The American women put on yet another stellar performance on the second night of moguls at the Visa Freestyle International. After finishing second on Wednesday night, Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) found herself on top of the podium, claiming her third-career World Cup win. Teammate Morgan Schild (Rochester, N.Y.) repeated her result from yesterday, finishing third and clinching her spot on the 2018 Olympic team.

Kauf’s journey to the podium was a bit different on Thursday night. She qualified first into the finals, but dropped down to second after France’s Perrine Laffont took her final run. Kauf’s super final run was fast and flawless, but she had to wait to see if it was enough to bear Laffont. In the end it was, with Kauf taking the win with a score of 81.37. She now leads the moguls World Cup standings by 51 points over Laffont.

“It’s been an incredible day,” said Kauf. “Qualifying first was definitely a confidence boost. I just kept trying to step up my run each time. Winning here in Deer Valley is incredible - I have my friends, family and my parents here. It’s unbelievable.

"I was just hoping that what I put down was better than [Perrine’s] skiing. I know she’s a really tough competitor and she put down a solid run. But my speed helped,” Kauf added.

Living in the moment and staying focused on her runs, Schild’s skiing was consistent from round to round. She was the only woman who threw a cork 7 in finals, a trick that has carried her to multiple podiums throughout her career. After joining Kauf on the podium twice this week, Schild will also join her on the team representing the USA in PyeongChang.

“This week puts Jaelin and I in a great spot,” said Schild. “To have these performances on home soil and put ourselves in a good position heading in to PyeongChang just makes it that much sweeter.”

Keaton McCargo (Telluride, Colo.), Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.) and Avital Shimko rounded out the top finishes for the U.S. women in seventh, 11th and 15th respectively. Mikael Kingsbury was one again dominant on the men’s side, taking the win with a score of 88.80. Kazakstan’s Dmitriy Reikherd was second and Australia’s Matt Graham third. The U.S. qualified Joel Hedrick (Winter Park, Colo.), Emerson Smith (Dover, Vt.) and Troy Tully (Pleasantville, N.Y.) into finals, but they were unable to break into the super finals, finishing 13th, 14th and 15th.

The Visa Freestyle International concludes on Friday night with the men’s and women’s aerials competition on the White Owl jump site. Finals will be streamed live on nbcsports.com at 9:45 p.m. EST.

RESULTS
Men’s Moguls
Women’s Moguls

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*subject to change

Jan. 12
8:30 p.m. – Moguls finals #2 – NBCSN (next day coverage)
9:45 p.m. – Aerials finals – nbcsports.com

Jan. 13
2:30 p.m. – Aerials finals – NBC (next day coverage)

After a tough day of weather on Wednesday, seven inches of fresh snow and sunshine greeted the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team skiers and riders at Aspen’s Snowmass Mountain for a day of Toyota U.S. Grand Prix qualifiers.

The snowboard women kicked it off in the morning, with a hotly contested event leading to four U.S. women qualifying for Saturday’s finals. Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) led the squad in first, with Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.) second, Kelly Clark (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.) fourth and Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.) fifth.

The snowboard men competed in the afternoon, with snow beginning to fall in the sunlight. Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Chase Josey (Hailey, Idaho) qualified in the first heat, but the real event was the second heat, which stacked powerhouse rider after powerhouse rider. The U.S. stayed strong and dominated the field, with a clean sweep of the five finals spots. Shaun White (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.) led the team, with Ben Ferguson (Bend, Ore.) second, Jake Pates (Eagle, Colo.)—who recently surprised fans when he won the Dew Tour—third, Danny Davis (Highland, Mich.) fourth and rookie team rider Toby Miller (Carlsbad, Calif.) fifth.

The freeskiers competed in slopestyle qualifiers that saw some surprises in the results. McRae Williams (Park City, Utah) led the U.S., while The North Face Rookie Team skier Willie Borm (Chaska, Minn.) grabbed a spot over Olympic favorites. The real shock was 20-year-old Quinn Wolferman (Missoula, Mont.), who put down “the best run of his life” to make it to finals in only his second World Cup.

In the women’s slopestyle, both Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.) and Devin Logan (West Dover, Vt.) took spots in the finals.

Finals start Friday with freeski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle. Finals stream live with a delayed same-day television airing on NBCSN.

RESULTS
Women's snowboard halfpipe qualification
Men's snowboard halfpipe qualifications - Heat 1; Heat 2
Women's freeski slopestyle qualifications - Heat 1; Heat 2
Men's freeski slopestyle qualifications - Heat 1; Heat 2; Heat 3; Heat 4

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST

Jan. 12
11:15 a.m – Slopestyle snowboarding finals – nbcsports.com
2:45 p.m – Halfpipe skiing finals – nbcsports.com
9:30 p.m – Slopestyle snowboarding finals – NBCSN (Same day coverage)
11:00 p.m. – Halfpipe skiing finals – NBCSN (Same day coverage)

Jan. 13
11:15 a.m – Slopestyle skiing finals #1 – nbcsports.com
2:45 p.m – Halfpipe snowboarding finals – nbcsports.com

Jan. 14
3:00 p.m – Slopestyle skiing finals #2 – nbcsports.com
3:00 p.m. – Halfpipe snowboarding finals – NBC (next day coverage)

Jan. 15
1:30 a.m. – Slopestyle skiing finals #1 – NBCSN

Jan. 16
12:00 a.m. – Slopestyle skiing finals #2 – NBCSN

After a busy, full-steam ahead tech run, where Mikaela went five for five victories, it’s time for the White Circus train to change the pace a bit and hit the next stop on its journey. Next stop: two of the most challenging tracks on the circuit. Welcome to the Lauberhornrennen and the Kärnten-Franz Klammer. That is Wengen, Switzerland and Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria.

