Karen Budge

Karen Budge
nation	United States
birthday	14th November 1949 (age 70)
place of birth	Jackson , United States
Career
discipline	Downhill , giant slalom , slalom , combination
status	resigned
End of career	1972
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
Individual World Cup debut 1968  Overall World Cup 13. ( 1968/69 )  Downhill World Cup 12. (1968/69, 1969/70 )  Giant Slalom World Cup 9. (1968/69, 1969/70)  Slalom World Cup 17. (1969/70)
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Giant slalom 0 2 0

Karen Budge Eaton (born November 14, 1949 in Jackson , Wyoming ) is a former American ski racer.

biography

Budge comes from Jackson Hole , a valley in the Rocky Mountains . She started skiing under the guidance of her parents in the Snow King ski resort . During her final two years in high school, she joined the United States national ski team in 1967.

In the very first year she became the American combined champion, qualifying for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble . However, a training accident ruined her Olympic hopes. During wax tests, she collided with another skier in the fog and dislocated her shoulder.

Despite strong competition in his own team - in 1969, seven members of the US team made it onto the podium - Budge subsequently developed into one of the strongest and most consistent US drivers. Between January 1968 and March 1972 she was among the top ten 30 times. Her best placings, two second places, she achieved in the giant slalom of Waterville Valley (March 1969) and Heavenly Valley (February 1971). In 1972 she finished her career with a 14th place in the Olympic downhill run from Sapporo .

After the games ended, she married former ski racer Gordi Eaton . They both moved first to Middlebury (Vermont), where they took over the training of the Middlebury College ski team until 1977 . Today the couple lives in Lincoln (New Hampshire) and runs a fish and steak house there.

Web links

• Karen Budge in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Karen Budge in the database of Ski-DB (English)
• Karen Budge in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )