Olympians Have a Morristown-Beard Connection

Members of the Morristown-Beard School community will have added incentive to follow the Winter Olympics in South Korea this month as Headmaster Peter J. Caldwell’s niece and nephew, Sophie and Patrick Caldwell, will both be competing on the U.S.A. cross-country ski teams.

Sophie Caldwell, 28, made her Olympics debut in 2014 in Sochi, where she finished in 6th place, the best-ever result by a female American cross-country skier. A graduate of Dartmouth College, she got her first victory in the World Cup during the 2015-16 edition of the Tour de Ski. She won the classic sprint in Germany in 2016 and became only the second U.S. woman with a victory in the World Cup. She is also the first American woman to win a classic World Cup event.

Patrick “Paddy” Caldwell, 24, earned his first All-American nod as a Dartmouth freshman in 2014. He had an especially impressive 2014-15 season, when he finished in the top 20 in both of the distance races at the FIS U23 World Ski Championships in Kazakhstan. His efforts at the 2016 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in Michigan earned him a spot on the U23 World Ski Championships team, where he represented the U.S. in Romania. He also claimed podium finishes at the SuperTour races in 2016.

Sophie and Patrick Caldwell are continuing a family tradition that includes grandfather John Caldwell, a 1952 ski jumper at the Oslo Games, and Patrick’s father (Sophie’s uncle) Tim Caldwell, a four-time U.S. Olympic cross-country skier. MBS Headmaster Peter J. Caldwell also had a stellar cross-country career, competing in the U.S. Nationals, The North American Championships, the Australian Nationals and the Pre-Olympics.