After a travel day from Meraker, Norway on Friday, the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team arrived in Trondheim, Norway—the final destination of the Ski Tour 2020—for a classic sprint. Sophie Caldwell and Sadie Maubet Bjornsen were the top finishers for the Americans, finishing 14th and 16th, respectively.

With 10,000 Norwegians watching in the Granasen Ski Centre, Maiken Caspersen Falla put on a show in front of the home crowd to take the win. Linn Svahn of Sweden was second and Nadine Faehndrich of Switzerland third.

The weather was a combination of rain, snow, and sun throughout the day, which made waxing difficult. "It was a fun sprint course with some fast downhills and nice stride-able uphills and there were varying kinds of skis on a tricky wax day," said Sophie. "Some of us felt that our skis weren't the fastest out there, but tomorrow is another day and we are looking forward to one more stage that could bring all kinds of excitement with more rain, snow and sun all in the forecast!"

Sadie said she felt sharp and powerful through the qualifier, but couldn’t hold it through the heats. “I was quick out of the start, but struggled to hold the speed up the first climb,” commented Sadie. “Since climbing is generally my strength, it’s unclear whether it was skis, body or both that held me back. But, that’s how ski racing is. You can’t overthink anything too much—you just keep believing and chasing away!”

Julia Kern had her first FIS World Cup classic sprint points finish, taking 20th place. Rosie Brennan was just behind her in 21st and Jessie Diggins took 23rd. Katharine Ogden, Alayna Sonnesyn, Caitlin Patterson and Rosie Frankowski all started but did not qualify for the heats.  

"We just finished stage five out of six races in the Ski Tour and while it wasn't our best day, we're proud to have made it this far," added Sophie. "It's hard to know how your body is going to respond at the end of a tour, but I think we all woke up feeling ready to give it a go. It's definitely not a bad day to have five girls make the heats, but I know we were left wanting more."

Delighting the Norwegian crowd, it was a clean sweep on the men’s side with Norway in first through fifth place. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo took the win, Paal Golberg second and Erik Valnes third.

No U.S. men finished in the points or made it to the heats. Simi Hamilton wasn’t feeling well enough to start and Logan Hanneman was just outside of qualifying. Kevin Bolger, Ben Lustgarten and David Norris also started for the men.

“Today was not our best day out there,” said Head Coach Chris Grover. “It’s quite unusual for us to not be able to advance some women to the semifinal and the final, but the Ski Tour 2020 is a strange beast! Our silver lining is that Jessie is sixth overall in the Tour, Rosie is 10th and Sadie is hovering just outside the top-10 in 12th.”

The team goes into the final day of the Ski Tour on Sunday with a 15/30k classic pursuit. “It is the tour of crazies for me, so I’m going to let it go and look on to ‘the chase’ tomorrow,” said Sadie. “With the Tour ending with a 15k classic, I am sitting just outside the top 10 overall and really hoping to climb my way within that tomorrow. Let’s see if I can channel all amounts of frustration towards some constructive racing in the final day!”

Chris also said he’s excited about the final event on Sunday. “We are looking forward to a big day tomorrow in the 15/30k classic and finishing this tour with some momentum,” said Chris. “We’d like to thank the organizers of this logistically intricate Ski Tour 2020 for an amazing experience and for the depth of their vision creating this event!”

RESULTS
Women
Men

STANDINGS (Through Stage 5)
Women
Men

Sunday, Feb. 23
Stage 6 Trondheim, NOR
Classic pursuit, 15k women, 30k men

HOW TO WATCH

Sunday, Feb 23
5:00 a.m. - Ski Tour 2020, Women’s 15k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:05 a.m. - Ski Tour 2020, Men’s 30k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold
12:00 p.m.. - Ski Tour 2020, Women’s 15k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - Olympic Channel*
1:00 p.m. - Ski Tour 2020, Men’s 30k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - Olympic Channel*

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow.

Hannah Soar was just off the podium in the Tazawako, Japan FIS World Cup moguls competition on Saturday, finishing in fourth place.

Perrine Laffont of France took the win with Japan’s Junko Hoshino taking second in front of the home crowd. Jakara Anthony of Australia was third.

