Oh, The Places Dani Aravich Will Go (But Especially Paris!)

Where in the world is Dani Aravich?

Depending on the week, the two-time Paralympian could be at home in Montana, running on a trail in the Swiss Alps or training in an underground ski tunnel in Sweden.

If you’re looking for her lately, though, you might want to try checking in Paris.

Aravich has been busy over the past few months juggling her roles as a world-class standing skier and a member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s digital media department. It’s the latter that brought her to Paris on July 23, where she stayed for a week working at the Olympic Games. She was scheduled to return Aug. 19 for the Paralympic Games.

As if that weren’t enough, she was also in the City of Light as part of the delegation that helped Salt Lake City earn the bid to host the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

“It was so cool to be on the ground for the Olympics and experience the Games as a fan,” said Aravich, who’s a member of the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing national team. “When I was a little kid, I had a dream book I made that listed things I wanted to do in my life. Since I am a huge sports fan, I had things such as go to the Super Bowl, attend the FIFA World Cup and go to the Olympics.”

Aravich, 28, can now check the Olympics off her to-do list.

Her first order of duty upon arriving in Paris was to give a speech to the International Olympic Committee as it was considering Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics in a decade.

Aravich said she was heavily involved with the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation when she lived in Salt Lake City several years ago after graduating from college. In May, Catherine Raney Norman, a retired Olympic speedskater who’s now the chair of the Salt Lake City bid, called to ask if Aravich, as a Para Nordic skier, would give a speech to the IOC during Salt Lake City’s final presentation to host the Olympics and Paralympics. Aravich said she felt “incredibly honored” to do it.

“I drew upon my experiences living in Utah and how the legacy of the 2002 Olympics and Paralympics encouraged me to pursue this new career as a Paralympic athlete while living and working in Salt Lake City,” Aravich said. “I still cannot believe that I am a part of our new legacy in Utah for 2034.”

On July 24, Aravich celebrated with the rest of the delegation after the IOC awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Salt Lake City is approximately a six-hour drive from Bozeman, Montana, where Aravich lives and trains throughout the year with U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing.

“My Paralympic career was only made possible by Utah. Those individuals helped me find coaching, connected me with potential sponsors and then, ultimately, I found Nordic,” Aravich said. “My first-ever Nordic race was at Soldier Hollow (in Midway, Utah), and that summer I joined the club team there. … My greatest hope is to compete at the Paralympic Games at the venue and the state that made me a Paralympian.”

While in Paris, Aravich said he enjoyed the French food. She’s particularly a fan of the croissants, baguettes and steak frites. She also fulfilled her childhood dream of going to the Olympics, where she watched handball, men’s gymnastics, beach volleyball and swimming.

Aravich, however, didn’t get much time to rest following the Olympics. She returns to the French capital this month to work with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s social media team and serve as a content creator for Team USA at the Paralympics.

Aravich has joined a group including fellow Paralympians like Mike Schultz and Brody Roybal, as well as Tara Davis-Woodhall, the newly crowned Olympic gold medalist in the women’s long jump, as one of the first dozen members of the inaugural class of “Team USA creators.” The new group will help provide fans with never-before-seen content and access.

“My job at Team USA really came about as a need for more athlete voices to be involved behind the scenes,” Aravich said. “I feel very lucky to be in a position where I can pitch new stories to our team, and I really focus energy on sourcing Paralympic stories, niche sport stories and up-and-comer athletes.”

Aravich, who ran cross country at Butler University, has a personal connection to the Summer Paralympics in addition to the Winter Paralympics. She made her Paralympic debut as a sprinter four years ago in Tokyo before she decided to focus entirely on Nordic skiing.

Meanwhile, three of Aravich’s teammates on the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing national team — Oksana Masters (cycling), Kendall Gretsch (triathlon) and Aaron Pike (track and field) — are competing at the Paris Paralympics in their summer sports.

“I am definitely hoping to be able to watch Kendall, Pike and Oksana all race in Paris. I am so excited for them,” Aravich said. “I know how hard they have worked, and (I) may even showcase an original shirt design with all their faces on it at their races.”

With all her traveling and different responsibilities this summer, Aravich admitted it has been hard at times to keep up with her offseason training for Para Nordic skiing.

Nonetheless, she managed to get on snow while training with the Canadian Para Nordic skiing team at a ski tunnel in Torsby, Sweden. She planned to stay in shape by competing in a trail race in Switzerland, as well as work on the biathlon with the French team in eastern France.

“Nordic training is year-round, and the summer is where most of our base hours happen, so there never really is an ‘offseason,’” Aravich said. “I get very overwhelmed when I feel like I am not getting my training done, but I am also learning to be gentle on myself and understanding it will not always be perfect. I prioritized time in between the Olympics and Paralympics to set myself up well for training.”

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordic.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.