Born in Colorado in 1989, Alice McKennis Duran was lucky to be surrounded by the great outdoors and beautiful Rocky Mountains. At only two years old, she began learning her first turns at Sunlight Resort near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. She started racing at various ski clubs in Colorado including Sunlight, Vail, Steamboat, Summit, Aspen and finally Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Alice made her way onto the US Ski team in 2008. In 2009, she began racing on the World Cup, where she consistently placed in the top ten and earned her spot to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. After a strong first season on the World Cup, Alice fractured her left tibia plateau in early 2011 but was able to return to racing the following winter. In 2013, she won the World Cup Downhill in St. Anton, Austria. During a race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Alice suffered another injury where she shattered her right tibia plateau into more than 30 pieces. She was unable to recover in time for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and decided to put the season on hold to heal.
Alice showed much perseverance and returned to competition in 2015, finishing the season with a World Rank of 23rd in Downhill and bagging her first national title by winning the US National Super-G Championships.
After another strong season in 2018, placing fifth in the Olympic Downhill in Pyeongchang and third in the final World Cup Downhill of the season in Åre, Sweden, Alice was involved in freak accident while coaching a youth ski camp and had to sit out the 2019 season with a fractured tibia and fibula. She spent 11 months off the snow as she worked through five surgeries to get herself race-ready once more. She was able to compete on the World Cup for the 2020 season and earned top ten results, setting herself up for a strong 2021 season. But after another knee and ankle injury during the first races of 2021, Alice came to the difficult decision to retire from ski racing in spring of 2021.
Alice now works as a coach at the Ski and Snowboard Club Vail as well as for the US Ski & Snowboard team as an Athlete Gift Officer – helping to fundraise and support the athletes of the US Ski and Snowboard team.
Achievements:
• In 2020, she won the US National Championship Super-G
• Two-time Olympian (2010, 2018)
• Placed 3rd in the 2018 World Cup Downhill in Åre, Sweden
• Won the 2017 US National Championship Downhill
• In 2015, she won the US National Super-G Championship
• She won the 2013 World Cup Downhill in St. Anton, Austria
• In 2013, she placed 10th at FIS World Cup Standings in downhill
• Placed 4th in downhill during the 2009 FIS Junior World Championships
• Placed 9th in downhill during the 2008 FIS Junior World Championships