The women's speed team enjoyed a sizable three-week break from competition, but they're eager to get back into the swing of things. To say they were antsy is an understatement. With holidays spent back home in the states and a return to snow with some of the best training they’ve had all season in San Pellegrino, Italy, this crew is amped to return to competition.

 

The face I make when it’s finally speed week!!! 🙌🏻 #shakenbake #ijustwannagofast

A post shared by L I N D S E Y • V O N N (@lindseyvonn) on Jan 10, 2018 at 5:02am PST

The women are so amped that Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) posted a picture on Instagram of herself celebrating with the caption, “The face I make when it’s finally speed week!!!” Vonn will lead a deep squad of speed women into a super-G and downhill this weekend while current downhill standings leader Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) will take a much-deserved weekend off from competition. Shiffrin – who also has a massive 821-point lead in the overall standings, and leads the slalom and giant slalom standings – will rejoin the speed team next weekend in Cortina, Italy.

Vonn will look to build her FIS Alpine World Cup career tally to 79 victories, and therefore one step closer to the legendary Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 victories. She’ll battle a diverse field the next couple of weekends, as the last seven World Cup downhill events have been won by seven different women – Vonn, Christine Scheyer, Lara Gut, Sofia Goggia, Ilka Štuhec (out with injury), Cornelia Hütter and Shiffrin.

However, Vonn will not only battle the diverse field – she'll also battle the conditions in Bad Kleinkirchheim. With snow then rain pounding the surface, the organizers have had quite the challenge prepping the track. Wednesday's training run was canceled, as the bottom of the course featured "death cookies" and "sugary" snow – certainly not ideal for downhill. Due to the conditions, the organizers and FIS have decided to move the super-G to Saturday and the downhill to Sunday. 

"It's a difficult situation right now with the way the snow is and the way they prepared the course," Vonn said. "I'm not sure if we're going to be able to get a race off. They're definitely trying as hard as they can, and we'll have to see what things look like at inspection and we'll take it from there. The top is good, but the bottom is not safe to race, so I'm going to have to see how things look and make a decision tomorrow." Vonn's focus remains on the Olympics, so she'll assess the risk and make a game time decision on her participation. 

Over in Wengen, the American Downhillers are in classics heaven on the fabled Lauberhorn downhill. At nearly three miles long, this track is a test of pure athleticism and stamina. To put this into perspective – it is over two and a half minutes of leg-burning pain down a 2.78-mile course with speeds pushing 100 mph. In fact, the top speed on the World Cup was reached here in 2013, when Frenchman Johan Clarey hit a max speed of 100.6 mph at the Haneggschuss, the fastest section of the track.

Though the American Downhillers struggled in the first training run on Wednesday, it is important to remember that athletes are using training runs to dial in their strategy for race day. Team leader and veteran Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) is feeling good and will return to competition in Wengen, though his focus remains on building towards PyeongChang.

Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah) and Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Cali.), who have both found a new level of consistency and focus this season, both had strong training run results on Thursday, landing in seventh and 20th, respectively.

“I’m feeling good; I learned a lot in my first training run,” said Goldberg after Thursday’s run. “I was pretty all over the place. I’ve been here a bunch of years and I just started to put it all together today in the run. I think I still have a couple places I can clean up, but today was a much cleaner run. I’d like to ski the way I can and put this thing together, so I’m just trying to keep building off what I’ve been doing the last races and not expect too much and just have fun – because it really is a fun course.”

Though the weather proved to be challenging early in the week, with Tuesday’s training run canceled, Goldberg and teammates used the opportunity to play hockey – a Wengen American Downhiller tradition – and stay optimistic about conditions for the weekend.

“The conditions aren’t too bad considering all the weather, but that’s a pretty normal thing here,” noted Goldberg. “The course is just under three miles long and it goes from pretty high altitude – where the top is winter and the bottom is pretty soft snow. They’re salting on the bottom and the top is pretty much all winter snow, so a lot of different conditions as you go down, and that’s just what adds to the coolness factor of this race.”

The men will start the weekend off early with an alpine combined Friday, followed by the downhill on Saturday and slalom Sunday. Fans can look forward to watching Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) – who has been training some impressive slalom – in Friday’s alpine combined.

Nolan Kasper (Warren, VT), who has been sidelined with an injury the last two seasons and was slated to return to competition in Adelboden, Switzerland, will be returning to competition in Wengen. His last World Cup start was Schladming, Austria on January 27, 2015. Keep an eye on Kasper, as he has one career podium from 2011 and has worked extremely hard to come back from injuries.

Steve Schlanger and U.S. Ski Team alumnus Steve Porino will call the action in the coming week.  See who to watch and where to catch all the action below.

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Bad Kleinkirchheim, AUT

• Stacey Cook
• Breezy Johnson
• Julia Mancuso
• Tricia Mangan
• Alice McKennis
• Alice Merryweather
• Laurenne Ross
• Lindsey Vonn
• Jackie Wiles

MEN’S STARTERS
Wengen, SUI

• Bryce Bennett
• David Chodounsky
• Ryan Cochran-Siegle
• Drew Duffy
• Mark Engel
• AJ Ginnis
• Jared Goldberg
• Nolan Kasper
• Ted Ligety
• Steven Nyman
• Hig Roberts
• Kipling Weisel

NOTE: Final starters have yet to be solidified. Stay tuned to our social channels for updated information.

