Sophie Caldwell and Julia Kern teamed up to finish fifth at the FIS Cross Country World Cup team sprint in Dresden, Germany, Sunday.

The 10 teams of the women’s finals represented seven nations with Sweden 1 taking the victory ahead of Switzerland 1 in second and Sweden 2 in third. Throughout the final, Sweden 1 and Norway 1 alternated the lead but were constantly being chased by the athletes from Switzerland 1 as Julia and Sophie bounced between sixth and ninth in the tight field.

USA and Germany slowly made their way to leading positions with the hope to ensure a good position for the deciding final stretch of the 12 lap race that included an exchange on every lap. But fifth was as close as Sophie could get on the final lap, just 3.34 seconds off of the podium.

In the men’s race, Kevin Bolger and JC Schoonmaker, who scored his first World Cup points in his first World Cup start in Saturday’s sprint, teamed up to finish 11th in the second semi-final race, but did not advance to the finals, finishing 21st overall.

Up next, the FIS Cross Country World Cup tour moves on to Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, Jan. 18-19 for individual freestyle and classic pursuit races.

RESULTS
Women’s freestyle team sprint
Men’s freestyle team sprint

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Monday, Jan. 13
1:00 a.m. - Men and women’s freestyle team sprint, Dresden, GER - NBCSN**
**Next-day broadcast
 

The main topic of discussion in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee on Sunday was the fact that the two biggest names on the FIS Ski World Cup women’s circuit—Mikaela Shiffrin and Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova—both DNFed in the alpine combined. The best news, of course, is that they are both OK. 

While Alice Merryweather led the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team in 23rd, the favorite coming into Sunday’s alpine combined, Mikaela Shiffrin, caught an edge and then went into a bumpy turn a little off-balance and tried to recover, but wasn’t able to pull it off. She DNFed, but she skied out of it and was OK. Running bib 11, Petra hit the bumpiest spot of the turn where the snow was starting to turn soft, and her ski came off. 

Italy went 1-2 with Federica Brignone the fastest woman of the day, followed by countrywoman Marta Bassino, .22 seconds back, and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, .50 off the pace in third. 

The Altenmarkt-Zauchensee track is a technical speed track, and the set was a technical set, favoring tech skiers. When all was said and done, after the super-G, there were 16 DNFs among the 47 starters—34% of the field. DNFs included some of the best speed skiers in the world, such as Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec, Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg, and Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin—also a favorite, and the PyeongChang Olympic alpine combined gold medalist. 

“Just before the turn where I leaned inside, there were two turns where there were some small piles of snow,” Mikaela reflected. “The surface is amazing the whole course, but it was just those two turns that had little bumps, nothing crazy, but I went into one turn and I caught my edge a bit, then going into the big turn with the compression I was just really off-balance and I tried a recovery turn on that one, but I wasn’t over the outside enough, so I just fell over."

Thankfully, Mikaela was alright and skied away from the crash, which is an uncharacteristic result from one of the most consistent skiers on the World Cup circuit. In fact, her last DNF was on January 28, 2018, in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. “It was not a very exciting crash, but that’s OK for me,” she joked in the finish. "I was really looking forward to skiing the whole course—I was really excited to ski that turn and see how it felt. I almost made it all the way through that turn, but the bottom of the course looked really nice and a little bit of a challenge too, which is always exciting. The slalom looked like it would be really nice to ski, so it’s always a bummer when the day’s cut short like that, but that’s ski racing.” 

Mikaela stood by her decision not to start in Saturday’s downhill, despite the fact that it would have given her a chance to experience this new track prior to coming into the super-G portion of Sunday’s alpine combined. For her, the chance to get some quality tech training in heading into Tuesday night’s slalom in Flachau, Austria and next weekend’s giant slalom and parallel giant slalom in Sestriere, Italy, was highly valuable. 

“I think that it was much better for me to have those days for a little bit of training,” Mikaela said after her run. “I think the only turn where it really would have helped me was the one that I fell on. I was going into it off-balance and I know that the good position will make fast skiing, and I wasn’t really in a good position on that turn. Better skiing would have helped me more than doing the actual downhill.” 

With 380 points, Mikaela will take a 120-point lead in the slalom standings into Tuesday's night slalom in Flachau, over Petra (260). As far as her game plan going into Tuesday, nothing really changes after Sunday’s DNF, aside from getting the chance to rest a bit more on Sunday and then “take the same sort of mentality I always have,” she says, “trying to put my best skiing out there and we’ll see what happens.” 

