Shannon Bahrke

The Short List 2002 Olympic moguls silver medalist Over 15 career top-10 finishes on World Cup circuit 2001 U.S. duals champion Finished tied for 5th in Dual Moguls at the 1999 World Championships and tied for 9th in Dual Moguls at the 2001 World Championships Did You Know? Bahrke won a wild-card spot on the U.S. Olympic team with a win at the U.S. Ski Team Gold Cup on December 31, 2001. Less than a week later, she won her first World Cup moguls event at Oberstdorf, Germany. Bahrke is known for her effervescent personality. Her coach says "She's a real bright spark, so dynamic and energetic...and chattery." Bahrke shared the World Cup podium once with Germany's Sandra Schmitt, who died in a ski-lift tunnel fire in Kaprun, Austria on November 11, 2000. The 19-year-old Schmitt was the 1999 world champion in dual moguls. "We were the youngest on the tour. Bahrke started skiing at the early age of 3 while growing up in Tahoe City, Calif. She was an alpine racer at North Tahoe High School "just to get out of class." She also placed soccer, softball and ran track. Beside sports, Bahrke also played trumpet in her high school's symphonic band and jazz band, touring nationally with them one year. When she was growing up, Bahrke wanted to be a marine biologist. Instead, she is studying Pharmacy at the University of Utah. In her spare time, she enjoys mountain biking, windsurfing, water skiing and shopping. She considers ice cream to be her favorite food. It's Every Day In August 1999, a staph infection got into Bahrke's bloodstream and made her seriously ill. Doctors fed antibiotics directly into her heart 24-hours-a-day for six weeks. In all, it took over three months to kick the infection. She lost 15-20 pounds in the process and could barely walk at times. The source of the infection remains unknown, but Bahrke says if it hadn't been caught, she could have died. Doctors told her that if it had been one inch lower into her leg, she'd never have been able to walk or ski again.