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
Friday, Jan. 12
4:30 a.m. – Men’s combined, downhill; Wengen –olympicchannel.com
10:00 a.m. – Men’s combined, slalom; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV

Saturday, Jan. 13
4:30 a.m. – Women’s super-G; Bad Kleinkirchheim – Olympic Channel TV
6:30 a.m. – Men’s downhill; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV
10:00 p.m. – Women’s Super-G; Bad Kleinkirchheim – NBCSN (same day coverage)
11:00 p.m. – Men’s downhill; Wengen – NBCSN (same day coverage)

Sunday, Jan. 14
4:15 a.m. – Men’s slalom, run 1; Wengen –olympicchannel.com
5:00 a.m. – Women’s downhill; Bad Kleinkirchheim – Olympic Channel TV
6:30 a.m. – Men’s slalom, run 2; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV

RESULTS
Men’s Training Run 1
Men’s Training Run 2
Women's Training Run

START LISTS
Men’s Alpine Combined
 

Battling rough weather in the latter half of the day, the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix freeski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle qualifiers went off at Aspen’s Snowmass Mountain in Colorado. Fifteen Americans qualified for Friday’s finals.

The women’s freeski halfpipe went off without a hitch, with Olympic gold medalist Maddie Bowman (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) celebrating her 24th birthday by leading the Americans in second place. Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) was third and Olympic silver medalist Devin Logan (West Dover, Vt.) fourth. Carly Margulies (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) also made it into finals in eighth place with a solid second run.

But thick fog rolled in and heavy snow started during men’s training. After delays throughout run one and before run two, the Americans stacked six skiers into the 10 spots. Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.) led the U.S. Freeski Team men with an enormous 93.66-point first run and local boy Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.) won his heat. Both chose to not take a second run due to conditions and high first-run scores. Also taking spots in Friday’s finals were Olympic gold medalist David Wise (Reno, NV), Birk Irving (Winter Park, Colo.), Taylor Seaton (Avon, Colo.) and Olympic silver medalist Gus Kenworthy (Telluride, Colo.).

The women were able to get their snowboard qualifiers off cleanly, with Jessika Jenson (Rigby, Idaho) snagging the top spot and Ty Walker (Stowe, Vt.) also made finals. Jules Marino (Westport, Conn.) and Hailey Langland (San Clemente, CA) did not qualify.

The men squeaked in their first run of slopestyle qualifiers, but the increasing darkness and snow stopped a second run from happening. Three U.S. men qualified: Red Gerard (Silverthorne, CO), Ryan Stassel (Anchorage, Alaska) and Chandler Hunt (Park City, Utah).

Friday’s snowboard slopestyle and freeski halfpipe finals count as an Olympic qualifier. Bowman has met objective criteria for the U.S. Olympic Team with two podiums and would confirm her nomination with a first or second place at Snowmass. Already qualified for the U.S. Olympic snowboard slopestyle team are Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) and Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Calif.). Neither Anderson nor Corning are in attendance at Snowmass.

Snowboard halfpipe and freeski slopestyle qualifiers start Thursday.

RESULTS
Men's freeski halfpipe
Women's freeski halfpipe
Men's snowboard slopestyle (heat 1, heat 2)
Women's snowboard slopestyle

The U.S. Ski Team put on an impressive show on the first night of the Putnam Investments Freestyle Challenge at Deer Valley Resort Wednesday evening. Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.), Morgan Schild (Rochester, N.Y.) and Brad Wilson (Butte, Mont.) all landed podium finishes in front of a USA home crowd with Kauf in second and Schild and Wilson in third.

Kauf continued to display her dominance on the Champion course, skiing clean and fast runs to land her third podium of the season. This finish secures her spot on the team headed to PyeongChang for the Olympic Winter Games in February and puts her back on top of the women’s World Cup standings.

“Coming into this event, I knew I pretty much had the spot locked up," Kauf said. "I had that confidence coming in and it’s incredible to be on the podium here. I want to clean up my bottom air for tomorrow, and I think I still have a little more speed to give.”

Schild, who won the Deer Valley event last season, was the top qualifier heading into the final round. She dropped last into the super final and had the opportunity to claim another win, but a few small mistakes dropped her to third. It was her first podium of the season and gives her one of two podiums needed to objectively qualify for the Olympic team.

“I think I’m moving in the right direction, especially with the Olympics coming up,” said Schild. “I want to make sure I’m building momentum. Tomorrow I’m going to keep my energy up, keep building through each round and stay precise with my skiing.”

After a strong finish in Calgary, Wilson was in fine form on his home course. He pushed the speed and skied clean through the middle section to land his first podium of the season and put him one step closer to making the 2018 Olympic team.

“I’m really excited about where my skiing is at," Wilson said. "It was a slow start to the season, but I’m starting to build to where I want to be and it’s paying off. I was able to throw one of my good runs today to land on the podium.”

Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury made history, capturing his 47th World Cup win and breaking the all-time moguls World Cup win record previously held by USA athletes Hannah Kearney and Donna Weinbrecht. Perrine Laffont took the win for the women.

Keaton McCargo (Telluride, Colo.) posted her best result of the 2018 season so far, finishing just off the podium in fourth. Casey Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) continued to impress in his second World Cup start, making it into his first super final and finishing fifth. Other U.S. skiers advancing into Wednesday night’s finals included Troy Tully (Pleasantville, N.Y.) in eighth, Emerson Smith in 11th, Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.) in 12th, Troy Murphy (Bethel, Maine) in 14th and Bryon Wilson (Butte, Mont.) in 15th.