It was a dreary, gray day in Japan, but the weather didn't deter Hannah. The New England-born-and-raised woman charged through the rainy course to make it to the super final and performed her back tuck to cork seven on the bottom jump. She left a little time on the course—not skiing quite fast enough—but considered it a learning experience as she nears closer and closer to her first single moguls podium.

“Learning from today, I will push myself harder in super final scenarios,” said Hannah. “Podiums and victories aren’t handed to anyone, so in order to grab another podium this season, I need to execute my run every time to the best of my abilities. Overall today was another good step in the right direction.”

Hannah continues to make moves and prove that she's one to watch, having now competed four different trick combinations in four different small finals this season.

Rounding out the women, Jaelin Kauf made the small final and finished 16th. Tess Johnson just missed qualifying for finals, finishing 17th. Kai Owens was 23rd.

With only five competitions left, Hannah and Jaelin sit in fifth and sixth place, respectively, in the run for the overall moguls globe.

On the men’s side, Dylan Walczyk led the men in seventh with a strong and smart qualifying run. Brad Wilson finished 16th.

“It was good to see the Brad that we all knew was in there come out and put a really good performance in there in qualifying,” said Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. “We’re happy about that.”

Mikael Kingsbury of Canada won with Dmitriy Reikherd of Kazakstan in second and Laurent Dumais of Canada third.

Emerson Smith also skied well in his third event back on the World Cup tour after injury, finishing 21st. Alex Lewis was 31st, Jesse Andringa 40th, Nick Page 43rd and Kalman Heims 50th.  

Overall, it was a solid day for the U.S. team, as they look to take the knowledge and familiarity obtained into Sunday’s event and beyond. “It takes a lot of learning in how to ski in Japan,” said Matt. “It’s tricky snow here—packed down and it gets a glassy feel to it, causing a lot of young athletes to lose their feet and not be able to finish their runs as strongly as they would like. Japan snow is all about the experience and knowing how to ski on this snow. They’re figuring it out.”

Next up, the U.S. Moguls Ski Team men and women are fired up for dual moguls on Sunday.

RESULTS
Men
Women

STANDINGS
Women’s Overall Moguls
Men’s Overall Moguls

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 22
11:20 p.m - Men and women’s dual moguls, Lake Tazawako, JPN - OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 23
12:30 a.m - Men and women’s dual moguls, Lake Tazawako, JPN - Olympic Channel

Alice Mckennis led the charge for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, landing in 16th in Saturday's sun-splashed downhill in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. 

Under the Swiss sunshine for the second day in a row, Lara Gut-Behrami and countrywoman Corrine Suter went 1-2 with an Austrian in third, in what was an entirely different outcome than yesterday's .80-second margin victory from Lara. Just two one-hundredths of a second seprated Lara and teammate Corrine, and five one-hundredths of a second separated Lara and Austria's Nina Ortlieb, in third. After not having won a downhill since January 28, 2017, Lara seems to have found her stridde, winning back-to-back downhills for the first time since December 18-19, 2015. 

Though Saturday's result was Alice's best result since her 10th place in Lake Louise, Canada, in December, it was bit bittersweet, as it was the last downhill on the 2019-20 calendar before World Cup Finals. "Today was a step in the right direction for me," reflected Alice in the finish area. "It's been kind of a rough season, coming back in the new year I really struggled to find my stride. After my crash in Bansko, I lost a lot of confidence, and it's been a tough few weeks. Today I felt more like myself again, and skied more like I have been in training, and I'm going to walk away from today with a little more confidence. Obviously disappointed with the way the season went and had hoped for a lot more, but it was nice to finish the downhill season on a good night."

Breezy Johnson, who was fifth in Friday's downhill, had a strong first couple of splits and was right in there, but didn't quite have the direction she needed over a jump and missed a gate. She is thankfully OK, and skied down. "Today was tough, because I watched the first few girls and I knew that you had to have a near-perfect run in order to even just be on the podium," said Breezy. "I mean, between first and third place there's practically no difference. So, I sent it and I sent it a little too hard, and you've gotta kind of push those boundaries sometimes in order to know where theyre at. I can't fault myself for that, obviously definitely something to learn."

Breezy ended the season ranked 20th in the downhill standings, stamping her ticket to World Cup Finals to compete among the best 25 downhill skiers in the world in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy—a track the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team women's speed team has had a signficant amount of success on in the past. Breezy's best result in Cortina was a 10th-place in January 2017. 

