Local skier ranked among world's best

Whitefish skier Mitch Gilman, 13, has been named one of the best skiers in the world by "Powder" magazine.

The February issue ranks Gilman among the top-20 skiers under 18 years old. At No. 20, he is the youngest on the list and the only skier from Montana.

The magazine says Gilman "could be the Tiger Woods prodigy of skiing."

In 2009, Gilman won the U.S. Open Halfpipe Junior Jam and the New Zealand Junior Nationals Halfpipe, and he later became the youngest competitor ever to take part in the U.S. Open Halfpipe event.

Jack Malczyk, of Line skis, said, "For a 13-year-old, he is cool and calm and definitely stands out when a kid half your size is going double your height out of the pipe."

Gilman is currently enrolled at the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy, in Vail, Colo., and trains six days a week with the Ski and Snowboard Club of Vail.

Other notable names on the list include freeskier Sean Pettit, of Pemberton, B.C., alpine racer Lara Gut, of Comano, Switzerland, and freeskier Duncan Adams, of Breckenridge, Colo.