The Visa Freestyle International takes place Thursday night with round two of men and women’s moguls competitions. Finals will be streamed live on nbcsports.com beginning at 8:45 p.m. EST.

RESULTS
Men’s Moguls
Women’s Moguls

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*subject to change

Jan. 11
8:00 p.m. – Moguls finals #1 – NBCSN (next day coverage)
8:45 p.m. – Moguls finals #2 – nbcsports.com

Jan. 12
8:30 p.m. – Moguls finals #2 – NBCSN (next day coverage)
9:45 p.m. – Aerials finals – nbcsports.com

Jan. 13
2:30 p.m. – Aerials finals – NBC (next day coverage)

For the first time this season, Mikaela Shiffrin came from behind to win a FIS Ski World Cup race - her fifth-straight victory - in Tuesday’s evening slalom in front of 7,000 fans in Flachau, Austria. She also tied Austria’s Annemarie Moser-Pröll with 41 World Cup victories before turning 23.

Trailing Austria’s Bernadette Schild by 0.37-seconds after the first run, Shiffrin tackled the rough, choppy second run with a “nothing to lose” attitude and absolutely blew the doors off the competition.

“Tonight I was chasing in the second run and I knew with Bernadette – she’s skiing so loose – I had to go all out,” Shiffrin said. “I had nothing to lose.”

Schild settled for second, 0.94 seconds off Shiffrin’s winning time. Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter was third. Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, Wyo.) was the only other American to qualify for the second run and finished 26th.

“I haven’t really comeback in a second run and made a big jump like that (all season), and I sort of needed that for my confidence,” Shiffrin said. “Each race this year I’ve been good in the first run, but the second run I’m just sort of holding on. But tonight, it was a different story and I’m very excited.”

With her victory, Shiffrin added to her overall World Cup lead with 1,381 points. Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener is second with 560 points, and Slovenia's Petra Vlhova is third with 554 points. Shiffrin also leads the overall World Cup downhill, slalom, and giant slalom standings. However, will not participate in this weekend’s speed series in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria, opting to take a much-needed rest after competing in 10 races over the past three weeks – winning nine and finishing third in the other.

Up next, the women’s World Cup Tour moves to Bad Kleinkirchheim for downhill and super-G races Jan. 13-14. Shiffrin is planning to return to the World Cup circuit Jan. 20-21 with downhill and Super-G races in Cortina, Italy.

RESULTS
Women’s slalom

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*schedules subject to change

Jan. 9
5:30 p.m.  – Women’s slalom, run 2; Flachau  – NBCSN (same day coverage)

Jan. 11
6:00 p.m.  – Women’s slalom, run 2; Flachau  – NBCSN (re-air)

Jan. 12
4:30 a.m. – Men’s combined, downhill; Wengen – olympicchannel.com
10:00 a.m. – Men’s combined, slalom; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV

Jan. 13
4:30 a.m. – Women’s downhill; Bad Kleinkirchheim – Olympic Channel TV
6:30 a.m. – Men’s downhill; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV
10:00 p.m. – Women’s downhill; Bad Kleinkirchheim – NBCSN (same day coverage)
11:00 p.m. – Men’s downhill; Wengen – NBCSN (same day coverage)

Jan. 14
4:15 a.m. – Men’s slalom, run 1; Wengen – olympicchannel.com
5:00 a.m. – Women’s super-G; Bad Kleinkirchheim – Olympic Channel TV
6:30 a.m. – Men’s slalom, run 2; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV
 

Caitlin Patterson (Anchorage/Craftsbury Green) finished a golden four-race performance at the 2018 L.L.Bean U.S. National Cross Country Ski Championships at Anchorage’s Kincaid Park on Monday sweeping to a fourth straight gold medal. Her dramatic come-from-behind win in the women’s classic sprint final capped a run of four national titles in four races over six days. Reese Hanneman (Anchorage/APU Nordic) swept both sprint events with his men’s classic sprint. He edged APU Nordic teammate Tyler Kornfield (Anchorage/APU Nordic) by a mere two tenths of a second to earn his fourth career sprint title – two freestyle, two classic.

But the U.S. Championships belonged to Patterson, a 27-year-old from Vermont and formerly of Anchorage. She won all four U.S. Championship gold medals, taking three of the four races outright. She finished second to Sweden’s Hedda Baangman (University of Colorado) in Sunday’s 20k classic mass start event, but took gold as top American. These four races, and Monday’s race in particular, illustrated her mix of talent, strength, stamina, versatility, wit and grit. The classic sprint silver went to Kaitlyn Miller (Craftsbury Common, Vt./Craftsbury Green) with bronze to Becca Rorabaugh (Fairbanks, Alaska/APU Nordic). It was Miller's third medal of the Championships.

Patterson’s four titles matches the golden streak set by Anchorage native Kikkan Randall at the 2010 U.S. Championships, also at Kincaid Park. Randall went on to make it a five medal year winning the long distance event that March in Fort Kent, Maine.
 
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Patterson, who leaves Anchorage a six-time national champion. “Amazing. Beyond what I could have imagined.”
 
Her Craftsbury Green Project Racing coach Pepa Miloucheva wasn’t surprised, though, saying, “She worked hard for this and she deserves this. It’s her nationals,” he said.
 
Patterson’s younger brother, Scott, a three-time U.S. champion who won on opening day, was impressed, and humbled, by his sibling’s week. “It’s been pretty incredible to see, and she’s rubbed it in all week,” he said smiling.
 