Of course, the biggest story in the sport at the moment is the Mikaela-Petra rivalry. It’s a healthy rivalry with two competitors who have mutual respect for each other. “It’s a good duel with us,” Mikaela said. “She feels the pressure from me and I feel the pressure from her, too - and that’s exciting for people to watch. Definitely, for us, we’re always trying to raise our own level and just keep pushing—so Flachau should be a good race.”

Does Mikaela like the idea of the rivalry with Petra, and the fact that the media is building it up? “Well, I don’t really have the choice,” she laughed. “No matter how many points ahead you are, and even if you’re two seconds ahead in the race, for everybody watching that looks like a lot—but for you, as the person in that position, it never feels like a lot. You don’t feel safe until it’s true...until the globes are secured or the race is secured. I was ahead in Lienz, and then I was over a second behind in Zagreb—that time can go away so fast, so you never feel very safe with it. So that way, I always feel like I have big rivals, even if I am ahead.” It’s not over until it’s over. It is only January, after all, and there are still many races between now and World Cup Finals in March. 

Speaking of the overall race, Mikaela retains the World Cup overall lead with 826 points, followed by Federica—who moved up to second ahead of Petra—with 565 points, and Petra in third with 513 points. 

For Alice Merryweather, who has struggled with the last couple of races, this was a positive step in the right direction. “It was the most fun I had this week, so that’s what I’m going to take from it,” she said after the race. She and the women’s speed team will enjoy a solid training block prior to heading over to Bansko, Bulgaria in two weeks. 

Up next for the women is a night slalom in Flachau, Austria on Tuesday evening, where the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team will have a full slalom squad once again. 

RESULTS
Women’s Alpine Combined

STANDINGS
Overall

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter

Official event hashtag: #zauchensee

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. 

Why isn’t Altenmarkt-Zauchensee available on NBCSN or Olympic Channel?
The reason Altenmarkt-Zauchensee is available via Gold Pass rather than NBCSN or Olympic Channel is that World Cup events held in Austria are not part of the TV agreement that NBC Sports has with FIS. They are controlled and sold by a different rights holder and were purchased by NBC Sports Gold for exclusive use within “Snow Pass.” If you have any further questions, please reach out to NBC Sports Gold's help desk at support@nbcsports.com. 

Why doesn’t “Snow Pass” have commentary?
In order to provide 900+ hours of content at an affordable price, we rely on the world feed (a video feed provided by the rights holder), which often does not include English commentary. Commentary is available on all television coverage provided by NBC, NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, and live streaming via authentication at NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

Sophie Caldwell led all five Americans into the points, finishing fourth in the FIS Cross Country World Cup freestyle sprint in Dresden, Germany, Saturday.

In the heart of Dresden at the Robotron Ski Arena along the banks of the Elbe River, the athletes faced two out and back laps on a narrow 650-meter long course that favored faster starters with little room to pass, but three high-speed corners made for some crash-filled excitement. 

"The backdrop of the old city is spectacular and the fans were great," Sophie said. "Fourth is always a little bittersweet, but I try to take a step back and remind myself that fourth is still a really good day."

Both Sophie and Julia Kern qualified for the heats for the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, with Sophie in fourth and Julia in 15th. Sophia advanced in her opening quarterfinal heat. Julia was well-positioned in her quarterfinal heat, but on the second corner was forced to the outside due to a crash and was never able to regain contact with the leaders. Sophia advanced as one of the lucky losers in the fastest of the two semi-final heats that featured five of the top qualifiers. 

In the women’s final, Sophie was boxed in and wasn’t able to get around Sweden’s Linn Svahn and Maja Hahlqvist who finished first and third. Slovenia’s Anamarija Lampic snuck in for second, while Sophie just missing the podium by 0.12 seconds. Julia finished 18th.

In the men’s race, three Americans led by Logan Hanneman in 21st, qualified for the heats. JC Schoonmaker, racing in his first career World Cup, skied an impressive qualifier, finishing 24th, and Kevin Bolger was 28th. While none of the three Americans advanced past the quarterfinal round, they continued to build momentum as a team heading into the latter part of the season and the upcoming U.S. World Cup sprint March 17th in Minneapolis.

