5K mass start classic the next day, claiming that race by 5 seconds to make it 4-for-4 in individual state ski races the last two years.

“I feel much stronger, I feel like I have more speed and I get tired less fast,” Leveque said of his improvement from last year. “And I am more mature, like sharper in the head or something,” he added with a laugh.

It was a performance that may have been inspired by fellow Service skier Gus Schumacher, who won a historic silver medal with the U.S. during the 2026 Winter Olympics the day before Leveque won his ski race.

“He’s definitely quite inspiring to push myself and you can go really far if you put your mind to it,“ Leveque said of Schumacher, getting a chance to meet the Olympian in April 2025. ”No matter where you are from, even if you’re not from Norway, you can try to go for the top."

Meanwhile, South Anchorage senior Mia Stiassny is already a member of APU, an elite nordic ski program that sent eight athletes to the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“It is super inspiring,” Stiassny said of training with Olympians at APU. “It is just kind of a special opportunity, it is pretty amazing that I get to be on their team.”

Stiassny missed last year’s state meet competing at a high-level race in Norway but returned to her home trails of Alaska and took home the 5K Free state title.

“I missed it a lot because it is a cool part of Alaska state racing... It was a good feeling, it was amazing.”

She was also named the 2026 Girls Skimeister, the first South girl in nearly 20 years to earn the honor.

“It is super awesome to have her back on the team this year, she’s worked really hard to get here,” South Anchorage ski coach Naomi Hartley said of Stiassny. “She has a lot of goals on the world stage so to have her on home turf racing at state is a really cool opportunity.”

After dominating the Alaska trails, the two skiers take the global stage next, competing at 2026 Junior World Championships in Lillehammer, Norway.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com