"To be able to go to Finals this year...I did not know that was going to happen," Breezy added. "Missing the first two races, and coming back from injury - there's absolutely no guaruntee. So I'm thrilled to be qualified for Finals, to go to Cortina—which is a great hill for this whole team, and I'm going to try to carry the flag as well as I can."

Alice Merryweather also had a solid result on Saturday, ending up 20th. Jackie Wiles was just outside the top-30, landing in 31st. 

Despite sitting the last seven races out (three downhills, two super-Gs, a giant slalom, and a slalom), Mikaela continues to hold the lead in the overall standings, by 27 points over Italy’s Federica Brignone (who was just off the podium in fourth in Saturday's downhill) and 86 points ahead of Petra Vlhova, who finished in 14th in Saturday's downhill.

Corrine took home her first-ever Crystal Globe and became the first Swiss to win the downhill title since 1990-91. Czech Republic's Ester Ledecka sits in second in the standings, followed by Federica in third, Lara in fourth, and Mikaela in fifth. At this point, the current overall leader Mikaela's return to Europe and return to competition is unknown. 

Up next is an alpine combined—with one run of super-G and one run of slalom—on Sunday. 

RESULTS
Downhill

STANDINGS
Overall
Downhill

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Sunday, Feb. 23
12:30 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Crans-Montana, SUI - NBCSN*
4:15 a.m. - Women’s combined super-G, Crans-Montana, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s combined slalom, Crans-Montana, SUI- Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Monday, Feb. 24
1:00 a.m. - Women’s combined, Crans-Montana, SUI - NBCSN*

*Next-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow. 
 

Tommy Ford battled rough course conditions in Niigata Yuzawa Naeba, Japan to take third place—his second podium of the season.

Filip Zubcic of Croatia skied from 12th place first run to take his first FIS Ski World Cup victory by a commanding .74 seconds. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland was second.

Conditions were challenging throughout the day, with rotten snow greeting the athletes in the morning. But as the day warmed up, moisture came out of the snow, making it heavy and wet—perfect conditions for Tommy, who grew up in the damp Pacific Northwest. “I just tapped into some old experience that I’ve had on this kind of snow—I’ve had a lot of experience on soft, wet snow and ruts,” said Tommy. “I just really trusted that. I felt like I really kept it flowing.”

Tommy, who had started the season with a fourth-place result in Soelden and a big win on home turf in Beaver Creek, had struggled to find his rhythm in the last few weeks. The podium in Japan was a big score for him in confidence as he moves towards the end of the season. “I’m really grateful for that victory I had in Beaver Creek, but afterwards it was a struggle to deal with the extra attention from that and ground myself again,” said Tommy. “It’s been a bit of a struggle to find that consistency again, but I’m thankful for that struggle. It’s been a big learning experience that I haven’t had before.”

But Tommy knows he’s back on the track he was looking for and is someone to fear on the World Cup tour, hidden behind his low-key Pacific Northwest demeanor. “I may look calm on the outside, but I don’t have any problem getting my excitement up for a race,” he said. “It’s worth ignoring all the thoughts and really tuning in. My goal is to stay connected and continue with this consistency that I’ve been working on for years and enjoy these moments and keep working—keeping it simple.”

Rounding out the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, Ted Ligety finished in 11th place. Ryan Cochran-Siegle and River Radamus also started but did not qualify for a second run.

Next up, the men race slalom in Japan on Sunday.

RESULTS
Giant Slalom

STANDINGS
Overall
Giant Slalom

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 22
7:45 p.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Yuzawa Naeba, JPN - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
11:00 p.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Yuzawa Naeba, JPN - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 23
12:30 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Crans-Montana, SUI - NBCSN*
4:15 a.m. - Women’s combined super-G, Crans-Montana, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s combined slalom, Crans-Montana, SUI- Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
 

Breezy Johnson—who returned to competition from back-to-back knee injuries in January—matched her season-best from Bansko with a fifth-place on Friday in the first of two downhills in Crans-Montana, Switzerland to lead three Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes into the top 30. 

For the second-straight day, the sun was shining down on the track, and though it was warm during the race, the temperatures dropped enough on Thursday night for the snow to firm up and create a surface that was a touch faster than in Thursday's downhill training run. The Swiss women really put on a show for the crowd, with Lara Gut grabbing her first downhill victory since January 2017 by a massive .80 margin, followed by Corrine Suter in second, and Austria's Stephanie Venier in third, .92 seconds back. 

Coming down bib four, Breezy was building time the entire way down and had a .33-second advantage before making a costly mistake at the bottom, that would put her in second behind Slovakia's Petra Vlhova by just 18 hundredths of a second. Though Petra was knocked off the podium, Friday's fourth-place result was her career-best downhill finish and earned her valuable points towards the overall title chase. 

Breezy, who returned in January from back-to-back knee injuries, grabbed two top-10 results in Bansko Bulgaria—a fifth and a 10th—and was happy to have earned a matching season-best result in Crans-Montana on a track that she's never skied before.  All of the blood, sweat, and tears in the last 18 months has paid off for Breezy. 

"I spent so long after my first injury, so excited to be back and I couldn't wait to be back, I started skiing and it was so nice but then I got injured again and I was devastated," reflected Breezy. "All I could think about was getting back to racing. Skiing was great, training was great, but race day is my favorite day. So, I am just SO grateful to be back, and I'm trying to take advantage of every moment and not let anything slip through my fingers."

"I was in the start this morning and I was like, 'You have been through too much sh*t to let this get to you," she continued. "I'm trying to enjoy this as much as possible. I've just been trying to ski the way that I have been dreaming about skiing for forever. I'm so blessed with the fact that my body is in line with what I want to do mentally, and that is so rare...so I'm so grateful to all of my therapists, and my strength coach, and both of my surgeons."

A bobble before the last split cost Breezy her first podium, but she's eager for a second opportunity on Saturday. "I came out of the start, and I went to the outside gate a little bit right at the top and was like, 'well, I can still arc this but it's not the fastest line, obviously,' and then I just tried to send it from there and ski as well as I could," she said. "I felt like I skied pretty well and then I came into the bottom pitch and the snow was a little peely down there...I didn't quite get the direction that I needed coming out of the triple, coming on to the last face, and then the snow just kind of peeled away from me and my skis were doing some weird things—I don't know if my tips crossed—definitely felt pretty strange. I was so backseat, and I told myself, 'you have to make that gate—you've been through too much to lose it now!'"

Alice McKennis grabbed some more points, finishing in 24th, while Alice Merryweather was 29th. Jackie Wiles got late and pulled low, then missed a gate. She DNFed but she is OK and skied down. 

Despite sitting the last six races out (two downhills, two super-Gs, a giant slalom, and a slalom), Mikaela continues to hold the lead in the overall standings, by 77 points over Italy’s Federica Brignone (who was seventh in Friday's downhill) and 104 points ahead of Petra Vlhova. In the downhill standings, Corrine leads the way with 397 points, followed by the Czech Republic's Ester Ledecka with 277, Federica with 270, and Mikaela with 256. At this point, the current overall leader Mikaela's return to Europe and return to competition is unknown. 

Friday's downhill was rescheduled from the Rosa Khutor (Sochi), Russia canceled downhill. Up next is another downhill on Saturday, followed by an alpine combined—with one run of super-G and one run of slalom—on Sunday. 

RESULTS
Downhill

STANDINGS
Overall
Downhill

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 22
4:30 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Crans-Montana, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 23
12:30 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Crans-Montana, SUI - NBCSN*
4:15 a.m. - Women’s combined super-G, Crans-Montana, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s combined slalom, Crans-Montana, SUI- Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Monday, Feb. 24
1:00 a.m. - Women’s combined, Crans-Montana, SUI - NBCSN*

*Next-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow. 

Moguls returns to World Cup competition this week with a double feature: singles on Saturday and duals on Sunday. After a brief break in competition following a successful 2020 Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort, athletes are stoked to get back in the start gates in one of their favorite tour venues: Tazawako, Japan.

The U.S. athletes welcome the opportunity to embrace Japanese culture during their week in the country. With an onsen on-site at their lodging and delicious, plentiful food, fighting through jet lag is that much easier. Rooms even feature tatami mat flooring, which some athletes choose to sleep on as is traditional in Japanese culture. 

“Tazawako is my favorite stop for so many reasons but one of the main ones is the weird and delicious food,” notes Jesse Andringa. “For example, [Coach] Riley and I, as soon as we landed in Tokyo, got ourselves some dried cherrywood smoked mussels. And of course, the steamed buns are to die for.”

Located in the Akita Prefecture, Tazawako is known for its February snowfall. However, unseasonably warm temperatures and a lack of precipitation have made for interesting course conditions. On Thursday athletes were only given one inspection and thirty minutes of training time, no jumping was allowed. “The biggest concern on course is getting enough snow into the landing so that they match the jumps,” explained Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. “Right now they are very flat and limited. There are about 50-60 volunteers shoveling snow onto the course from the surrounding trees. We expect to jump today (Friday), and are starting a little later, to provide more time to move snow.”  

The Team concentrated on skiing the middle section of the course and used Thursday as an opportunity to return to a focus on basics. What snow there was, skied well Matt noted.

“The first day of training was interesting since the snow conditions didn’t allow us to jump, but there’s always been adversity here on the training days in the past, so I’m not concerned,” said Tess Johnson. “It’s going to be a rad week, and I’m already having a ton of fun!”

Managing drop time in the landings will be the key to success on the Tazawako course this week as athletes will have more time in the air between contact with the snow. Although the smaller landing pads may prove favorable for the women, who don’t jump as far down as the men. “They are going to land right at the bottom [of the landing] and will be able to initiate that first turn [off the top air] really well,” explained Matt. 

Leading the American women's #PowHERhouse is Jaelin Kauf, who is coming off of a third-place dual moguls finish at Deer Valley. During the weeklong break Jaelin trained a back mute grab, which she may bring to competition this week. “[That jump] will make her faster through the middle section [coming off of] that top air,” said Matt. Bringing this new trick to snow will double Jaelin’s goal of bringing one new trick to snow this year as she has already successfully competed a cork 7. 

Hannah Soar will continue to build off of the success she has enjoyed this season with two World Cup podiums, the first two of what she hopes will be many during her career. Hannah has about 18 different run combinations she can pull from and has the potential for the highest DD package of the women with a back full to cork 7. Matt suspects she’ll run with her back tuck to cork 7 this week. 

Tess Johnson proved to 8,500 hometown fans what she’s made of when she upset France’s until-then undefeated Perrine Laffont during the semi-final round of dual moguls competition at Deer Valley Resort. Tazawako is where Tess earned her first World Cup victory in 2018, and after a refreshing week at home is looking to pounce. “The past week at home was fantastic,” she said. “With some light training and an epic powder day, it was the perfect scenario to recover, reset and prepare for these next five weeks on the road. I absolutely love Japan, so I’m stoked to be back here in a contest bib. I’ve had some great success here in the past, the people here are welcoming and kind, and I’m a big sushi girl.”

Kai Owens rounds out the women’s roster. The youngest of the Americans, this will be Kai’s fifth and sixth World Cup starts as she looks to break back into finals.

On the men’s side, Matt notes that Jesse is skiing strong and athletically and is carrying well through the fall line. “I have learned a lot these past couple weeks,” Jesse reflects. “I realized I don't need to ski balls to the wall every run to still be in that top ten. I am really going to put my confidence and my consistency to the test and put down clean run after clean run.”

New Team members Alex Lewis and Nick Page will look to continue to collect World Cup points and break into the final rounds. Nick made his first World Cup finals appearance in front of his hometown crowd at Deer Valley. Alex is looking to up his DD and he may throw a cork 10 to cork 7.

Veteran members Brad Wilson and Emerson Smith are also set to start. Brad has enjoyed a lot of success in Japan, most recently with a second-place in singles in 2019. This will be his fifth and sixth World Cup starts of the season as he works to climb back into the top ten. 2018 Olympian Emerson made his return from injury to World Cup competition at Deer Valley. Tazawako marks his third and fourth starts this season. “It’s good to have him back in there and continuing to charge forward,” said Matt.

Kalman Heims, who had a breakout performance in Dual Moguls at Deer Valley, finishing the night in 12th, is working on setting himself up for success through the jumps. 

With Japan 14-17 hours ahead of the United States, fans at home can catch all of the moguls action Friday and Saturday nights.