Patterson arguably saved her best for last. In Monday’s lassic sprint final she was two ski-lengths behind University of Denver’s Jasmi Joensuu in the final downhill with just 200 meters to go. Using tactics she gathered from earlier heats, her familiarity of that stretch of Kincaid Park’s trails from her high school and juniors racing days, and some vicious double-poling, Patterson quickly overtook and then dusted Joensuu. Patterson came across the line with both poles pumping in the air, winning by two seconds (3 minutes and 39.58 seconds to Joensuu’s 3:41.94).
 
“When I passed her, I felt like I carried more momentum,” Patterson said. “And I got out of there as fast as I could.”
 
Not bad for a skier who claimed that she’d never won a big sprint race before this week. When asked if she’s a sprinter now, she smiled and said, “I guess so.”
 
Her brother Scott has been a believer for a long time. “She’s such a killer finisher,” he said. “When I saw her two ski-lengths back (on the final downhill), I thought, ‘Oh, that’s (nationals title) number four.’”
 
The Pattersons are South Anchorage High School grads and former members of the local Alaska Winter Stars ski program. After the Championships, both are hopeful to be teammates at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Selections will be announced the week of January 22. This weekend she’s back to the World Cup in Germany.
 
Hanneman is hopeful for his own ticket to PyeongChang. He certainly beefed up his resume this week. First, he put up Friday’s freestyle sprint win. Then Monday morning, he clocked the day’s fastest classic sprint qualifying time, gaining him critical Olympic Winter Games points that are among the many factors considered in determining national teams.
 
Then Hanneman muscled his way through a gauntlet of hungry skiers in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final rounds. His biggest roadblock to the win was Kornfield, a tall sprinter with two classic sprint national crowns (2010 and 2012) and momentum from his exciting – and somewhat unexpected – win in Sunday’s 30k classic mass start.
 
In Monday’s final, Hanneman and Kornfield broke away from a tight pack on the last major hill climb and speedy downhill of the 1.6k course. It was Hanneman who popped up first into the 100-meter flat stretch to the finish line, with Kornfield behind him in the same tracks. As both double-poled furiously, Hanneman stayed just far enough ahead to negate Kornfield’s frantic finishing move. The win was decided by the length of a ski pole handle, Hanneman clocking 3:20.62 to Kornfield’s 3:20.82. Ben Saxton (Lakeville, Minn./Stratton Mountain School) took bronze.
 
“I couldn’t let off at all,” Hanneman said. “Tyler is cranking right now - impressive skiing by him all week. It definitely motivated me to just drive that thing so hard in the final. It was awesome.”
 
Kornfield, as thoughtful as he is competitive, said, “We’re at a point where Reese and I just kinda nod heads before the final and we know that it’s me against him now. Sometimes it's hard to be racing your teammates but like any training session, we just go hard, try to race clean, race fair, and go as hard as you can. And Reese had it today. I was trying to catch him in the end and didn't quite have that last push. But it was a lot of fun.”
 
The week’s events were extra fun for the host state of Alaska and its nordic ski community, clubs and training groups. All eight of the National titles were won by Alaskans or skiers with Alaska roots.
 
Monday’s hill-filled sprint courses mirrored the crazy-quick loop used in Friday’s freestyle sprints. The men skied a 1.6k course with the women going 1.4k. The course started at the south end of Kincaid’s stadium and immediately took a sharp, steep right to gain the top of the wild and winding Gong Hill area, which led to the chilly Frog Pond, briefly back near the stadium, and then to a sharp left on the backside of the Gong Hill. There, the women turned to the stadium while the men made an extra 200-meter loop before reaching the stadium. A big, sweeping turn and gradual uphill led skiers to a flat 100-meter straightaway and the finish line.

In addition to national titles, teams were selected for the upcoming FIS Junior World Ski Championships, U23 World Championships and U18 Nordic Nations' Championships, as well as points towards possible selection to the 2018 Olympic Team.
 
RESULTS
Men’s Classic Sprint
Women’s Classic Sprint 

These are exciting times for U.S. Ski & Snowboard with the 2018 Olympic Winter Games less than a month away.

Since the start of 2018, Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) has won all four (maybe five, we’ll know Tuesday) World Cup events. Aeralist Kiley McKinnon (Madison, Conn.) won her first-career World Cup event and achieved objective criteria to make the Olympic team, and Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) became the first U.S. skier ever to land on the Tour de Ski podium with a third-place finish. Momentum is building across the entire U.S. Ski & Snowboard team as the final competitions take place before the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Read on to see where U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes will be in action this week and how to watch via NBC, NBCSN and the Olympic Channel - Home of Team USA.

FIS Women’s Ski World Cup - Flachau + Bad Kleinkirchheim, AUT
Shiffrin will continue her quest for dominance in the final slalom World Cup before the Olympics on Jan. 9 in Flachau, Austria. The women’s speed team is back in action in the New Year with super-G and downhill races Jan. 13-14. The U.S. has a strong contingent of athletes expected to compete, including Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.), Laurenne Ross (Bend. Ore.), Stacey Cook (Mammoth, Calif.) and Jackie Wiles (Aurora, Ore.).

FIS Men’s Ski World Cup - Wengen, SUI
Wengen, Switzerland will play host to men’s speed and tech events this coming week with an alpine combined event on Jan. 12, downhill Jan. 13 and slalom Jan. 14. Notable names on the large U.S. roster include Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah), Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah), Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) and David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, Colo.).

