Park City resident wins podium finish at World Cup

SALT LAKE CITY — Park City resident and US Freestyle Aerialist Connor Curran celebrated with all his local fans as he achieved his first World Cup Podium finish at Deer Valley last night, finishing in 2nd place.  

Connor made the win look easy, but he knows that years of commitment and sacrifice went into the win.

At 13-years-old, Connor left his family to move into the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid.

At the age of 15, he moved to Park City to continue his pursuit of making the US Ski Team. But the desire was born even earlier, according to his mom.

In the summer of 2012, his family came to Park City on vacation. On that visit, they took Connor to the Utah Olympic Park, where at seven-years-old, he became so fascinated with the water training jumps that his parents bought him several passes.

His mom Carey Curran, said he quickly used all his passes and proudly announced to the family “this is what I want to do.”

From there, he joined a trampoline and tumbling team in their hometown of Cincinnati. There he trained six days a week for the next four years, to learn how to perform many of the difficult tricks he now performs 25 feet or more above the slopes.

This is when the US Ski Team identified his skills and desire and made him a development athlete. His mom says it’s all paying off now, “he is living his best life with his World Cup podium finish at nineteen.”

Connor says he has a lot of people in the Park City community to thank including his best friend’s mom who cared for him and drove him to all his training commitments. The ‘Uber mom’ put a lot of miles on the road when you consider a day in the life of Connor Curran.

“I’m an early riser, then off to training for 2 hours in the morning,” Connor said.

“From there to the gym for 2-3 hours. Don’t forget school, I was doing online school to allow more time to train and for more time in the gym. Then dinner and go to bed early to do it all again the next day. And of course, there were competition days that last sometimes an entire weekend.”

Only 2 years ago at Deer Valley was Connor’s World Cup Debut and now he stands second place on the podium.

“I am just proud of all of my teammate’s performances,” Connor said. “And I am proud of myself for putting it down when it counts.”