Toby Miller (Mammoth, Calif.) added the snowboard halfpipe gold medal to his FIS Junior World Championships collection, and Tessa Maud (Carlsbad, Calif.) won her first world championships medal, a silver, at the 2018 FIS Junior Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.

Opening with a frontside double 1080 stalefish to cab double 1080 melon combo, and closing out with a frontside 1080 tailgrab, Miller was clearly on a mission to better the two Junior World Championship silver medals he had won in 2015 and 2017.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Miller, who put down a blistering first-run score of 93.20. “The level of riding out here today was absolutely phenomenal - all the riders are so talented. This is my fourth Junior Worlds and every year the level just gets higher and higher. I’m honored to be in such an elite group of riders.”

Close on the day, but not close enough were a pair of Japanese riders boasting a name famous in halfpipe circles, as Ruka and Kaishu Hirano finished second and third respectively behind Miller. Jake Canter (Evergreen, Colo.) was eighth.

Maud, competing in her first event as a member of the U.S. Snowboard Team, dropped in switch to open with a cab 720 tail grab and following that up with back-to-back 540s. She put down a nice combination of spins and perhaps the best invert of the day on the women’s side with a solid crippler in her high-scoring second run to earn herself the silver medal. 

Japan’s Mitsuki Ono put down three solid runs to win the gold medal. Canada’s Elizabeth Hosking, meanwhile, relied on her first-run score of 68.80 to stay ahead of the pack to take the bronze. 

RESULTS
Men’s halfpipe finals
Women’s halfpipe finals
 

Dylan Ladd (Lakewood, Colo.) finished third in Saturday's qualifying round to lead four Americans into the freeski halfpipe finals at the 2018 FIS Junior Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Halfpipe World Championships Saturday.

Hunter Carey (Winter Park, Colo.) was fourth, Connor Ladd (Lakewood, Colo.)  eight, Aaron Durlester (Mammoth, Calif. was 12th to advance to the finals Tuesday at Cardrona Alpine Resort. 

With heavy snow in the mountain weather forecast for the next few days, men's qualifying round was moved up a day from Sunday to Saturday. The freeski halfpipe finals are scheduled for Tuesday.

Svea, Gu Qualify For Freeski Halfpipe Finals

A weather window opened Sunday morning allowing 19 athletes to compete in the women's freeski halfpipe qualifier. Svea Irving (Winter Park, Colo.) and Eileen Gu (San Francisco) finished fourth and sixth respectively to reach the freeski halfpipe finals scheduled for Tuesday at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

RESULTS
Men's freeski halfpipe qualifying
Women's freeski halfpipe qualifier

START LISTS
Men's freeski halfpipe finals
Women's freeski halfpipe finals

Toby Miller (Mammoth, Calif.) opened his second run with back to back 1080s for a score of 95.60 and the top spot in the men’s snowboard halfpipe qualifier at the 2018 FIS Junior Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Halfpipe World Championships Saturday.

With heavy snow in the mountain weather forecast for the next few days, the qualifying competition was rescheduled from Sunday to Saturday and came down to a game of strategy for Miller, who nailed his second run to move atop the standings.

“Both my runs went great,” said Miller. “My first run I got a 90.80, the first run is the most nerve-wracking one, you want to put down a score and make finals on that first run. I was very fortunate to do that, I’m stoked. I ended up bumping up (on run two) doing a cab double 10 after the frontside 1080 and doing three 10s instead of two. I just wanted to up the score a little more and use it as practice and get ready for finals.”

Jake Canter (Evergreen, Colo.) finished 10th to advance to the finals scheduled for Tuesday at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

In the women's snowboard halfpipe qualifier, China’s Lulu Jia nailed down the top qualifying spot with an 85.6. Tessa Maud (Carlsbad, Calif.) finished third to move on to Tuesday's finals.

RESULTS
Men's halfpipe qualifier
Women's halfpipe qualifier

START LISTS
Men's halfpipe finals
Women's halfpipe finals

The U.S. Cross Country Team, currently training at the Snow Farm in New Zealand, started its first race of the season Saturday at the 24th edition of the Merino Muster, part of the Wolrdloppet Race Series. Jessie Diggins (Stratton, Vt.) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) took the wins in the 42K race, with Katharine Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.) winning the 21k version.