Visa Freestyle International - Deer Valley Resort, Utah
The FIS Freestyle World Cup tour makes its first of two stops in the U.S. this week with moguls and aerials competitions Jan. 10-12 at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. It’s the penultimate Olympic selection event, so the top U.S. Ski Team athletes will be looking to secure podiums and state their case to be named to the 2018 Olympic team. Lake Placid hosts the Putnam Investments Freestyle Cup with aerials competition Jan. 19-20.

Toyota U.S. Grand Prix - Snowmass, Colo.
U.S. Freeski and Snowboard Team athletes will compete in their third Olympic qualifier of the season this week at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Snowmass, Colorado. It is the first time Snowmass has hosted a Grand Prix since 1998 and despite the warmer than average weather, the mountain operations team has put a ton of effort into snowmaking and grooming to provide the athletes a world-class competition venue. Chloe Kim (Torrence, Calif.), Jamie Anderson (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.) and Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) are the only athletes that have confirmed their nominations to the U.S. Olympic Team, so athletes across both sports will be gunning for top results and the chance to compete in PyeongChang. Finals for all competitions take place Jan. 12-14.

FIS Freestyle World Cup - Idre Fjall, SWE
Tanya Prymak (Goshen, N.Y.), Tyler Wallasch (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Brant Crossan (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) will represent the U.S. this weekend at the ski cross World Cup in Sweden. Qualifications take place Jan. 12 followed by competitions Jan. 13 and 14.

FIS Cross Country World Cup - Dresden, GER
The U.S. Cross Country Ski Team enters its final weekend of Olympic selection events with individual and team sprints Jan. 13-14 in Dresden, Germany. The U.S. will have nine skiers racing, including World Champion Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska), Sophie Caldwell (Stratton, Vt.), Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) and Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.).

FIS Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup - Sapporo, JPN
Newly named U.S. Olympic Team member Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, Utah) leads the U.S. into a HS100 event in Sapporo, Japan. Qualifications take place on Jan. 12 followed by World Cups on Jan. 13 and 14. Other competitors include Nita Englund (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Abby Ringquist (Park City, Utah) and Tara Geraghty-Moats (West Fairlee, Vt.).

FIS Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup - Tauplitz/ Bad Mitterndorf, AUT
2018 Olympic Team member Michael Glasder (Cary, Ill.), along with USA Nordic teammates Will Rhoads (Park City, Utah) and Kevin Bickner (Wacounda, Ill.) will compete in the first of two ski flying World Cups this month on the HS235 hill in Austria. Qualifications take place on Jan. 12 followed by competitions on Jan. 13 and 14.

FIS Nordic Combined World Cup - Val di Fiemme, ITA
Brothers Bryan and Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) along with Ben Loomis (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Jasper Good (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) will compete in two individual and one team event in Val di Fiemme, Italy Jan. 12-14.

FIS Snowboard World Cup - Bad Gastein, AUT
The U.S. will have six athletes competing in parallel slalom and team slalom World Cups Jan. 13-14 in Bad Gastein, Austria.

U.S. SKI & SNOWBOARD BROADCAST AND STREAMING SCHEDULE
All times EST
*schedules subject to change

ALPINE
Jan. 9
12:00 p.m. – Women’s slalom, run 1; Flachau – olympicchannel.com
2:30 p.m.  – Women’s slalom, run 2; Flachau  – Olympic Channel TV
5:30 p.m.  – Women’s slalom, run 2; Flachau  – NBCSN (same day coverage)

Jan. 11
6:00 p.m.  – Women’s slalom, run 2; Flachau  – NBCSN (next day coverage)

Jan. 12
4:30 a.m. – Men’s combined, downhill; Wengen – olympicchannel.com
10:00 a.m. – Men’s combined, slalom; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV

Jan. 13
4:30 a.m. – Women’s super-G; Bad Kleinkirchheim – Olympic Channel TV
6:30 a.m. – Men’s downhill; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV
10:00 p.m. – Women’s super-G; Bad Kleinkirchheim – NBCSN (same day coverage)
11:00 p.m. – Men’s downhill; Wengen – NBCSN (same day coverage)

Jan. 14
4:15 a.m. – Men’s slalom, run 1; Wengen – olympicchannel.com
5:00 a.m. – Women’s Downhill; Bad Kleinkirchheim – Olympic Channel TV
6:30 a.m. – Men’s slalom, run 2; Wengen – Olympic Channel TV

FREESTYLE
Jan. 10
8:45 p.m. – Moguls finals #1; Visa Freestyle International – nbcsports.com

Jan. 11
8:00 p.m. – Moguls finals #1; Visa Freestyle International – NBCSN (next day coverage)
8:45 p.m. – Moguls finals #2; Visa Freestyle International – nbcsports.com

Jan. 12
8:30 p.m. – Moguls finals #2; Visa Freestyle International – NBCSN (next day coverage)
9:45 p.m. – Aerials finals; Visa Freestyle International – nbcsports.com

Jan. 13
5:00 a.m. – Ski cross; Idre Fjall – olympicchannel.com
2:30 p.m. – Aerials finals; Visa Freestyle International – NBC (next day coverage)

Jan. 14
6:00 a.m. – Ski cross; Idre Fjall – olympicchannel.com

TOYOTA U.S. GRAND PRIX
Jan. 12
11:15 a.m – Slopestyle snowboarding finals – nbcsports.com
2:45 p.m – Halfpipe skiing finals – nbcsports.com
9:30 p.m – Slopestyle snowboarding finals – NBCSN (Same day coverage)
11:00 p.m. – Halfpipe skiing finals – NBCSN (Same day coverage)

Jan. 13
11:15 a.m – Slopestyle skiing finals #1 – nbcsports.com
2:45 p.m – Halfpipe snowboarding finals – nbcsports.com

