ST. JOHNSBURY—The Northeast Kingdom is the home of many professional winter-sport athletes who spend the majority of their early lives outside in the snow perfecting their craft. St. Johnsbury native, Lincoln Lemieux, is no different— and his hard work is starting to pay off.
Lemieux is coming off of a bronze medal win at the 2017 X-Games in Aspen, Colorado. His sport: Snowmobile SnoCross racing. The 24-year old kicked off the first round of the event with a first place finish and eventually finished third in the finals, trailing gold medalist Petter Narsa by less than five seconds. When it comes to SnoCross, Lemieux’s goal has always been to become the best.
“Growing up, I always wanted to make it to the X-Games, but you know, really I just want to do the best I can every race,” said Lemieux.
Lincoln isn’t the only member of the Lemieux family who has a passion for snowmobiling. As a child, he was taught to snowmobile by his father and spent his winters riding with his sister, Steff. However, the two siblings weren’t able to compete against each other too often.
“We only raced one race against each other,” Steff said, “dad said he’d never put us in another race because we were a little aggressive.”
With practically his whole family being former SnoCross racers, Lemieux went into his race knowing he had a passionate crowd pushing for him to earn a medal. “I think most of them were more excited then I was,” said Lemieux.
While home in St. Johnsbury, Lemieux spends at least twenty minutes a day training on his snowmobile, making sure he’s in top shape for his upcoming races. Lemieux’s next race will take place in New York this weekend, where he is hoping to continue his success.
X-GAMES BRONZE MEDALIST from NewsLINC on Vimeo.