U.S. STARTERS

Women
Tess Johnson
Jaelin Kauf
Hannah Soar
Kai Owens

Men
Jesse Andringa
Kalman Heims
Alex Lewis
Nick Page
Emerson Smith
Dylan Walczyk
Brad Wilson

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Friday, Feb. 21
11:20 p.m - Men and women’s moguls, Lake Tazawako, JPN - OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 22
12:30 a.m - Men and women’s moguls, Lake Tazawako, JPN - Olympic Channel
11:20 p.m - Men and women’s dual moguls, Lake Tazawako, JPN - OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 23
12:30 a.m - Men and women’s dual moguls, Lake Tazawako, JPN - Olympic Channel

This week the 38th Annual U.S. Open celebrates the life of Burton founder Jake Burton Carpenter, who passed away in November. From Feb. 24-29 in Vail, Colo., U.S. Snowboard Team members alongside the world’s top riders will remember the snowboarding community’s greatest champion through special events, concerts, and elite level snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle competition. Coming off a slopestyle win at the Dew Tour, the defending 2019 U.S. Open Champion Red Gerard is set to drop in for Jake. 

“The U.S. Open has always been the best event of the year,” said Red. “We can almost always count on nice weather, a perfect progressive course, and the vibe and feel is all time! This year will be a very special one as we remember Jake. I am just stoked to come back and compete and have a good week with all my friends.”

Joining Red from the men’s U.S. Snowboard Slopestyle Team is Luke Winkelmann, Sean FitzSimons, Jake Canter, Judd Henkes, Lyon Farrell, Kyle Mack, and 2020 Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Champion Dusty Henricksen. For the women, Julia Marino is making her return to competition following a forearm injury at X Games Aspen 2020. Julia will be joined by six-time champion Jamie Anderson, and the always stylish Hailey Langland. 

This year’s Burton U.S.Open slopestyle course will see an updated course design based on rider feedback, incorporating more speed and flow throughout.

The defending women’s halfpipe U.S. Open Champion, Maddie Mastro, is also ready for the week in Vail. At 19 years old, the U.S. Open has been running for double her lifetime. 

“I’m excited to be back at the Open,” said Maddie. “It’s always one of the best contests of the year. Every year my goal is to just have fun and snowboard, which is what the U.S. Open is all about to me. Being the defending champion doesn’t change that goal for me, I’m just going to focus on having fun and riding.”

Joining Maddie from the women’s U.S. Snowboard Halfpipe Team is rookie team member Tessa Maud. For the men, Chase Blackwell, Lucas Foster, Jason Wolle, Jack Coyne, Jake Pates, Ryan Wachendorfer, Chase Josey, Toby Miller, and Taylor Gold are ready to compete in what should be a new environment for everyone involved. The U.S. Open halfpipe venue has been completely reformed, combining a 13-foot enhanced minipipe creatively transitioning into a 22-foot superpipe.

The world’s best snowboarders descend on Vail, Colo. Feb 24-29 to battle it out for the coveted Burton U.S.Open halfpipe and slopestyle titles and the $373,000 overall prize purse. Don’t miss your chance to see it in person or tune it below to catch all the action live. 

SPECTATORS

COURSE DESIGN

JAKE’S SPECIAL EVENTS
Thursday, Feb. 27
4:30 - 6:00 p.m. - Ride On Jake Snowboard Exhibit - Burton Lionshead Store

Friday, Feb. 28
8:00 a.m. - Ride For Jake - Celebratory top-to-bottom run down - Gondola One 

Saturday, Feb. 29
7:30 p.m. - Fireworks for Jake - Solaris Concert Stage

HOW TO WATCH
Broadcast Live on Red Bull TV and BurtonUSOpen.com
Subject to change
All times EST

Wednesday, Feb. 26
12:00 p.m. - Women’s Slopestyle Semi-Finals - Vail, Colo 
2:30 p.m. - Men’s Slopestyle Semi-Finals - Vail, Colo 

Thursday, Feb. 27 
12:00 p.m. - Women’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals - Vail, Colo 
2:30 p.m. - Men’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals - Vail, Colo 

Friday, Feb. 28
1:00 p.m. - Women’s Slopestyle Finals - Vail, Colo 
4:00 p.m. - Men’s Slopestyle Finals - Vail, Colo 

Saturday, Feb. 29
1:00 p.m. - Women’s Halfpipe Finals - Vail, Colo 
4:00 p.m. - Men’s Halfpipe Finals - Vail, Colo 
 

Another city, another circus. Going straight from the 2020 Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International to competition in Moscow, the U.S. Aerial Ski Team found some time to pause and recharge in Minsk ahead of their next World Cup event on Saturday, including attending their second circus of the season. For just 35 rubles, athletes were treated to high flying acrobatic entertainment and got to enjoy others launching themselves in the air rather than themselves for a change.

Springtime temperatures in Minsk forced the organizers to cancel the first day of training on Wednesday. “This competition in Minsk will be challenging for everyone out there with the weather conditions,” said Justin Schoenefeld. In order to preserve the snow at the site, athletes were only given three jumps the other two training days Thursday and Friday. Head Aerials Coach Vladimir Lebedev cites the importance of preserving the knoll from overuse as a major factor in restricting training. 

Although three days off from training and competing was a welcome reprieve, athletes are anxious to get back out on the jumps and continue their World Cup tour. 

“Last year I missed the podium [here] with a fourth-place finish and I am hoping for a better result this year,” reflected Justin. “Saturday, I won’t be thinking about my result from last season during the competition. All I will be focused on is putting down my best jumps when they need to be done, just as if it were another training jump. Finding the right mindset for competition is different for everyone and it is very important for success in every sport.”

Competition is set to go off at the Raubichi sports complex, just outside of Minsk’s city center. Twelve Americans will represent the United States under the lights on Saturday. In addition to the World Cup, athletes will also participate in a synchro event on Sunday. Not a World Cup contest, Synchronized Aerials consists of a team of two athletes of the same gender jumping off of the kickers in unison. Teams have one qualifying jump and the top six teams advance to a one-jump final. 

U.S. STARTERS
Women
Ashley Caldwell
Megan Nick
Winter Vinecki
Madison Varmette
Megan Smallhouse
Kaila Kuhn 

Men
Eric Loughran
Chris Lillis
Jon Lillis
Justin Schoenefeld
Quinn Dehlinger
Alex Bowen

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 22
11:00 a.m. - Men and women’s aerials, Minsk, BLR - Olympic Channel, OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold

The Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team heads to Crans-Montana, Switzerland for the women's speed crew and Yuzawa Naeba, Japan for the mens' tech team this weekend.

The women will tackle a rescheduled downhill from Rosa Khutor (Sochi), Russia, along with another downhill and an alpine combined at the Swiss venue, which appears to be in the best shape it's been in years. Breezy Johnson and Alice McKennis will lead the way for the women on a track that's flowy and "totally sendable," as Head Women's Speed Coach Chip White said in Thursday evening's team meeting. "It's not like Garmisch glass or Bansko rattle," he continued. "We've had one training run and you realize that now. Game time to send it. This is a downhiller's downhill."

That said, there's some weather coming in that could affect Friday's downhill, but Chip made sure to remind the women that Mother Nature is outside of our control. "Regardless of what Mother Nature sends us, we have to send it," he added. Conditions are better than ever, and though the women's speed team has struggled to find their groove this season with many athletes returning from significant injuries, with two downhills this weekend is a big opportunity for the women to make a statement. 

On the men's side, the tech athletes return to Yuzawa Naeba for the first time since 2016, and though conditions are not ideal, the men's giant slalom and slalom skiers will look to make their mark, led by Olympic champion Ted Ligety and 2019 Birds of Prey victor Tommy Ford. Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who has had his best career season, will also look to throw it in there. 

Despite sitting the last five races out (one downhill, two super-Gs, a giant slalom, and a slalom), Mikaela continues to hold the lead in the overall standings, by 113 points over Italy’s Federica Brignone (who was in 25th after the first run, but DNFed second run of Sunday's slalom) and 154 points ahead of Petra Vlhova. In the slalom standings, Petra has now surpassed Mikaela by 20 points, with 460 points, followed by Mikaela with 440.  In hopes of grabbing some valuable points towards the overall chase, both Federica and Petra will start in this weekend's races. At this point, the current overall leader Mikaela's return to Europe and return to competition is unknown. 

Check out how and who to watch below. 