“I got to ski in a pack for most of the race and it was really fun to throw in a longer race than we ever get to do in the World Cup,” Diggins after the race. “Turns out I love the long-distance efforts. The snow was fast, the course was fun, and all the volunteers did a great job!”


“We pretty much raced in a pack, Kyle, Adam, myself, and two Japanese skiers, for about 97 percent of the race,” Hamilton said. “It was great to take turns pulling and drafting, and just moving fluidly as a train out there.  My skis were running really well the entire race, and I just focused on conserving energy where I could. I was really hoping that it would come down to a sprint finish in the last 0.5k, so I guess I was lucky that it did.”


U.S. Cross Country Team coach Jason Cork summed up the conditions as “super nice - sunny, around freezing, very little wind. Nice, fast grooming. In general, the pace was pretty relaxed for everyone until the end, when it ramped up."

D Team Member Katharine Ogden, racing the shorter distance said, “This was a super fun race! it was awesome to have an opportunity to put on a bib during the offseason. and, we were so lucky to have a perfect bluebird day for it!”

The Team camp continues at the Snow Farm through September 10 and includes the upcoming Winter Games NZ beginning Tuesday, Sept. 4.

RESULTS
Merino Muster

Eileen Gu (San Francisco) was the top-placed American in fifth in the freeski slopestyle finals at the 2018 FIS Junior Freeskiing & Snowboard World Championships Friday. On the men’s side, Ryan Stevenson (Washington, N.J.) led the way for the U.S. Team in sixth.

Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru won her second Junior World slopestyle title, as Russia’s Anastasia Tatalina took the silver, and Japan’s Kokone Kondo the bronze. Svea Irving (Winter Park, Colo.) was ninth, and Montana Osinski (Fairfield, Conn.) was 12th.

In the men’s final, Sweden’s Oliwer Magnusson won the gold, Norway’s Sebastian Schjerve took the silver and Kim Gubser of Switzerland the bronze. Cody LaPlante (Truckee, Calif.) was 10th.

Freeski competition continues Saturday at Cardrona Alpine resort with the men’s halfpipe qualifiers. The women’s halfpipe qualifier is scheduled for Sunday, with both the men and women’s halfpipe finals are scheduled for Tuesday.

RESULTS
Men’s slopestyle finals
Women’s slopestyle finals

START LISTS
Men’s halfpipe qualifier

Jade Thurgood (Salt Lake City) led the way for the U.S. Team, finishing fourth in the women’s snowboard slopestyle finals at the 2018 FIS Junior Freeskiing & Snowboard World Championships Friday.

Ty Schnorrbusch (Frisco, Colo.) was seventh, followed by Courtney Rummel (West Bend, Wisc.) in 10th; Isabella Gomez (Issaquah, Wash) 13th; and Makayla Kellog (Mammoth, Calif.) in 14th.  Japan’s Kokomo Murase took the gold, followed by Germany’s Annika Morgan with the silver, and Canada’s Sommor Gendron with the bronze.

In the men’s finals, Jake Canter (Evergreen, Colo.) was the top-placed American in fifth, followed by Will Healy (Riverside, Conn.) in sixth. Luke Winkelmann (Bowling Rock, N.C.) was 12th. Japan also took the gold in the men’s final with Takeru Otsuka posting the top score. The Netherland’s took silver and bronze with Niek Velden and Casper Wolf.

Snowboard competition continues Saturday at Cardrona Alpine resort with the men and women’s halfpipe qualifiers. The halfpipe finals are scheduled for Tuesday.

RESULTS
Men’s slopestyle finals
Women’s slopestyle finals

START LISTS
Men’s halfpipe qualifier
Women’s halfpipe qualifier

PARK CITY, Utah – U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced that Bryan Fish has been promoted to the position of Cross Country Sport Development Manager. This is a new position and includes many of Bryan’s current duties at U.S. Ski & Snowboard, in addition to the key domestic and development responsibilities held by former Nordic Domestic Program Director Robert Lazzaroni. U.S. Ski and Snowboard will not fill that role but will hire a coordinator to assist Fish as he takes on his new role.

