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Nyman, Ligety and Shiffrin to Headline Birds of Prey, Lake Louise

By Megan Harrod
November, 29 2018
Steven Nyman Takes Flight at Birds of Prey
Steven Nyman takes flight during Wednesday's first and only training run at Birds of Prey in Beaver Creek. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom - Alexis Boichard)

It’s another exciting weekend of alpine ski racing, with the final stop of the FIS Ski Alpine World Cup circuit North American tour landing in Lake Louise, Alberta with women’s speed events and the men taking on one of the circuit’s premier courses - Bird of Prey - at Beaver Creek, Colorado The networks of NBC will broadcast/stream all of the action on NBC, NBCSN, and the Olympic Channel.

Thirty-six-year-old veteran Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) - who has had three of his eleven career podiums on this Birds of Prey track - is feeling good after a Lake Louise career best 11th place finish in downhill, and looks to lead a strong squad of healthy American downhillers. Keep an eye out, also, for 2015 World Championships downhill silver medalist Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.), Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.), Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.) and Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, N.Y.) - who posted the sixth fastest downhill training run on Wednesday’s first and only training run.

We’d be remiss not to mention Olympic champion and five-time World Champion in giant slalom Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah), who has won a whopping six times on this Birds of Prey giant slalom track. In a shortened super-G in 2015, Ligety was second at Birds of Prey, behind Austria’s Marcel Hirscher and ahead of now retired teammate Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.). Ligety will start in super-G on Saturday, and notes that he really likes the super-G track here, because it’s one of the most technical super-G tracks on the circuit.

“Hometown hero” River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.) is the “poster child” of Birds of Prey this season, as he’s featured on the official poster. He will look forward to making his World Cup super-G debut on the Birds of Prey track, and will again tackle the giant slalom. "I've been watching Birds of Prey my whole life,” reflected Radamus. “When I was in elementary school, we used to have field trips to go watch when it came to town. I'd get to watch guys like (Andrew) Weibrecht, Bode (Miller), Ted (Ligety), Nolan (Kasper), etc., just crush at these races, and dream of an opportunity to do the same. And now I get my chance to race against the world's best in my own backyard. I mean, how can you not love that?! It is races like this [Birds of Prey] that I've worked my whole life for."

Colorado’s Kyle Negomir (Littleton, Colo.) will be getting his first World Cup start in Sunday’s giant slalom, and be sure to keep an eye on 2018 World Juniors super-G bronze medalist Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.) who will make his World Cup giant slalom debut, as well, since Soelden, Austria’s World Cup was canceled due to weather. And, watch Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.), as he steadily progressed in giant slalom throughout the 2017-18 for a career best season. 

On the women’s side, Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) is fresh off her 45th career World Cup victory at Vermont’s Killington Resort and shifts gears this weekend to take on a pair of downhill races and a super-G, as she looks to build upon her speed resume where she scored her first career World Cup downhill victory last season. Unfortunately, Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) will not be heading to “Lake Lindsey” after sustaining a minor knee injury while training at Copper Mountain, Colorado.

Shiffrin progressed well from training day one to three, finishing 21st, 8th and 4th, respectively. “I definitely felt better today - a lot more confident on my skis today - then I did the last two days,” noted Shiffrin. “The first day I was kind of feeling like I was trying to ski slalom on downhill skis [as she giggles] - I had a lot of harsh movements, but I skied the line OK. Yesterday I took a step in the right direction, and today I feel like that was a pretty good step in the right direction. I hit my marks, and everything was solid, smooth, and it felt like I was using the downhill skis the way I was supposed to use them.”

As one of the only remaining multi-event skiers on the circuit, Shiffrin has focused on training tech disciplines for the early season races, which means little time for speed training.  “It’s been tricky this year coming to Lake Louise because I’ve had no prep on my downhill skis since September. I had one day of downhill training in Chile, but since May - really - I haven’t been on speed skis.” She came into Lake Louise with confidence from her third and first place finishes, respectively, in downhill last year, but she has no expectations with the limited training. Keep an eye out for her, as she’s feeling good and is primed for a podium this weekend.

Catch all of the action on NBC, NBC Sports Network, NBC Sports Gold, and the Olympic Channel, so make sure to tune in.

See who to watch and where to catch all the action below.

WOMEN’S STARTERS

  • Alice Merryweather (DH, SG)
  • Laurenne Ross (DH, SG)
  • Mikaela Shiffrin (DH, SG)

MEN’S STARTERS

  • Bryce Bennett (DH, SG)
  • Tommy Biesemeyer (DH, SG)
  • Ryan Cochran-Siegle (DH, SG, GS)
  • Tommy Ford (GS)
  • Travis Ganong (DH, SG)
  • Jared Goldberg (DH, SG)
  • Ted Ligety (SG, GS)
  • Wiley Maple (DH, SG)
  • Brian McLaughlin (GS)
  • Kyle Negomir (GS)*
  • Steven Nyman (DH, SG)
  • River Radamus (SG, GS)
  • Luke Winters (GS)

*Denotes first World Cup Start

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day delayed broadcast

ALPINE
Friday, Nov. 30
12:30 p.m. - World Cup men’s downhill, Beaver Creek, Colo. - NBC Sports Gold & NBCSN
2:00 p.m. - World Cup women’s downhill, Lake Louise, CAN - NBC Sports Gold & Olympic Channel
5:30 p.m. - World Cup women’s downhill, Lake Louise, CAN - NBCSN*

Saturday, Dec. 1
1:00 p.m. - World Cup men’s super-G, Beaver Creek, Colo. - NBC Sports Gold & NBCSN
2:00 p.m. - World Cup women’s downhill, Lake Louise, CAN - NBC Sports Gold & NBCSN
5:00 p.m. - World Cup men’s super-G recap, Beaver Creek, Colo. - NBC*
6:00 p.m. - World Cup men’s super-G, Beaver Creek, Colo. - Olympic Channel*
10:00 p.m. - World Cup women’s downhill, Lake Louise, CAN - Olympic Channel*

Sunday, Dec. 2
1:00 p.m. - World Cup men’s giant slalom, run 1, Beaver Creek, Colo. - NBC Sports Gold & Olympic Channel
1:00 p.m. - World Cup women’s super-G, Lake Louise, CAN - NBC Sports Gold & Olympic Channel
2:30 p.m. - World Cup men’s giant slalom, run 2, Beaver Creek, Colo. - NBC Sports Gold & NBCSN
5:00 p.m. - World Cup men’s giant slalom recap, Beaver Creek, Colo. - NBC*
6:30 p.m. - World Cup women’s super-G recap, Lake Louise, CAN - NBCSN*
11:30 p.m. - World Cup men’s giant slalom, run 2, Beaver Creek, Colo. - Olympic Channel*

*NBC Sports Gold, NBC Sports Digital’s direct-to-consumer live streaming product “Snow Pass” provides fans access to live and on-demand domestic and international competitions of seven Olympic winter sports from October 2018 through April 2019.

The Snow Pass provides access to every second of race action throughout the season. Whoever you support, their races will be broadcast on the Snow Pass. NBC will also email you prior to each event to remind you of live broadcast times on Snow Pass, and if you can’t watch live, the entire event will be available to replay, all for under 20 cents per day.

RESULTS
Men’s Downhill Training Run 1
Women’s Downhill Training Run 1
Women’s Downhill Training Run 2
Women’s Downhill Training Run 3

START LISTS
Men's Downhill
Women's Downhill

For the full event schedule at Beaver Creek, check out their website.