A. J. Kitt

Alva Ross "AJ" Kitt IV[1] (born September 13, 1968) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. A member of the U.S. Ski Team for over a decade, Kitt specialized in the speed event of downhill, and also raced in Super-G and combined. He retired from international competition following the 1998 season with six World Cup podiums, which included one downhill victory. Kitt was a bronze medalist in the downhill at the 1993 World Championships. He also had the lead in three World Cup races which were subsequently nullified by FIS officials, due to weather conditions that did not allow the entire field of competitors to start the race. In each, Kitt was awarded the race's prize money and trophies, but not the World Cup points.

A J Kitt
Alpine skier
DisciplinesDownhill, Super-G, Combined
Born (1968-09-13) September 13, 1968
Rochester, New York, U.S.
Height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
World Cup debutJanuary 1988
(age 19)
RetiredMarch 1998 (age 29)
Olympics
Teams4 – (198898)
Medals0
World Championships
Teams4 – (1989, '91, '93, '97)
Medals1 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons11 – (1988–98)
Wins1 – (1 DH)
Podiums6 – (5 DH, 1 SG)
Overall titles0 – (10th in 1992)
Discipline titles0 – (3rd in DH, 1992)

Early life

Born and raised in Rochester in western New York, Kitt started skiing at two years of age at nearby Swain Resort, where his parents, Ross and Nancy, were part-time ski instructors. Kitt began racing at age 6 and raced in the Genesee Valley Ski Council until age 14. In 1983 he began attending a ski academy in Lake Placid, the Mountain House School. Two years later as a high school junior, Kitt transferred to Green Mountain Valley School in Waitsfield, Vermont, where he graduated in 1986. During a post-graduate year training and racing as part of what is considered the first privateer ski team in U.S. history, Kitt and many of his training team members were selected to the U.S. Ski Team's National Training Group, the development team.

In only his first full season of World Cup racing in 1988, Kitt made the U.S. team at age 19 for the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary. He was the first American male alpine skier to compete in four Olympics, later passed by Bode Miller. Kitt is said to have "breathed life into a stagnant U.S. Ski team" when he won his first World Cup race in Val d'Isere, France, on December 7, 1991. It was the first victory of any kind for an American male in seven years. He spent much of the 1992 season ranked in the top five in the downhill standings, and finished strong at the end of the season to take third overall, the best season for an American downhiller at the time. He finished ninth in the downhill at the 1992 Winter Olympics, held on a different course than his World Cup victory two months prior.

In 1993, Kitt won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Morioka, Japan.[2][3] He joined Doug Lewis as the only American men to win a World Championship medal in downhill. He was challenging for another medal in the combined, but missed a gate in the slalom's second run, hiked back up and finished 28th.[4] During the 1990s, Kitt won four titles at the U.S. Alpine Championships.

Early in the 1996 season, he crashed hard in a downhill training run in early December at Val-d'Isère, the site of his only World Cup win four years earlier.[5] He suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), along with other associated damage to his left knee, which ended his season, including the World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain. After surgery and six months of rehabilitation, Kitt returned for the 1997 season. The remainder of his career saw only one top-10 result, several top-20s and plenty of frustration. Kitt battled chronic back injuries in his final two seasons and retired in March 1998.

World Cup results

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
 Slalom 
Super GDownhillCombined
1989199944
198920no World Cup points (top 15)
1991215115
199122501815
199223103638
19932436432115
199425554521
19952624171315
19962713256
199728774830
199829925438

Race podiums

  • 1 win – (1 DH)
  • 6 podiums – (5 DH, 1 SG), and 21 top tens
Season Date Location Discipline Place
1992Dec 7, 1991Val d'Isère, FranceDownhill1st
Jan 18, 1992Kitzbühel, AustriaDownhill2nd
Mar 7, 1992Panorama, British Columbia, CanadaDownhill3rd
1993Dec 12, 1992Val Gardena, ItalyDownhill3rd
1995Feb 26, 1995Whistler, BC, CanadaSuper G2nd
Mar 15, 1995Bormio, ItalyDownhill2nd

World Championships results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 Slalom 
Super GDownhillCombined
19892032
19912220DNF SL1
199324cancelled328
199627injured, did not compete
1997282523

Olympic results

Kitt competed in four Winter Olympics; his best finish was ninth place in the downhill at Val-d'Isère in 1992.

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 Slalom 
Super GDownhillCombined
198819DSQ26DNF SL2
199223239DNS SL1
199425DSQ17
199829DNF

Post career

Kitt continues to support ski racing in many forms. The Kitt Cup is a season long race series which takes place at the Swain ski resort where he first began his training.
He has been the traveling NASTAR pacesetter since 1999, and continues to provide race coaching. Kitt also gives inspirational guest speaking engagements to youth ski racers everywhere.[8][9]

Kitt resides in Hood River, Oregon.[10] He currently coaches U14 skiers for the Meadows Race Team [11] at Mt. Hood Meadows.

References

  1. Anderson, Dave (February 10, 1992). "Downhill not fast enough for winner Ortlieb". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (New York Times). p. %C.
  2. "Kitt, Moe crack top five in downhill". Bend (OR) Bulletin. Associated Press. February 11, 1993. p. D-2.
  3. "Kitt of US third in downhill". Milwaukee Journal. wire services. February 11, 1993. p. C3.
  4. "Missed gate costs Kitt in world meet". Deseret News. Associated Press. February 8, 1993. p. D4.
  5. "Kitt finds tragedy at site of triumph". Daily Gazette. Schenectady, New York. Associated Press. December 9, 1995. p. C2.
  6. "Miscellany". Spokesman-Review. January 24, 1991. p. D3.
  7. "U.S. ski team returning to championships". Deseret News. Associated Press. January 24, 1991. p. D5.
  8. Swain Kitt Cup Adult Racing Archived December 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  9. Nastar.com Archived November 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "AJ Kitt". RE MAX. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  11. "Our Staff". Meadows Race Team. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
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