MEN’S STARTERS
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Tommy Ford
Ted Ligety 
River Radamus
Luke Winters

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Breezy Johnson
Alice McKennis
Alice Merryweather
Jackie Wiles

RESULTS
Women’s Downhill Training Run

START LISTS
Women’s Downhill

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Friday, Feb. 21
4:00 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Crans-Montana, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:45 p.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Yuzawa Naeba, JPN - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
11:00 p.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2, Yuzawa Naeba, JPN - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 22
4:30 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Crans-Montana, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:45 p.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Yuzawa Naeba, JPN - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
11:00 p.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Yuzawa Naeba, JPN - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 23
12:30 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Crans-Montana, SUI - NBCSN*
4:15 a.m. - Women’s combined super-G, Crans-Montana, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s combined slalom, Crans-Montana, SUI- Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Monday, Feb. 24
1:00 a.m. - Women’s combined, Crans-Montana, SUI - NBCSN*

*Next-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow. 

Jessie Diggins finished seventh and led a strong push by the Davis U.S. Cross Country Team with six athletes finishing in the top 30 in Thursday’s 34k freestyle Queen Stage of Ski Tour 2020. 

“That was really fun, and really hard,” Jessie said. “It was an all-out effort, and I’m really proud of that since it was one of my big goals for this tour - to go all out every single race!”

Rosie Brennan was 10th, Sadie Maubet Bjornsen was 11th, Julia Kern finished 19th and Rosie Frankowski was 29th. Therese Johaug led a podium sweep for Norway, with Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg in second and Heidi Weng in third.

“I was in a great group with Krista (Parmakoski of Finland) and Therese, and we worked together to make a gap, and I had so much fun skiing with them while pushing as hard as possible,” Jessie added.

With the strong wind throughout the race, athletes were focused on staying in a group as much as possible.

"It was really windy still making it challenging to ski alone out there," Rosie said. "Knowing that I did all I could to stay in my group. There were a few kilometers that I was dangling and unsure if I could hang, but I was, fortunately, able to find another gear climbing and work my way back up to my group."

"It was windy as heck, which made the course super tough, but still beautiful," Sadie added. "I didn’t look around a ton, because I was so focused, but in the few chances we went down a hill, and I got a glimpse, I just felt so lucky to be part of this fun experience. It is so different than any race I have ever done, and the total 'unknown' put the cherry on top."

In the men’s 34k race, David Norris was 26th. The race, which was originally scheduled as a 38k point to point between Storlien in Sweden and Meråker in Norway, was shortened to 34k and as an out-and-back from Meråker stadium to Fjergen and then back to Meråker stadium due to strong winds.

“Toughest race of the season,” David said. “From 3k to the finish, the pace rarely got easy. The strong head and crosswinds made even the gentle terrain really challenging. But I’m pleased with my effort and now I’m looking forward to the final stage of the tour- another 30k.”

Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov won the race, followed by Norway’s Johannes Klaebo in second and Emil Iversen in third.

Jessie sits sixth in the overall standings through four stages, followed by Rosie in ninth and Sadie in 12th. Julia moved up to 27th overall following her strong result in Stage 4. In the men’s standings, David is 29th overall with two stages remaining, a classic sprint for Stage 5, followed by the final stage classic pursuit, 15k for the women and 30k for the men.

RESULTS
Stage 4 
Women’s 34k freestyle
Men’s 34k freestyle

STANDINGS (Through Stage 4)
Women
Men

Friday, Feb. 21
Travel day

Saturday, Feb. 22
Stage 5 Trondheim, NOR
Classic sprint

Sunday, Feb. 23
Stage 6 Trondheim, NOR
Classic pursuit, 15k women, 30k men

HOW TO WATCH
Saturday, Feb. 22
7:00 a.m. - Ski Tour 2020, Men and women’s classic sprint, Trondheim, NOR - Olympic Channel, OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb 23
5:00 a.m. - Ski Tour 2020, Women’s 15k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:05 a.m. - Ski Tour 2020, Men’s 30k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold
12:00 p.m.. - Ski Tour 2020, Women’s 15k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - Olympic Channel*
1:00 p.m. - Ski Tour 2020, Men’s 30k pursuit, Trondheim, NOR - Olympic Channel*

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow.