Outside Interactive, Inc., the world’s leading creator of outdoor content, today released the fifth and final episode of its documentary series featuring the three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and four-time Overall World Cup champion, Mikaela Shiffrin. All five episodes of the series, titled Passion & Purpose, can now be viewed on Outside+.

This final episode is an exclusive view inside Shiffrin’s challenging experience at the 2022 Olympic Games. In never before seen interviews and footage, Shiffrin grapples with the very public disappointment and controversy surrounding her performance in Beijing and her struggle to bounce back at the Olympics.

“There were a lot of really, really tough days at the Games,” said Mikaela Shiffrin. “Life is not a linear journey, and amongst all of the negative stories that came out of my performance at the Games, I am grateful that this series captures my personal experience in such a raw and authentic way.”

The final episode of Passion & Purpose recounts the intense pressure from fans and media during and following the Games. We also see Shiffrin’s resilience in preparing for and ultimately winning her fourth Overall title – the biggest annual prize in ski racing – at the World Cup in Courchevel/Meribel, France. This win led Shiffrin to tie former World Cup alpine skier, Lindsey Vonn, for the second-most overall wins in women’s FIS Alpine Ski World Cup history – a satisfying redemption following the Games.

“Outside+ is the platform for outdoor athletes to tell their stories and inspire viewers to have their own adventures,” said Robin Thurston, Outside CEO. “We hope that by telling Mikaela’s story, we can remind people that it’s not always about winning. The outdoors isn’t a video game – it’s real-life with all of its joys and setbacks.”

The full series documents Shiffrin’s journey both on and off the hill leading up to and following the 2022 Olympic Games. In the past two years, Shiffrin has experienced her fair share of mental and physical struggles, including the unexpected loss of her father, the loss of her grandmother, a severe back injury, and she was diagnosed with COVID-19 during the peak of her Olympic training season. Shiffrin walked into the Olympics with high expectations set on her by the fans and the media based on her prior career success. However, her performance wasn’t as strong as she had hoped, and she left Beijing without receiving any medals – a surprise not only to Shiffrin but also to her team and to anyone watching the Games.

Directed and produced by Jalbert Productions, all five episodes are now available for Outside+ members. Episodes have been released to non-members for 30-day intervals, with the fourth episode still available. To watch the full series, sign up to become an Outside+ member here.

About Outside
Outside is the premier destination for active lifestyle enthusiasts and home to leading brands in the endurance sports, outdoor, and healthy living spaces. Each month, Outside reaches 70 million of the most active consumers in the world across its 30+ media, digital, and technology platforms, creating an experience for both longtime adventurers and those just getting started. Outside believes life is best spent outdoors, experiencing healthy, connected, and fulfilling lives. Outside’s membership offering, Outside+, bundles best-in-class storytelling, meal plans, gear reviews, online courses, discounted event access, magazines, and more. Learn more at OutsideInc.com and by following on Twitter.

About Mikaela Shiffrin
Double Olympic champion, six-time world champion, and winningest slalom skier of all time, Mikaela Shiffrin has elevated women’s ski racing globally – both on and off the mountain. At a mere 27-years-old, Mikaela has 74 World Cup victories across six disciplines to her name and is the only athlete to win in all six disciplines. Philanthropically, Mikaela is passionate about ending plastic waste through initiatives with sponsor Adidas, cancer research, the Kelly Brush Foundation, and so much more. She has raised millions of dollars through the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Jeff Shiffrin Athlete Resiliency Fund (in her late father’s name) to help support up-and-coming athletes on the cusp of breaking through as they’ve dealt with challenges associated with the pandemic.

Release provided by Outside, Inc.

Olympian Luke Winters' journey to the top 25 in the world has been a steady progression, one step at a time. In what was his career-best season, Winters finished ranked 23rd in the world in slalom and was highlighted by three top-10 FIS Ski World Cup finishes. Ski Racing Media recently featured Winters' "one step at a time" approach to the top ranks. 

In the piece, Peter Lange writes, 

U.S. Ski Team’s Luke Winters is currently the most successful male American World Cup SL skier. Winters, a quiet man, is talented, but his success has come one step at a time. 

This season Winters broke the U.S. men’s five-season slalom World Cup finals drought when in the last regular-season slalom, Winters finished seventh, earning him his first finals invitation. Previously, the most recent male U.S. athlete to qualify was the retired David Chodounsky in 2016.

Winters’ story begins in Portland, Oregon. Like many, the 25-year-old started skiing young at age three, with his first experience in the spring at the Summit in Government Camp on Mount Hood. However, as a kid, Winters loved other sports as well.  

Keep an eye on Winters and his offseason training via his Instagram account.

Read the full article at SkiRacing.com.

In the same year that Ben Ogden raced the Olympics, someway and somehow, he won an NCAA Championship.

That confluence of talent and time has happened exactly twice before Ogden, and once after. The first before came a half-century ago, when fellow Vermonter Stan Dunklee represented the USA at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics before winning NCAAs a couple weeks later. The second before came a mere two hours prior to Ogden, when Novie McCabe (University of Utah) won the this year’s women’s 5 k Classic NCAA Championship. Likewise, the one time after came when Sophia Laukli (University of Utah) won this year’s 15 k Freestyle NCAA Championship.

Read the Full Story at FasterSkier.com

Once again, Vital Films brings us some incredible footage from two-time Olympic medalist Alex Ferreira. “I AM.” gives us a look into his rigorous path from an injury at Mammoth to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. It’s nice to get a look into the more serious side of the olympian. I think it’s always good to get a reminder that Olympians are human, and that they have to work tirelessly to get to that level of competition.

After a series filled with every weather pattern imaginable, the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships wrapped at Sugarloaf, Maine with the women’s giant slalom on Thursday. Canada’s Britt Richardson impressed, grabbing the victory, while Olympian Paula Moltzan was second to lead the way for the Americans. 

The challenging weather persisted, as the women were met with icy conditions for the final event of the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships series. The 18-year-old Richardson won both runs, for a combined time of 2:01.89, with Moltzan right on her heels, .15 seconds back. Teammate AJ Hurt rounded out the podium in third, 1.91 seconds off the pace. Katie Hensien was in third after the first run but finished behind Hurt in fourth, 2.31 seconds back. 

“I’m really excited to take the win in this race,” commented Richardson, who was also the top junior of the day. “The conditions were a little soft, second run especially…but I just tried to do what I could. I knew the course was going to be a little bumpier the second run…so I just tried to keep that in my head and do what I could.” Up next, Richardson will head back to Panorama, Canada for a spring series race.”

Moltzan, who grabbed her career-first national title in the slalom on Monday, was happy to be competing and pushing in Thursday’s giant slalom. “It was fun…it was definitely a challenging start to the day,” Moltzan reflected. “No one really had any idea if it was actually going to happen, it got a little icy last night. So, they did the best they could with the slope, it wasn’t perfect but there was some great skiing…obviously, Britt pushed through, and all of the girls behind us as well.”

Rounding out the junior podium behind Richardson was Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club’s Tatum Grosdidier in second place and the U.S. Ski Team’s Allie Resnick in third. 

Moltzan gave a big shout-out to the volunteers and course workers for all of their hard work during the event, saying “Thank you guys so much for putting hours upon hours of time, effort, and love into the hill because without you guys we wouldn’t be here. I just want to let them know that there really appreciated by all of the staff and athletes on the U.S. Ski Team.” 

In the 2022 Tom Garner Regions Cup, an award for the top region based on results from the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships, the Western Region prevailed, with 1,068 points. The Eastern Region followed with 923 points, and Rocky/Central had 750 points. 

Up next for the U.S. Ski Team athletes are spring camps, as the 2022-23 season has already kicked off. Stay tuned to our social media accounts to see what the athletes are up to in the offseason. 

RESULTS
Women’s giant slalom

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Olympian Paula Moltzan led both runs of the U.S. Alpine Championships in Sugarloaf, Maine, to dominate the women’s slalom on Tuesday. Moltzan, 27, finished with a combined time of 1:32.28, an impressive 2.81 seconds ahead University of Denver Pioneer Katie Hensien, who moved up from fourth place in the first run to finish second on the day.

Moltzan shed light on what it’s like racing this late in the competition season, despite the weather challenges. “It’s fun to be out here in Sugarloaf with friends and family, the conditions are definitely challenging, the conditions are not the easiest,” Moltzan said. “It’s nice to be back in the U.S. and competing this late in the season.” 

U.S. Ski Team member AJ Hurt was third with a combined time of 1:35.13 to best Canada’s Amelia Smart and Norway’s Kristiane Bekkestad. Allie Resnick of Vail, who was sitting in fifth after the first run, did not finish her second slalom run of the day. 

Eighty women started the race which was held in windy, cold, and tilled ice conditions. Ten women did not finish the second run. The men’s slalom, which was also held on the Narrow Gauge Trail, saw 55 finishers out of 89 who started the day.

In the men’s slalom, Steamboat Springs native U.S. Ski Team member and 2019 NCAA slalom champion Jett Seymour, 23, held off teammate and runner-up Ben Ritchie, whom he led by .16 seconds after the first run.

Seymour gave his input on being the leader in today’s slalom and what the course and conditions were like for him.“It feels amazing, it was a bit of a tough year so it was nice to end on a positive note,” said Seymour. “The surface was great and the course was a lot of fun.”

George Steffey, who had the fastest second run of the day, finished in third after sitting eighth after the first run. Steffey, 24, and a Stratton Mountain School graduate posted a combined time of 1:28.98.

Luke Winters, the four-year veteran of the national team and Beijing 2022 Olympian, finished fourth, and Justin Alkier of Canada took fifth. Aspen native Bridger Gile, like Steffey, notched a big jump in run two, moving up from 10th to sixth place.

Unsettling weather has wreaked havoc on the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships schedule, with the giant slalom races now set for Wednesday and Thursday and the overall event shortened by one day. This is the eighth time in Sugarloaf’s history that it has played host to the U.S. Alpine Championships.

RESULTS
Women’s slalom
Men’s slalom

U.S. ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS - REVISED SCHEDULE
March 30 - U.S. Alpine Championships Men's Giant Slalom 
March 31 - U.S. Alpine Championships Women's Giant Slalom 

Mac Forehand earned a season-best second-place finish at the final Freeski Slopestyle World Cup at Switzerland’s Corvatsch Resort in Silvaplana. The U.S. Freeski Team wins the 2022 FIS Freeski Nations Cup.

On his first run of finals, Forehand stomped what he declared to be the “best run of [his] life.” His run started off with a right 450 gap lipslide continuing 270 off on the down-flat-down rail and stomping a right double cork 1620 blunt, a switch right double 1440 mute, and a switch left double 1620 mute to japan through the jumps, to earn a score of 91.75 and his fourth career World Cup podium.

U.S. men’s results at Silvaplana also included Alex Hall in ninth and Hunter Henderson in sixteenth.

Final Men's Results

Final World Cup Standings 

This final World Cup of the season results with the U.S. Freeski Team winning the FIS Freeski Nations Cup. The U.S. also finished second behind the Canadians in the FIS Freestyle Overall Nations Cup, which includes slopestyle, big air, halfpipe, moguls, aerials and ski cross.

Forehand’s results bump him up into the third place among the FIS Freeski World Cup Men’s Slopestyle standings for the season, followed by Alex Hall in fifth place. Hall also finishes the season in third place in the FIS Freeski World Cup Park & Pipe overall points standings, followed by Alex Ferreira in fifth place. Hannah Faulhaber also earned fifth in the women's standings and second overall in halfpipe standings. 

U.S. Team Head Slopestyle Coach Skogen Sprang had this to say, "I'm really proud of how the whole team has skied this season and supported each other throughout. For Mac to finish it off with with 2nd place in Silvaplana is amazing and builds on the momentum we have going into next season. Also, it’s very cool how strong our Pipe team is, to take home the Nations Cup in park and pipe is an honor for all involved.” 

2022 Nations Cup Standings
2022 FIS Park & Pipe Overall Men’s Freeski Standings
2022 FIS Park  Pipe Overall Women's Freeski Standings

Due to ongoing challenging weather conditions at Sugarloaf, Maine, the upcoming Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships tech schedule has changed. 

While the organizers were able to host successful U.S. Alpine Championship downhill and HomeLight Foundation Series NorAm downhill events, super-G events were canceled. Despite being able to get a men's giant slalom NorAm Cup Final race off on Saturday, conditions were challenging yet again on Sunday, and the women's giant slalom NorAm Cup Final was canceled. 

After looking at the weather for the upcoming week—along with team travel plans—and discussing with the jury, organizers have decided to change the schedule and move the entire U.S. Alpine Championships tech series up one day. The new U.S. Alpine Championships schedule is below. The HomeLight Foundation Series will wrap with the men's and women's NorAm Cup Finals slalom on Monday, March 28th. 

U.S. ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS - REVISED SCHEDULE
March 29 - U.S. Alpine Championships Men's and Women's Slalom 
March 30 - U.S. Alpine Championships Men's Giant Slalom 
March 31 - U.S. Alpine Championships Women's Giant Slalom 

HOMELIGHT FOUNDATION SERIES RESULTS
NorAm Cup Overall
Women
Men

NorAm Cup Downhill
Women
Men

NorAm Cup Super-G
Women
Men

NorAm Cup Giant Slalom
Women
Men

NorAm Cup Slalom
Women
Men

The health, safety, and well-being of our U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes is our highest priority. Monitoring and disciplining the activity of coaches is an important component of that responsibility.

As we noted on March 20, former snowboard coach Peter Foley was terminated by U.S. Ski & Snowboard. He had been on a leave of absence since Feb. 21, 2022.

Ordinarily, as is the policy of most organizations, we do not comment further on the details of personnel matters. However, because of the considerable public interest in this matter, and questions that have arisen surrounding it, we believe it is appropriate to now provide additional information.

Beginning on February 6, 2022, we were made aware of information alleging sexual and other misconduct by Mr. Foley. As required by law, we immediately forwarded that information to the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, which by federal statute has exclusive jurisdiction over investigations of sexual misconduct made by members of U.S. Ski & Snowboard and all other organizations that participate in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement. 

Based on this same information, U.S. Ski & Snowboard opened our own investigation into other forms of workplace misconduct, including alleged bullying and the creation of a hostile work environment, against Mr. Foley. This investigation was led by our general counsel, Alison Pitt. We did this because it is our obligation to maintain a healthy and welcoming workplace free of all forms of discrimination and misconduct, not just sexual harassment.

Inevitably there was some overlap between the Center’s sexual misconduct investigation and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard investigation into other workplace misconduct. When there was, the record is clear: Ms. Pitt passed that information along to the Center promptly, sometimes within minutes. She and U.S. Ski & Snowboard strongly support the Center’s work and cooperated in every way with the Center’s investigation.

In one isolated instance, a U.S. Ski & Snowboard board member – not on our staff – spoke with two of the athletes regarding their allegations and, apparently believing she was obliged to maintain the athlete’s confidence, failed to forward the information to the Center. This was a mistake, which we regret, and this individual is no longer associated with the organization.  But that isolated instance certainly does not reflect U.S. Ski & Snowboard policy or practice, and that information was eventually provided to the Center so that its investigation would not be impeded.

While the Center’s sexual misconduct investigation apparently remains ongoing, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard investigation into a broader array of workplace issues found sufficient information to warrant suspending Mr. Foley from his duties on February 21 and ordering him not to contact any of the athletes. We then terminated his employment on March 20, effective immediately. He was terminated after reports surfaced of his contribution to a toxic culture among the team in the workplace where certain athletes were favored over others – and not as a result of reports of sexual misconduct, which we referred to, and are in the exclusive purview of, the Center. To protect the privacy of the various people involved we are not providing additional details concerning the alleged misconduct.

In messages to our athletes and other members of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard community on March 24, CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said the following: 

“I am fully committed to creating a culture of transparency and accountability at U.S. Ski & Snowboard and creating the best environment for our athletes, staff and members. I encourage anyone who is aware of any issues of harassment or abuse at our organization to come forward. We are working to put additional channels and resource opportunities in place so that athletes, staff and all members of our organization have options to communicate concerns regarding this situation and others that may arise. This is in addition to mental health resources that we have available for all athletes and staff.”

The entire U.S. Ski & Snowboard community are committed to placing athletes first, and to supporting their health, safety and well-being at every turn.

For More Information Contact:
Tom Horrocks
tom.horrocks@usskiandsnowboard.org

2022 Olympic silver super-G medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegle and the famous "Skiing Cochrans" were recently featured in HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. 

As the description says under the trailer, 

Sixty years ago, a schoolteacher named Mickey Cochran and his wife Ginny bought some overgrown farmland in northern Vermont and began to transform their backyard into a tiny ski hill for their four young kids. Mickey used his background in engineering to construct a rope tow and snapped off saplings to use as gates. The point wasn’t to beat anyone, he believed, but to have fun and get a little bit faster and a little bit faster with every run. Soon the neighborhood kids were coming to bomb the hill after school once Mickey installed lights on the back of their home, which had become a lodge for the community to gather in. All four children became among the very best ski racers in the country; they all went to the Olympics, son Bob won the prestigious and infamous Hahnenkamm, and middle daughter Barbara won gold in slalom at the 1972 Olympics. The next generation of Cochrans began making the US Ski Team as well, totaling TEN Cochrans in all. The youngest is Ryan Cochran-Siegle who was having the best year of his skiing career in 2020 when he fractured his neck in a harrowing fall at the Hahnenkamm and had to be airlifted to the hospital. He had fusion surgery on his C6 and C7 vertebrae and, miraculously, was able to represent the US last month in Beijing. 365 days after starting a new life after surgery, he unexpectedly won silver in Super G, almost 50 years to the day after his mother’s win in Sapporo. Today, Cochran’s Ski Area has grown to four main trails and a T-bar in addition to the rope tow - but is far from cry from the mountains in the Alps other Olympians train on. The ‘Skiing Cochrans’ as they are affectionately known, are continuing to carry out the vision of their late parents by allowing the kids of Northern Vermont, no matter their parents’ means, the opportunity to ski and have fun.