"It was really cool to have all of our starters qualify and our junior, JC, qualify in his first-ever World Cup," Sophie added. "We’ve also had the nordic Paralympic team here working with us and competing this weekend, and that has been really fun for us and we hope the joint event will continue in the future!"

Up next, Julia and Sophie will team up for the relay on Sunday, with Julia skiing the opening leg. For the men, JC and Kevin will team up.

RESULTS
Women’s freestyle sprint
Men’s freestyle sprint

WORLD CUP STANDINGS
Women
Men

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Sunday, Jan. 12
7:20 a.m. - Men and women’s freestyle team sprint, Dresden, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
11:30 a.m. - Men and women’s freestyle team sprint, Dresden, GER - Olympic Channel*

Monday, Jan. 13
1:00 a.m. - Men and women’s freestyle team sprint, Dresden, GER - NBCSN*

*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.

U.S. Freeski Rookie Team Member and seventeen-year-old Cody LaPlante earned his first-ever World Cup podium with a third-place finish at the FIS World Cup slopestyle in Font Romeu, France. 

“I’m stoked,” said Cody riding high off the day’s performance. “ I showed up today really just wanting to land a clean run and trying to step it up on the rails. I’m just happy to come back strong in slopestyle after not skiing for so long.”

Prior to qualifications in Font Romeu, Cody mentioned that his first two competitions back from injury, Beijing and Atlanta World Cup big airs, may not translate into success in slopestyle competition. However, Cody seemed to have no problems lacing his first run for a score of 83.45 that would hold for third place. The Lake Tahoe local is looking strong moving into the heart of the World Cup slopestyle season and proved he can hang with the best in the world. 

The international field for the men was stellar making Cody’s performance that much more impressive. Cody finished ahead of the three-time FIS Crystal Globe Winner Andri Ragettli of Switzerland, the reigning 2019 FIS Big Air World Champion Fabian Boesch of Switzerland, 2019 FIS World Championship slopestyle silver medalist Birk Ruud of Norway, and six-time X Games gold medalist Henrik Harlaut of Sweden. Not only did Cody hold is own against an incredibly strong field, but he found the podium in his first World Cup final ever. 

Mark Hendrickson of Canada topped the podium and Jesper Tjader of Sweden finished in second. U.S. Freeski Rookie Team member Deven Fagan finished in sixth place. 

For the women, U.S. Freeski Rookie Team member Marin Hamill was the top finisher for the U.S. landing just outside the podium in fourth place. Marin came out firing landing her first run top to bottom. Teammate Rell Harwood finished in seventh. The competition served as both Rell and Marin’s second World Cup final ever. 

Tess Ledeux of France finished first, and Swiss skiers Giulia Tanno and Sarah Hoefflin finished in second and third respectively. 

FIS World Cup freeski slopestyle competition will continue Jan. 17-18 in Seiseralm, Italy. 

RESULTS
Men’s freeski slopestyle finals
Women’s freeski slopestyle finals
 

Ted Ligety led the way for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team men in Adelboden, Switzerland, taking seventh place in the giant slalom.

Zan Kranjec of Slovenia continued his tear in FIS Ski World Cup giant slaloms, winning his first GS of the year. Zan has finished in the top-four of the last five World Cup GS events. Filip Zubcic of Croatia was second and Frenchman Victor Muffat-Jeandet and Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway tied for third. Filip has never landed on the GS podium, and has not even been in the top-five in World Cup GS previously. His previous best was a seventh place in Alta Badia, Italy in 2014. 

Even with warm temperatures plaguing the area prior to the race, the snow was bulletproof and conditions were perfect. It was a tight race with the top 30 only separated by 1.43 seconds first run, which allowed Ted—who had finished 14th first run—a chance to attack. “I felt like I was in a really good position after first run to be in 14th place—only six-tenths out was the sweet spot for trying to move up a lot,” said Ted. “I did OK, but didn’t quite capitalize on it as much as I would have liked to. But I’m happy with seventh place here.”

Ted has been having a solid season so far, finishing fifth in the Soelden GS and 11th in the Beaver Creek GS, but he's hungry for more. “It would have been really easy to be three to six-tenths faster, but you always feel that in ski racing,” said Ted. “To be where I am, I’m happy with that. Definitely feel like there’s a lot of room for improvement though.”

Now, Ted will fly home to see his family in Park City before heading back to Europe for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany races at the end of the month. Garmisch is the site of his last World Cup podium, a third place in 2018 just before the PyeongChang Olympics. “My plan this year is going back and forth,” Ted shared. “It’s been nice to spend some time at home this winter. For me, being older, I definitely need the reset on the body. But also, my son is two and a half. For the last couple years, he’s been traveling and now he needs to do more than see hotel rooms. He needs to spend time at home and get in a routine. With that, I can’t spend more than two weeks away—it’s just too hard. It’s nice going back and forth.”

Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Ryan Cochran-Siegle was on track for another strong result, but got caught on a gate in the first run and had to throw his skis sideways to stay in the course, causing him to lose time. He still finished in the points, taking 18th. This is Ryan's 12th result out of 13 World Cup starts across five disciplines. 

After winning the Birds of Prey GS earlier this season, all eyes were on Tommy Ford, who was looking for another podium. But he loaded up his ski and crashed early in his first run. River Radamus just missed the second run by .02 seconds, finishing 31st. Brian McLaughlin also did not qualify for a second run.

The men race slalom on Sunday in Adelboden to wrap up the tech weekend.

RESULTS
Men’s Giant Slalom

STANDINGS
Men's Overall
Men’s Giant Slalom

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Official event hashtag: #worldcupadelboden

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Sunday, Jan. 12
4:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
*Same-day broadcast
**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. 

Why doesn’t “Snow Pass” have commentary?
In order to provide 900+ hours of content at an affordable price, we rely on the world feed (a video feed provided by the rights holder), which often does not include English commentary. Commentary is available on all television coverage provided by NBC, NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, and live streaming via authentication at NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app

Despite weather delays and a lowered start due to fog rolling in and out in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria, Breezy Johnson returned to FIS Ski World Cup action for the first time in 667 days to land in 25th place, leading three Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes into the points. 

Switzerland’s Corinne Suter set the pace for the day, with Italy’s Nicol Delago finishing second, .29 back and Swiss skier Michelle Gisin rounding out the podium in third, .98 off Corinne’s pace. With her victory, Corinne steals the red leader bib from Czech gold medalist skier and snowboarder Ester Ledecka.  

Breezy was relieved to get back into the start gate and is looking forward to building on Saturday’s results through the next couple of months. “It was a tough day out there. The light was not-so-great for some—especially Merryweather when she came down,” Breezy reflected after her run. 

Alice McKennis and Jackie Wiles—who both recently returned from significant injuries that had them sidelined for the entire 2018-19 season—were 26th and 27th, respectively, on Saturday. “I think we’re feeling good, and we’re training well—we just haven’t put all of the pieces together," continued Breezy. "I’m obviously very excited to lead the team and be back in the points and just to be back racing and doing what I love and what I’ve done my whole life. It’s a great start, and I think we’ll start to put it together over the next few weeks here.”

On March 14, 2018, in the World Cup Finals downhill in Åre, Sweden, teammates Lindsey Vonn and Alice McKennis went 1-3 with Breezy in eighth. During the 2017-18 season, the women’s speed team was the fastest downhill team in the world. 

But the following season, the women were plagued with injury, with Lindsey, Alice McKennis, Jackie and Breezy out with injury at the start of the 2018-19 season. Later that season, Laurenne Ross sustained an injury at World Championships. The team has been building and working hard to return to snow, and now—apart from Laurenne—the team is back together on the mountain again. And they couldn’t be more excited. 

“We are all part of each other’s successes and we have been there for each other," said Breezy. "I think Laurenne is going to come train with us next week, so we are all going to be back to being a crew together again, and that’s really exciting. We just need to keep building and everyone’s success will just keep feeding off of each other. We’ll just keep rolling.”

Alice Merryweather and Bella Wright both started in Saturday’s downhill but finished outside of the top 30. While Corinne Suter takes the lead in the downhill standings, Mikaela Shiffrin maintains a strong lead over Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova in the overall standings by 313 points (826-513). Italy's Federica Brignone sits in third in the overall standings (465), followed by Swiss multidiscipline threat Michelle Gisin in fourth (361).

Next up, the women have an alpine combined, which features one run of super-G and one run of slalom, on Sunday. Mikaela and Alice Merryweather are expected to start for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team. 

RESULTS
Women’s Downhill

STANDINGS
Overall
Downhill

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Official event hashtag: #zauchensee

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Sunday, Jan. 12
3:15 a.m. - Women’s combined super-G, Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
4:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:45 a.m. - Women’s combined slalom, Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
*Same-day broadcast
**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. 

Why isn’t Altenmarkt-Zauchensee available on NBCSN or Olympic Channel?
The reason Altenmarkt-Zauchensee is available via Gold Pass rather than NBCSN or Olympic Channel is that World Cup events held in Austria are not part of the TV agreement that NBC Sports has with FIS. They are controlled and sold by a different rights holder and were purchased by NBC Sports Gold for exclusive use within “Snow Pass.” If you have any further questions, please reach out to NBC Sports Gold's help desk at support@nbcsports.com. 

Why doesn’t “Snow Pass” have commentary?
In order to provide 900+ hours of content at an affordable price, we rely on the world feed (a video feed provided by the rights holder), which often does not include English commentary. Commentary is available on all television coverage provided by NBC, NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, and live streaming via authentication at NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

This weekend, the FIS Ski World Cup heads to Adelboden, Switzerland for the Land Rover U.S. Ski Team men with a tech series, while the women head to Altenmarkt-Zauchensee for a downhill and super-G alpine combined. 

Last season, Tommy Ford was sixth in Adelboden—his best result at the venue in his career. After a tough series with challenging conditions in Alta Badia, Italy, where he ended up 20th, Tommy will look to capitalize on the stellar conditions at Adelboden. Ryan Cochran-Siegle—who has scored in 11 of 12 World Cup starts this season, across five disciplines—will look to build upon his already strong and consistent season. 

Luke Winters, who has scored in two of four World Cup slaloms this season, will look forward to having a full men’s slalom squad join him on Sunday. After a tough night at Madonna di Campiglio, slalom coach Ryan Wilson made it clear that there has been a purposeful progression for the men’s slalom team, and it’s just the start of a long month of slalom racing. On the same day, Ben Ritchie won a NorAm in Stowe, Vt. by .77 seconds, stamping his ticket to Europe to join Luke, along with teammates Kyle Negomir and River Radamus to field a men’s slalom team of four on Sunday. 

On the women’s side, downhiller Breezy Johnson will be returning to World Cup action in Saturday’s downhill for the first time in 667 days, following back-to-back knee injuries sustained during training camps. On March 14, 2018, in the World Cup Finals’ downhill in Åre, Sweden, teammates Lindsey Vonn and Alice McKennis went 1-3 and Breezy was eighth. During the 2017-18 season, the women’s speed team was the fastest downhill team in the world. 

The next season, the women’s speed team was plagued with injury, with Lindsey, Alice McKennis, Jackie Wiles and Breezy out with injury for the start of the 2018-19 season. Later that season, Laurenne Ross sustained an injury at World Championships. The team has been building and working hard to return to snow, and now—apart from Laurenne—the team is back together on the mountain again. And, they couldn’t be more excited. When Breezy came through the finish in after the second and final downhill training run, she looked into the camera with a big smile and said, “I’M BAAAAACK!” 

Though current World Cup overall and slalom leader Mikaela Shiffrin has not skied an alpine combined since the PyeongChang Olympics, where she earned a silver medal, she comes into Sunday’s alpine combined as a clear favorite. In an ongoing effort to find balance in her six-discipline schedule, Mikaela has opted out of Saturday’s downhill to focus on the alpine combined—which features one run of super-G and one run of slalom—as well as Tuesday’s night slalom in Flachau. 

"I don't really have any expectations for Sunday's alpine combined," Mikaela said with a laugh on Friday. "Mostly because I haven't been on this hill before, and I haven't trained much super-G since St. Moritz. So, it's really just going in and having some fun. I feel good on my skis, and I did get one day of super-G training recently—just gliding turns and got up to speed a little bit, so that felt good. Obviously, my slalom is always fairly solid, so I am excited for Sunday but I don't really have expectations. I didn't get downhill training runs in, but I don't think that will make a huge difference for the super-G because I think the super-G will feel a lot different than the downhill is looking." 

Mikaela was able to get some good super-G training under her belt with the Norwegian Attacking Vikings—Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. These guys are two of the best skiers in the world. What was that like? "It was so cool to see those guys in action in training. Especially watching Alex in speed was incredible—obviously because he's one of the best in the world, but he's also the most powerful skier on the men's circuit—even just his starts. I feel so klutzy in the start, with the speed skis on, I feel like I'm tangling my legs together and I'm about to fall on my face. And I'm like, 'Geez—do you have any tips for me?!'"

Not only did Mikaela learn a ton from them, but she was also impressed with the respect they showed her in return. "The coolest thing for me is that they were both talking to me about the track and how I felt too. They weren't just like, 'Oh, you're just a girl skiing with us...they were asking, what do you feel? I have so much respect for them, but I felt the respect from them as well—which made it a really cool environment."

Stats for the weekend:

• Tommy Ford can become the fifth skier from the United States to win multiple men's World Cup giant slalom events, after Ted Ligety (24), Bode Miller (9), Phil Mahre (7) and Steven Mahre (2). 

• Three US men have claimed a World Cup podium in the Adelboden giant slalom: Ted Ligety (1st) in 2013, Bode Miller (2nd) in 2005 and Phil Mahre (2nd) in 1982. 

• Ted has won 24 giant slalom events in the World Cup, third-most among men behind Ingemar Stenmark (46) and Marcel Hirscher (31). His last win came in Sölden, Austria on 25 October 2015, while his last podium in this discipline was a third place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on 28 January 2018. 

• Ted (35 years and 133 days on 11 January) can become the oldest man to win a World Cup giant slalom race, breaking the record set by Didier Cucher (35 years, 70 days) in Sölden on 25 October 2009.

• Mikaela Shiffrin won one World Cup alpine combined (super-G slalom combo) event, in Crans Montana, Switzerland on 26 February 2017. Outside of the alpine combined (downhill/slalom combo) at the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018 (where she was sandwiched between Swiss combo Michelle Gisin and Wendy Holdener), that was her last alpine combined start. 

• The last time Breezy Johnson stood in a World Cup start gate was 666 days ago, on March 14, 2018, in Åre, Sweden. On that day, teammates Lindsey Vonn and Alice McKennis went 1-3 and Breezy was eighth. During the 2017-18 season, the women’s speed team was the fastest downhill team in the world. 

Check out all the details about who and how to watch below. 

MEN’S STARTERS
Ryan Cochran-Siegle - GS
Tommy Ford - GS
Brian McLaughlin - GS
Ted Ligety - GS
Kyle Negomir - SL
Ben Ritchie - SL
River Radamus - GS, SL
Luke Winters - SL

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Breezy Johnson - DH
Alice McKennis - DH
Alice Merryweather - DH, AC
Mikaela Shiffrin - AC
Jackie Wiles - DH
Isabella Wright - DH 

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

START LISTS
Men's Giant Slalom
​​​​​​​Women's Downhill

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Official event hashtags: #worldcupadelboden, #zauchensee

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Saturday, Jan. 11
4:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:45 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Jan. 12
3:15 a.m. - Women’s combined super-G, Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
4:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:45 a.m. - Women’s combined slalom, Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Adelboden, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

*Same-day broadcast
**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. 

Why isn’t Altenmarkt-Zauchensee available on NBCSN or Olympic Channel?
The reason Altenmarkt-Zauchensee is available via Gold Pass rather than NBCSN or Olympic Channel is that World Cup events held in Austria are not part of the TV agreement that NBC Sports has with FIS. They are controlled and sold by a different rights holder and were purchased by NBC Sports Gold for exclusive use within “Snow Pass.” If you have any further questions, please reach out to NBC Sports Gold's help desk at support@nbcsports.com. 

Why doesn’t “Snow Pass” have commentary?
In order to provide 900+ hours of content at an affordable price, we rely on the world feed (a video feed provided by the rights holder), which often does not include English commentary. Commentary is available on all television coverage provided by NBC, NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, and live streaming via authentication at NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

Five years ago, two promising young U.S. Ski Team athletes were killed in an avalanche, not fully realizing the dangers they faced skiing off piste in Austria. Since then, the mission of the Bryce and Ronnie Athlete Snow Safety Foundation (BRASS) has been to promote greater awareness of avalanche safety through education and advocacy initiatives.

On the fifth anniversary of the tragedy, U.S. Ski & Snowboard and BRASS have released a groundbreaking online Avalanche Awareness eLearning module designed to expand education to U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes, coaches and local clubs nationwide. The first-of-its-kind educational tool was created by the Utah Avalanche Center.

Bryce Astle, 19, and Ronnie Berlack, 20, died January 5, 2015 in Sölden, Austria when they were caught in a massive slide in an off piste area, within the boundary of the resort but not regularly controlled for avalanche danger. BRASS was formed after the accident and has been instrumental in raising awareness globally, with a primary focus in reaching competitive athletes and coaches.

“BRASS sees a real need to reach the tens of thousands of athletes and coaches in America who are simply not aware of the dangers they face when skiing off a race course,” said BRASS Chairman Jamie Astle. “This online tool will greatly expand our reach, providing basic awareness education and encouraging athletes and coaches to also get on-snow for more expansive education.”

The online module integrates video and presentation content into both a short and longer,  90-minute program that includes online testing to validate the impact of the education. It covers a wide range of avalanche safety awareness, utilizing the basics of the popular Know Before You Go program developed by Utah Avalanche Center and now being presented in workshops nationwide. It also expands into the basics of avalanche safety science. The content includes personal messages from Olympic champions Mikaela Shiffrin and Ted Ligety.

“It’s pretty obvious that avalanches are really dangerous,” said Shiffrin in the opening video of the module. “Eventually, you’ll be lured into the backcountry.  We can learn to reduce our risks by learning about avalanches.” 

The online module is available on BRASSFoundation.org and usskiandsnowboard.org. The primary targets for the initial module are ski and snowboard coaches and local clubs. It is also available to all U.S. Ski & Snowboard members through their My.USSA.org dashboard under Courses.

“Club coaches, volunteers, administrators and officials are vital as they are the ones who have day-to-day contact with athletes,” added Astle. “They need the knowledge to expand their leadership and management of athlete safety.”

U.S. Ski & Snowboard helped pioneer and fund the program and will make completion of the short course mandatory for all members beginning in May. The courses will be integrated into U.S. Ski & Snowboard sport education’s curriculum.

“Athlete safety is paramount to our organization,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw. “This online learning module will help all learn more about the importance of avalanche safety and awareness.”

The content was developed by Paul Diegel and Trent Meissenheimer of the Utah Avalanche Center, along with U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s sport education team led by Gar Trayner and education specialist Chris Packert.

"Utah Avalanche Center was able to bring utilize its expertise to help BRASS and U.S. Ski & Snowboard to develop an avalanche eLearning program that will be used to provide avalanche awareness to coaches and athletes," said Utah Avalanche Center Executive Director Chad Brackelsberg. "This program will also help the Utah Avalanche Center achieve its goal of reaching as many people as possible with an avalanche awareness message in an effort to prevent avalanche accidents.”

The online Avalanche Awareness module initiative with U.S. Ski & Snowboard is another step in a series of programs pioneered by BRASS. The BRASS 13-minute Off-Piste video, featuring a re-creation of the accident, has now been seen by over a million worldwide. It remains a valuable tool for clubs to educate athletes and coaches. A turnkey BRASS 101 club presentation workshop has reached over a thousand individuals this season alone. And a partnership between BRASS and U.S. Ski & Snowboard has brought AIARE Level 1 (American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education) training to over a hundred national team coaches and athletes in the past three years.

BRASS will also take its message to national ski resorts, participating in the upcoming National Ski Areas Association winter workshops at Squaw Valley, Calif. and Killington, Vt.

Avalanche Awareness 101

It was a beautiful night for slalom in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy with Daniel Yule of Switzerland taking his second-ever FIS Ski World Cup win on his evidently favorite track, having also won his first World Cup on the same track last season. Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway was second, and young Frenchman Clément Noël continued his excellent season with a third-place finish.

The Americans did not have a notable evening, with Luke Winters and River Radamus failing to qualify for the second run. However, the men are using the event as a learning tool as they continue through ‘slalom month’ and beyond on the World Cup tour.

“Luke overskied it,” said Ryan Wilson, the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team World Cup slalom coach. “He was rewarded for having a more conservative line at Levi and Val d’Isere, but today the snow was grippier and easier. It looked tough, but ended up running easy. That plan for Luke didn’t work.”

And even though there was a tactical error, it can all be looked at as progress toward the overall goal: being competitive in World Cup slalom once again.

“Yeah, I’m a little frustrated we didn’t score points today,” said Ryan. “But as a unit, we’ve been pretty well-grounded in the future, in the culture, in hopefully exciting people and inspiring a little bit of change. These guys have a very long-term goal. It’s great if we’re scoring points right now and that’s a good road, but we’re continuously focused on taking advantage of the situation and learning.”

The slalom team continues to grow, as well. With a NorAm win in Stowe, Vermont on Wednesday, Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Ben Ritchie secured himself a start on the World Cup this coming weekend in Adelboden, Switzerland. He started one World Cup last year and has been working to hone his craft and get faster. “To speak on the stableness and maturity in Luke and Ben—these guys are wise beyond their years and motivated and focused on what we’re doing,” said Ryan. “They know the team is making a long-term change.”

“It’s all about progression,” continued Ryan. “All offseason, we started with a major reworking of what we believed to be the truths in our current modern world of slalom. We looked at what the fundamentals were that we weren’t accomplishing that other nations were. We really went back to very basic fundamentals—ground zero.”

Building on those fundamentals has clearly worked this season—out of the four slalom World Cups, the men’s team has scored twice. Luke has even threatened the podium. The U.S. fans are starting to notice the men’s slalom team again.

“The guys are fired up about it,” said Ryan. “The coaching staff is fired up about it. I hope the country is starting to get fired up about it. It’s a learning process and we’re psyched on it.”

The men’s tech team continues on to Adelboden, Switzerland for a giant slalom Saturday and slalom Sunday.

RESULTS
Men's Slalom

STANDINGS
Men's Overall
Men's Slalom

On a gusty day in Houghton, Mich., Hailey Swirbul (Alaska Pacific University/U.S. Ski Team) put her nose into the wind and skied away with another victory—her third title at the 2020 L.L.Bean U.S. Cross Country Championship—in Tuesday’s classic sprint, the final event of the championships.

Utilizing the same tactics she used to win the freestyle title last week, Hailey qualified No.1 and skied at the front of both her quarterfinal and semifinal heats, despite gusty winds blowing throughout the day, and continued snow squalls that constantly changed the course conditions. That same strategy served her well in the finals too.

“It’s easier for me to be in the front because I can stride how I want and ski corners how I like too, and sometimes that saves more energy than maybe drafting,” she said after edging fellow Davis U.S. Cross Country Team teammate Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury/U.S. Ski Team) at the line for the title. “It’s a give and take, and I guess I kind of waited to see what happened out there on the course and try to respond.”

Hailey, who also won the 20k classic on Sunday, made the most of her trip back to the U.S. after opening the season on the World Cup circuit, where she scored her first career World Cup points in Davos, Switzerland, last month, finishing 30th in a freestyle sprint and 21st in a freestyle 10k. “I’m really glad I came back and had the opportunity to race on home soil,” added Hailey, who now heads to Alaska for a training block before returning to Europe and the World Cup in February.

Caitlin also wrapped up a successful trip back home with four podium performances at the U.S. Championships after opening the season on the World Cup tour. She finished third in the freestyle sprint, second in the 10k freestyle, and as the top American, was awarded the national title - her ninth career U.S. title. In the 20k classic Sunday, she was second, and again second in the classic sprint Tuesday.

“It’s been a really good week,” she said. “In Anchorage a few years ago at Nationals, I won every (race), so maybe I had a high standard. But podiuming in every race is great too.”

In the men’s classic sprint, Hunter Wonders (Alaska Pacific University) created opportunities throughout the day after qualifying 29th and came away on the final day of competition with a surprise classic sprint title.

“It was a roller coaster out there,” Hunter said. “I qualified 29th, and somehow just kept going through (each heat). I was hoping to do better than I did in the 30k earlier this week...so I’m glad I could come back and represent here.”

Smart skiing and luck were on his side! In the finals, Luke Jager (University of Utah/U.S. Ski Team) was meters away from grabbing his first national title when his left ski slipped, causing him to fall, which handed the national title to Hunter, who finished second to Canada’s Julien Locke. Luke was able to get up and he crossed the line for third.

In the men’s 30k classic on Sunday, Erik Bjornsen (Alaska Pacific University/U.S. Ski Team) won his sixth U.S. title. Kyle Bratrud (Stratton Mountain School T2) was second and Ian Torchia (Stratton Mountain School) was third.

RESULTS
Women’s classic sprint
Men’s classic sprint
Women’s 20k classic mass start
Men’s 30k classic mass start