FILE – Mary Bocock competes in the women’s giant slalom ski race during the U.S. Alpine Championships, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at the Sun Valley ski resort in Ketchum, Idaho. The Bocock sisters will share a slice of World Cup history together as the American ski racers will both make their World Cup debuts this weekend in a season-opening giant slalom race in Soelden, Austria. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
The Bocock sisters have always done pretty much everything together. They ski powder in the backcountry together. Hike together. Learned pickleball, spikeball and tennis together. Even shared the same room for a long time.
So perhaps it’s fitting that Mary and Elisabeth, who’s nearly two years younger, share a slice of World Cup history together. The American ski racers will both make their World Cup debuts Saturday in a season-opening giant slalom race in Soelden, Austria.
It’s believed to be the first time a pair of sisters made their World Cup debuts in the same race since the Simari Birkner sisters (Maria Belen and Macarena) of Argentina on Dec. 12, 1999, according to research by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS).
Mary and Elisabeth will have family on hand for the race, too, with mom, dad and one of their brothers flying in for the momentous occasion.
“Doing this together, having the same milestone at the same time, (the emotions) are something that will be hard to replicate again,” Elisabeth said in a phone interview.
“Just another thing that we’re doing together,” Mary quickly interjected.
Elisabeth, who recently graduated from high school, is the daring one. The 18-year-old takes risks and finds lines to gain speed that others might think twice about.
Mary, a student at Dartmouth who made her return from a knee injury last season, is the tactical one. The 20-year-old will study a course and uncover ways to generate speed that others may not quite see.
Together, they use those two facets to help each other. Because Mary’s style rubs off on Elisabeth. And vice versa. Always been that way, since they were kids navigating the terrain at Alta and Snowbird in Utah.
Skiing has long been the family pastime. Mom, Amy Sullivan, was a ski racer at Williams College in Massachusetts. Dad, Alex, a recreational skier. The sisters would follow the lead of their two older brothers as they zipped through the slopes.
“Trying to keep up with them, it was definitely beneficial to my skiing,” said Elisabeth, who like her sister was part of the Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake City. “Every weekend, that’s where we were.”
Mary was on track to possibly make her first World Cup start last season. But she tore a ligament in her knee during a parallel giant slalom in December 2021. Instead, last season became her “comeback season,” and “it turned out better than I could have asked for,” she said. “I don’t view my injury as a big setback. Of course, it was disappointing at the time, but I think it helped me in the long run.”
It also set in motion the possibility to begin her World Cup racing career with her sister.
Mary earned a place in the starting gate at Soelden — where Mikaela Shiffrin, the reigning overall World Cup champion, starts her title defense — courtesy of winning the overall title on the NorAm circuit (a stepping stone for the World Cup). This season, Mary’s splitting her time between racing World Cup events and for the Dartmouth ski team.
About a month ago, Elisabeth found out she, too, would be racing in Soelden. But she was sworn to secrecy since it wasn’t a done deal yet.
Of course, she told Mary.
“Everyone was talking to Mary and asking, ‘Are you so excited to be racing?’” Elisabeth recalled. “Mary was saying to me, ‘I just wish that you could tell them you were, too.’ It was awesome. I couldn’t get the smile off my face.”
The fact they’re racing together just makes it so much sweeter.
“Has this happened before?” Mary asked. “I mean, maybe it has?”
Not all that often.
FIS, the governing body of the sport, found the Simari Birkner sisters launched their World Cup careers in a slalom race in Sestriere, Italy, nearly 24 years ago. Neither Macarena nor Maria Belen qualified for the second slalom run that day.
Both Elisabeth and Mary are anticipating an array of emotions in advance of their first World Cup starts (Mary will be the first to go of the sisters). Elisabeth imagines it will be “surreal and exciting.”
For Mary, “I will have extreme butterflies, and I know my heart is going to be racing a million miles an hour,” she said. “But I’m going to try to focus on embracing the atmosphere and ski as fast as I can.”
And for mom, well, it’s hard to put into words.
“I think I’ll just be so excited for them — and just a little bit in disbelief,” said Sullivan, whose family will have dinner Saturday night to celebrate. “It’s really just an incredible experience. It’s so unique they get to have this experience together.”
They’ve been in NorAm Cup races together. They even shared the podium twice last season in giant slalom races in Vermont. Mary won a race on March 5, with Elisabeth taking third. The next day, Mary took second and Elisabeth earned another third.
“Those were really fun races,” Mary recalled.
Ask them about their aspirations for the 2026 Winter Olympics and they answer in unison: “Yes, that’s the goal.”
Just another thing they can do together.
Elisabeth has long followed the lead of her older sister. When Mary played outside back in soccer, Elisabeth decided to play outside back in soccer. When Mary picked up pickleball/tennis/spikeball, Elisabeth picked up pickleball/tennis/spikeball. When Mary decided to play the piano, Elisabeth took up the … violin.
Because they have their own paths, too.
“We do really enjoy spending time together. It’s convenient that we both have the same interests,” Elisabeth said. “I do have my own life also, but a big aspect of it is being a sister.”