Jan. 14
3:00 p.m – Slopestyle skiing finals #2 – nbcsports.com
3:00 p.m. – Halfpipe snowboarding finals – NBC (next day coverage)

Jan. 15
1:30 a.m. – Slopestyle skiing finals #1 – NBCSN

Jan. 16
12:00 a.m. – Slopestyle skiing finals #2 – NBCSN

CROSS COUNTRY
Jan. 13
6:20 a.m. – Men’s and women’s sprint – olympicchannel.com
12:00 p.m. – Men’s and women’s sprint – Olympic Channel TV (Same day coverage)

Jan. 14
5:15 a.m. – Men’s and women’s team sprint – olympicchannel.com
12:00 p.m. – Men’s and women’s team sprint – Olympic Channel TV (Same day coverage)

SKI JUMPING
Jan. 12
6:00 a.m. – Men’s HS225 Qualification; Tauplitz/ Bad Mitterndorf – olympicchannel.com
9:00 p.m. – Women’s HS100 Qualification; Sapporo – Olympic Channel TV

Jan. 13
6:00 a.m. – Men’s HS225; Tauplitz/ Bad Mitterndorf – olympicchannel.com
4:00 p.m. – Men’s HS225; Tauplitz/ Bad Mitterndorf – Olympic Channel TV (same day coverage)
9:00 p.m. – Women’s HS100; Sapporo – Olympic Channel TV

Jan. 14
8:15 a.m. – Men’s HS225; Tauplitz/ Bad Mitterndorf – olympicchannel.com
4:00 p.m. – Men’s HS225; Tauplitz/ Bad Mitterndorf – Olympic Channel TV (same day coverage)

NORDIC COMBINED
Jan. 12
3:30 a.m. – Men’s HS135 – olympicchannel.com
7:30 a.m. – Men’s individual 10k – olympicchannel.com

Jan. 13
4:00 a.m. – Men’s HS135 – olympicchannel.com
9:45 a.m. – Men’s team sprint – olympicchannel.com

Jan. 14
4:00 a.m. – Men’s HS135 – olympicchannel.com
7:45 a.m. – Men’s individual 10k – olympicchannel.com

SNOWBOARD
Jan. 12
12:00 p.m. – Men’s and women’s parallel slalom; Bad Gastein – olympicchannel.com

Jan. 13
10:30 a.m. – Men’s and women’s parallel slalom team event; Bad Gastein – olympicchannel.com

The world’s best moguls and aerials skiers are taking flight over Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah this week for the 20th-anniversary edition of the Visa Freestyle International. Athletes will compete in two single mogul World Cup events Jan. 10 and 11, followed by aerials on Jan. 12. With only two weeks of Olympic selection events remaining, the pressure is on for U.S. Ski Team athletes to land those coveted podium finishes to qualify for the 2018 Olympic team.

2017 World Championship bronze medalist Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) is currently the only U.S. moguls athlete that has met objective Olympic qualifying criteria following first and second place World Cup results in December. Kauf has podiumed in dual moguls the past two years at Deer Valley Resort. There are no dual moguls on the schedule this year, but Kauf is carrying plenty of momentum and is hungry for more top finishes.

The U.S. women’s moguls team has qualified anywhere from four to six athletes into the final rounds at World Cups this season. Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.), Olivia Giaccio (Redding, Conn.), Morgan Schild (Rochester, N.Y.) and Keaton McCargo (Telluride, Colo.) are all familiar faces in finals this season and fully capable of taking the next step to secure their Olympic spots.  

On the men’s side, Troy Murphy (Bethel, Maine) has one of two podium spots needed to make the Olympic team after landing his first World Cup podium last month. The door is still wide open for other U.S. athletes to land top results, and a competition on American soil with a hometown crowd is a huge motivator. As always, a strong international field will play a role in determining who gets the top spots this week.

2015 overall aerials World Cup champion Kiley McKinnon (Madison, Conn.) finished second at last year’s Visa Freestyle International, which was an Olympic selection event for the U.S. team. Her first World Cup victory last week in Moscow gave her the two podiums needed to qualify for the Olympic team. 2017 World Champion Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) has one podium this season and will be in the hunt, along with the U.S. men’s squad, for top results before their last Olympic select events in Lake Placid, N.Y. Jan. 19-20.

NBC Sports Group will feature comprehensive coverage of the Visa Freestyle International with shows airing on NBC, NBC Sports Network and streaming on nbcsports.com. For additional event information, visit usskiandsnowboard.org.

VISA FREESTYLE INTERNATIONAL

Mogul Athletes

Men
Casey Andringa
Joel Hedrick
Jack Kariotis
Troy Murphy
Emerson Smith
Troy Tully
Dylan Walczyk
Brad Wilson
Bryon Wilson

Women
Nessa Dziemian
Olivia Giaccio
Tess Johnson
Jaelin Kauf
Mikaela Matthews
Keaton McCargo
K.C. Oakley
Morgan Schild
Avital Shimko

Aerials Athletes

Men
Mac Bohonnon
Alex Bowen
Jon Lillis
Eric Loughran
Nick Novak
Nik Seemann
Zach Surdell

Women
Ashley Caldwell
Kiley McKinnon
Morgan Northrop
Madison Olsen
Madison Varmette
Winter Vinecki

Visa Freestyle International Schedule
*subject to change

Jan. 10
Men and women’s moguls qualifications + finals

Jan. 11
Men and women’s moguls qualifications + finals

Jan. 12
Men and women’s aerials qualifications + finals

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*subject to change

Jan. 10
8:45 p.m. – Moguls finals #1 – nbcsports.com

Jan. 11
8:00 p.m. – Moguls finals #1 – NBCSN (next day coverage)
8:45 p.m. – Moguls finals #2 – nbcsports.com

Jan. 12
8:30 p.m. – Moguls finals #2 – NBCSN (next day coverage)
9:45 p.m. – Aerials finals – nbcsports.com

Jan. 13
2:30 p.m. – Aerials finals – NBC (next day coverage)
 

Halfpipe and slopestyle skiers and riders kick off their first competition of 2018 this week with the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Snowmass Jan. 10-14. The event is the penultimate Olympic qualifying event of the season, providing athletes with the opportunity to achieve top finishes before teams are named at the end of January.

Snowmass marks the second of three stops on the Grand Prix tour in the 2017 / 2018 season. The resort previously hosted one of the first snowboard halfpipe Olympic qualification events and a snowboard big air exhibition event in 1998. Although Mother Nature hasn’t been the most cooperative so far this season, the mountain operations team at Snowmass have built world-class park and pipe venues for the international field of competitors to showcase their talents.

“The teams here at Snowmass have been working around the clock to build-out a solid course in the anticipation of hosting skiers and riders from around the world as they continue to make their way to the Olympics,” says Deric Gunshor, director of event development, Aspen Skiing Company. “In such an important Olympic year, we look forward to putting on a seamless event as well as watching five days of exciting and top-notch athletic competition.”

U.S. Freeski Team slopestyle skiers have just one qualifying event checked off after last month’s Dew Tour in Breckenridge. Sochi bronze medalist Nick Goepper (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) was the lone American athlete to achieve one of two podium finishes needed to objectively qualify for the Olympic team. Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.) also has a first-place finish from a qualifying event last season in Mammoth Mountain but did not land on the podium at the Dew Tour.

The Grand Prix at Snowmass will include two slopestyle events on Jan. 12 and Jan. 14. Athletes including McRae Williams (Park City, Utah), Sochi slopestyle silver medalists Gus Kenworthy (Telluride, Colo.) and Devin Logan (West Dover, Vt.) will be in the hunt. Snowmass also marks defending Olympic gold medalist Joss Christensen’s (Park City, Utah) return to competition after suffering a knee injury in May.

“I’m super excited for the Snowmass events; it’s been really hard sitting on the sidelines,” said Christensen. “I’m healthy and ready to get back in the start gate. I hope I can get a good result this week before we head into the last qualifying events.”

Halfpipe skiers are heading into their fourth of five Olympic qualifying events. Olympic Champion Maddie Bowman (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.) has achieved minimum U.S. qualifying criteria with two podium finishes so far. David Wise (Reno, Nev.), Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.), Taylor Seaton (Avon, Colo.), Maddie Bowman (S. Lake Tahoe, Nev.), Kenworthy, Logan and Aspen locals Torin Yater-Wallace (Basalt, Colo.) and Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.) each have one of the two podiums needed. Olympic spots could very well be secured in the halfpipe skiing finals on Friday, Jan. 12.

Olympic Champion Jamie Anderson (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.), Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.) and Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) have all confirmed their nominations to the 2018 U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team. There are a host of other athletes across halfpipe and slopestyle snowboarding in the running for the final spots, including Olympic Champions Kelly Clark (Mammoth, Calif.) and Shaun White (Carlsbad, Calif.), Ben Ferguson (Bend, Ore.), Jake Pates (Eagle, Colo), Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) and young guns Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.), Hailey Langland (San Clemente, Calif.) and Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.). Finals for slopestyle will take place on Jan. 12 followed by halfpipe on Jan. 13.

"I’ve actually never competed at Snowmass, so I’m excited to ride at the Grand Prix,” said White. “I heard the pipe is great and I think it’s going to be a great competition this close to the Olympics.”

NBC Sports Group will feature comprehensive coverage of the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Snowmass with shows airing on NBC, NBC Sports Network and streaming on nbcsports.com. For additional event information, visit usskiandsnowboard.org/grandprix.

• Current Freeski Olympic Selection Rankings
• Current Snowboard Olympic Selection Rankings

TOYOTA U.S. GRAND PRIX - SNOWMASS

Event Schedule
*subject to change
Jan. 10: Halfpipe skiing + slopestyle snowboarding qualifications
Jan. 11: Halfpipe snowboarding + slopestyle skiing qualifications
Jan. 12: Halfpipe skiing + slopestyle snowboarding finals
Jan. 13: Halfpipe snowboarding + slopestyle skiing finals
Jan. 14: Slopestyle skiing finals (non-World Cup)

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*subject to change

Jan. 12
11:15 a.m – Slopestyle snowboarding finals – nbcsports.com
2:45 p.m – Halfpipe skiing finals – nbcsports.com
9:30 p.m – Slopestyle snowboarding finals – NBCSN (Same day coverage)
11:00 p.m. – Halfpipe skiing finals – NBCSN (Same day coverage)

Jan. 13
11:15 a.m – Slopestyle skiing finals #1 – nbcsports.com
2:45 p.m – Halfpipe snowboarding finals – nbcsports.com

Jan. 14
3:00 p.m – Slopestyle skiing finals #2 – nbcsports.com
3:00 p.m. – Halfpipe snowboarding finals – NBC (next day coverage)

Jan. 15
1:30 a.m. – Slopestyle skiing finals #1 – NBCSN

Jan. 16
12:00 q.m. – Slopestyle skiing finals #2 – NBCSN