“This is an exciting time for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, and promoting Bryan Fish to fill this new role could not come at a better time,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport Luke Bodensteiner. “Bryan has done great work as the development coach and the team is now seeing the positive outcomes of his well-orchestrated strategy. He has been a large contributor to the strong results we are seeing at Junior Worlds and most recently at the International Junior Camp in Norway. With these added responsibilities, Bryan will continue to be the driving force with the development pipeline and become a larger player in the national cross country scene.”

Bryan’s new role as Sport Development Manager is unique in that it will allow Fish to continue to coach in camps and lead trips including Junior World Ski Championships and OPA Cup.  Sustainability has been built in these programs and it is important that this consistency for the athletes continues.

“Thanks to U.S. Ski & Snowboard for offering me the opportunity to expand my support to the Cross Country community,” Fish said. “As the Cross Country Development Coach, I have focused on collaborating with our ski community to build out the development system. We have worked together with coaches, clubs, divisions, and regions to fill in structural gaps with needed programming. We have also made significant strides in building a stronger national development system. The preparation and performance of our athletes at every level is proof we are moving in the right direction. I am excited to place a greater focus on establishing a clear pathway as we move ahead.”

Based in Park City, Utah, Fish assumes his new role effective immediately and will be actively seeking an additional hire to assist in this new role.

Luke Winkelmann (Bowling Rock, N.C.) led the way for the U.S. Team in snowboard slopestyle qualifiers Thursday at the 2018 FIS Junior Freeskiing & Snowboard World Championships.

In the first men’s qualifying heat, Winkelmann took the top spot with a score of 89.66. Jake Canter (Evergreen, Colo.) finished sixth with a score of 80.66 to advance to the finals. Japan’s Takeru Otsuka won the second heat with a score of 90.00. Will Healy (Riverside, Conn.) was fourth with a score of 84.00.

On the women’s side, Jade Thurgood (Salt Lake City) was fifth with a score of 71.20.  Ty Schnorrbusch (Frisco, Colo.) was eighth with 58.20.

The men and women’s slopestyle finals take place Friday at the Big Bucks Park at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

RESULTS
Men’s slopestyle qualifier heat 1
Men’s slopestyle qualifier heat 2
Women’s slopestyle qualifier

START LISTS
Men’s slopestyle finals
Women’s slopestyle qualifier

Ryan Stevenson (Washington, N.J.) put down the top score of the men's freeski slopestyle qualifiers Thursday at the 2018 FIS Junior Freeskiing & Snowboard World Championships.  Cody LaPlante (Truckee, Calif.) was also among the 12 competitors to qualify for Friday’s slopestyle finals.

In the first qualifying heat, Japan’s Taisei Yamamoto nailed the most technical rail line of the day, putting him top of the leaderboard with a score of 86.00, while Stevenson and Norway’s Birk Ruud had a close battle for the top spot in heat two.

Stevenson just pulled ahead with a more technical combination of tricks, including a backswap on wallride, left 270 in, right 270 in, backslide 270 safety out, left double 1260 safety, switch right double 1080 Japan, switch left double 1260 safety to score 90.33. LaPlante finished fifth in heat two with a score of 63.66.

The women’s slopestyle qualifications are scheduled to take place on Friday morning, followed by both men and women’s finals at 1:30 p.m. local time at the Big Bucks Park at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

RESULTS
Men’s slopestyle qualifier heat 1
Men’s slopestyle qualifier heat 2

START LIST
Men’s slopestyle finals
Women’s slopestyle qualifier

Jade Thurgood (Salt Lake City) finished fourth in snowboard big air competition at the 2018 FIS Junior Freestyle Ski & Snowboard World Championships at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand Wednesday. Ty Schnorrbusch (Frisco, Colo.) was fifth.

Japan’s Kokomo Murase took the gold medal, followed by Canada’s Sommer Gendron with the silver and China’s Ziyan Ren with the bronze. Wednesday’s competition was originally scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 25, however, weather conditions delayed the finals to Wednesday.

Snowboard competition at the Junior World Championships, part of the Winter Games NZ, continues Thursday with the slopestyle qualification, and Friday with the slopestyle finals. Both Thurgood and Schnorrbusch are scheduled to compete.

RESULTS
Women’s big air

START LISTS
Men’s slopestyle qualification heat 1
Men's slopestyle qualification heat 2
Women’s slopestyle qualification