Katherine Ogden (Dartmouth) and Benjamin Lustgarten (Craftsbury Green Racing) extended their overall SuperTour leads following round 2 of the series in Sun Valley, Idaho, last weekend.

Katherine took her second SuperTour win of the season in the classic sprint at Sun Valley. She also finished second to recently retired World Cup athlete Riitta-Lisa Roponen of Finland in the 10k freestyle. Katherine holds a 50-point lead over Guru Jordheim (University of Utah) in second, and a 55-point lead over Kaitlynn Miller (Craftsbury Green Racing) in third. Katherine also leads the U23 overall standings.

Sydney Palmer-Leger (SVSEF) grabbed her third podium result of the season, finishing second in the classic sprint, and third in the 10k freestyle. She is currently fourth in the overall SuperTour standings, and second in the U23 standings.

“That is very encouraging going into Youth Olympic Games in January,” noted U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Program Manager Bryan Fish, “and her results bode well for strong Junior Worlds potential.”

On the men’s side, Ian Torchia (SMS) had an impressive performance in Sunday’s 15k freestyle in Sun Valley, taking a 28-second victory over Bernhard Flaschberger (University of Denver) in second, and Johnny Hagenbuch (SVSEF) in third. Ian current sits second overall, 11 points behind Benjamin, who finished seventh in Saturday’s classic sprint and sixth in the 15k freestyle. 

Tyler Kornfield (APU) won Saturday’s classic sprint, followed by Luke Jager (University of Utah) in second and Peter Holmes (SVSEF) in third.

Hats off to both Canmore, Alberta, and Sun Valley for hosting well organized and challenging courses for athletes to prepare for international competition.  The partnership with Nordic Canada was very successful, hosting the combined Canadian NorAm and U.S. SuperTour in Canmore, which included 628 racers, for the first event of the season. The most racers ever at this 1988 Olympic venue. 

The SuperTour Series continues Jan. 2-7 in Houghton, Mich. with men and women’s freestyle sprint, men and women’s classic sprint, and men and women’s classic and freestyle distance events. All events will be available for live streaming thanks to CXC Skiing and U.S. Ski & Snowboard. 

RESULTS
Men and women’s classic sprint
Women’s 10k freestyle
Men’s 15k freestyle

STANDINGS
SuperTour

Jessie Diggins kept the podium streak alive for the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, finishing third, and leading five American women in the top 25 in the 10k individual freestyle event in Davos, Switzerland, Sunday. 

Sunday’s result was the third time this season that Jessie has finished on the podium. It was also the fourth-straight podium appearance for the U.S. women. But most importantly, Sunday’s race was career-best days for two up-and-coming members of the team: Julia Kern posted a career-best World Cup distance result in 19th, and Hailey Swirbul finished a career-best 21st one day after scoring her first World Cup points in Saturday’s sprint. 

“I’m so proud of our team for what must be one of our best team weekends here in Davos—getting every girl into the heats (Saturday), and having five in the points today,” Jessie said. “Our young girls Julia and Hailey have been skiing so well, and I’m very impressed with how they’re handling the World Cup.”

Jessie is also off to a great start to the season, and she is currently third in the overall World Cup standings. Sunday, she finished just 36 seconds off the winning time of Norway’s Therese Johaug, and 5.8 seconds back from Norway’s Heidi Weng, who was second. 

“I haven’t historically had great races here because I take my time working into the season,” she said, “and this course is extremely difficult to pace with the first 3k being absolute grinding up the valley and then a working downhill. But this year one of my goals was to come into the season a little closer to form than in the past, and it’s been awesome to feel like I’m in great shape while still working my way into top race form.”

Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, who moved up to fourth in the overall World Cup standings, was ninth Sunday; Rosie Frankowski also scored her first career World Cup points, finishing 23rd, and Caitlin Patterson was 39th.

In the men’s 15k individual freestyle start, Kyle Bratrud was the top U.S. finisher in 38th; Simi Hamilton was 42nd, and Scott Patterson was 51st.

Up next is a big freestyle sprint weekend in Planica, Slovenia, with the individual freestyle sprint on Saturday, Dec,. 21, and the team sprint on Sunday, Dec. 22. In the meantime, the U.S. Team will remain in Davos to train.

“I’ll stay in Davos the next two weeks training, and my family is coming over for Christmas so I’m very much looking forward to having quality time with them,” Jessie said.

RESULTS
Women’s 10k individual start freestyle 
Men’s 15k individual start freestyle

STANDINGS
Women’s World Cup
Men’s World Cup

Luke Winters scored his first-ever World Cup points on Sunday, finishing 19th in the FIS World Cup slalom in Val d’Isere, France.

After Saturday’s race was canceled due to heavy snow and wind, the skies turned blue for Sunday’s rescheduling of the slalom. To the home crowd’s delight, Frenchman Alexis Pinturault blew away the field, winning the race by 1.44 seconds for only his third slalom win ever. Andre Myhrer of Sweden was second and Stefano Gross of Italy was third.

But the story of the day was 22-year-old Luke, who shocked the crowd when he skied into second place in the first run after starting 40th. “I’ve been skiing fast, so I knew I could get in there, but coming through and seeing second was exciting!” said Luke. “Second run, I’m just going to try and do the same thing—not try and get too riled up. There’s a little more pressure, but I think I can handle it. It’s good to make it to the finish line and be fast at the same time.”

Having spoken between runs about Bode Miller as one of his ski racing heroes, Luke’s second run was reminiscent of a Bode run: fast, but with a few major errors. He managed to hang on to finish, taking 19th place overall—his first World Cup finish and World Cup points.  

“After I had those mistakes, all I wanted was to get down and get my first World Cup points,” said Luke. “I’m happy with it. It’s hard to be mad. There were some nerves, but it’s part of the game.”

It was only Luke’s eighth World Cup start, but not his first flash of brilliance. He holds the U.S. national title for both slalom and the alpine combined, won a bronze medal in the 2018 Junior World Championships in super-G, and was in contention for World Cup podium in the Levi slalom in November, before he crashed five gates from the finish. What people may not know, though, is that Luke has been working hard and skiing fast in training, with his small team of newly-hired men's World Cup slalom coach Ryan Wilson, and technician Marko Skube. Rather than head to Beaver Creek, Colo. to compete on home soil, Luke and his team opted to head to Val d'Isere to train prior to the weekend, which proved to be the right decision. 

The last time an American had a men’s slalom podium was in March 2011, when Nolan Kasper took second in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, but Luke is part of a group of young U.S. tech athletes who are building to World Cup podium level. With plenty of more slalom races on the books for the 2019-20 season, keep an eye out for Luke and his Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team teammates to surprise more European crowds on the World Cup tour.

Luke’s result in Val d’Isere gives him enough World Cup points to slot him into the top 30 racers going into January’s slalom races in Zagreb, Croatia. River Radamus also started the slalom in Val d’Isere, but DNFed first run.

The originally scheduled Val d’Isere giant slalom has been pushed to a later date. Next up, the men start what they call the "pizza and pasta tour" as they head to Val Gardena, Italy for speed events. Val Gardena is a place where the American men feel at home, and have had a lot of success—including last year when Bryce Bennett, Steven Nyman and Travis Ganong went 4-5-6 in the downhill. 

RESULTS
Men’s Slalom

WORLD CUP STANDINGS
Overall
Slalom

Under the sunshine and blue sky in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Slovakia's Petra Vlhova capitalized on Mikaela Shiffrin's absence and emerged victorious in Sunday's parallel slalom, while Sweden's Anna Swenn Larsson was second, and Austria's Franziska Gritsch rounded out the podium in third.

The Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team's Nina O'Brien was sitting in 14th after the qualification round, +.88 seconds off of Petra's pace, and went into the 1/16th final. A couple of slight errors meant Nina did not make it to the 1/8th final, as Slovenia's Ana Bucik narrowly snuck ahead of her to move onward, to finish eighth overall. Nina would finish 24th on the day, comfortably solidifying herself as a three-event skier on the World Cup, having scored points in slalom, giant slalom and parallel slalom events. 

"I'm feeling pretty good. I'm glad I was able to qualify for the race and compete...I wish I would have had a little more speed on my runs, but overall not bad," said Nina after the parallel. "I feel I learned that I can be in there, so there's a little bit of confidence there, and I definitely need to work a little bit more on my jumps and starts. I'm excited to do more parallel events. I've been training more giant slalom lately and it has been good. Courchevel is always a fun place to race, so I'm looking forward to it." Nina has been skiing fast in training, so keep an eye on her at Courchevel as she hunts for some more valuable World Cup points. 

The big story of the day was the bold and wise decision of Mikaela Shiffrin to sit out of today's parallel event, after her third place finish in Saturday's super-G. Mikaela swept the St. Moritz FIS Ski World Cup series last year, winning both the super-G and parallel slalom. She also won the last dual format event on the World Cup calendar—a City Event in Stockholm, Sweden—just after World Championships. Due to a busy race schedule that has Mikaela competing in five races across four different disciplines in the next 15 days, she decided to focus on long-term gains and maintain her focus and energy. 

Alice Merryweather also started for the Americans, though she DNFed during the elimination run and did not qualify for the race. Up next for the women is a giant slalom on Tuesday in Courchevel, France and then onward to Val d'Isere, France—a favorite stop on the tour for the women's speed team—for a downhill and alpine combined on Dec. 21-22. Mikaela is slated to compete in all three upcoming French venue events. 

RESULTS
Women's Qualification Round
Women's Parallel Slalom

WORLD CUP STANDINGS
Overall

Saturday, Dec. 15
8:00 p.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - 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.

In the second day of FIS Moguls World Cup competition in Thaiwoo, China, the Americans showed up and brought the heat to duals, claiming two medals. Jaelin Kauf led the way with a second place and Hannah Soar came in third—a career-first podium for the East Coast ripper. They shared the podium with France’s Perrine Laffont, who won her third-straight World Cup. Tess Johnson rounded out the U.S. women with a fifth-place finish.

The U.S. pulled a tough draw for the first dual of the season: Nick Page faced Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury in the first preliminary round, Alex Lewis dualed Japan’s Ikuma Hiroshima in the second preliminary round and the women would friendly fire in the quarter-final. But despite the setup, the athletes fought hard to pull it together and turn their momentum around from what was a tough start to their World Cup season.

Tess and Hannah found themselves face to face at the top gate during the quarter-final. It was a dual to the finish, Hannah won by just under a point. In the semifinal, Hannah again encountered a friendly face, with Jaelin in the gate next to her. “I tried to take Jaelin down really hard,” she joked. “But no, Jaelin is a really great competitor and so I just tried to stick to my run and not get in my head that Jaelin is one of the fastest women in the world.” Jaelin advanced to the big final and Hannah skied against Japan’s Kisara Sumiyoshi in the small. Hannah laid down a beautiful run and came out victorious to earn her first World Cup podium.

“It’s always a little bit of a bummer having to dual teammates just because you hope that that happens for one and two,” said Jaelin. “But it’s always kind of fun standing at the top and the bottom with your teammate. Hannah’s having a great year, she’s a great competitor so I just tried to ski my run out there and do my best.”

Jaelin battled Perrine for the top spot, but a mistake cost her in the middle section, and she ended the day in second. “Yesterday was a really tough day but also reminded me to ski my run and stick to that and I’ll be good,” she said of her first podium of the season. “I just came out today looking to have some fun with duals, I love skiing duals and just did what I know I can do.”

Jesse Andringa had a career-best 10th place finish, skiing a world-class run against Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury in the round of eight. Jesse kept his nerve from top to bottom and pushed Kingsbury to the very end of the line, narrowly missing him. “Hopefully Jesse can take that run and continue to move forward as the season goes,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. “He really showed he belongs here with that run.”

In their first-ever dual moguls World Cup competitions both Nick Page and Alex Lewis faced off the two men in yellow bibs – Mikael and Ikuma (after Saturday’s competition Mikael and Ikuma were tied for the top spot). Nick warmed Kingsbury up for Jesse, and before leaving the gates slammed his skis letting Mikael know he was coming for him one day. Before leaving it all on the snow, Alex exchanged a first bump with Ikuma, and pushed his hardest to catch him. What was shaping up to be an epic battle between Mikael and Ikuma did not pan out as Ikuma got knocked out of the big final to end the day in third. Kingsbury won his second World Cup of the season and France’s Ben Cavet came in second.

“Today was a good turnaround for the team,” said Matt. “We will carry our momentum in January from tonight. We had three women that grew up on skis in the top five today. They’re skiers, they went out and did what they do, and they got a couple podiums for us. I’m happy with that turnaround and happy with the momentum change.”

The U.S. Moguls Team returns home on Monday, weather permitting (there’s a rare snow-storm warning for the Beijing airport, so keep your fingers crossed it stays open), after a long six weeks on the road. The next World Cup is set for January 25, 2020, in Tremblant, Canada. The team will spend the majority of January training on home snow in Colorado, working on what needs tweaking to ski better and stronger for the rest of the season.

“I’m really looking forward to the next portion of the season,” said Matt. “It’s been six weeks on the road, but it ended on a pretty special day so it was worth it. If I had to start these six weeks again tomorrow and have the same ending, you bet I would.”

U.S. Snowboard Pro Team member Maddie Mastro landed her third-consecutive podium appearance at Copper Mountain, Colo., Saturday at the Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix. She persevered through difficult weather conditions, which hindered speed in the beautifully built 22-foot superpipe. 

“It’s always nice being back here it Copper,” said Maddie. “The pipe is always dialed. Today the weather was challenging, but somehow when I compete at Copper, I find a way to put everything together. I’m stoked to be on the podium."

Prior to Maddie’s final run, there was a surge of high winds complete with the heaviest snowfall of the day. It was almost as if mother nature was sending a message reminding everyone in the venue that snowboarding is an outdoor sport.

“Watching the wind and snow roll in at the most inopportune time possible was definitely a lot to handle,” she commented. “I just tried my best to stay in the right mindset, so when the weather did clear I could do my best to put down a run. I had a run that I wanted to put down, but mother nature was a little angry at me.”

Unfortunately, the fresh snow in the pipe accumulated to the point where speed was difficult to find, so Maddie’s run and the remaining men’s runs were conservative.

Queralt Castellet of Spain topped the podium and Jiayu Liu of China finished in second.

For the men, Toby Miller was the top finisher for the U.S. Snowboard Team, locking down fourth place. Toby put down a technical first run with great amplitude. Although Toby was third after run one, he would be bumped off the podium and unable to climb his way back with deteriorating weather conditions.

“Today was a great,” Toby said, remaining positive despite a difficult day of competition. “The weather was definitely a big challenge in today’s final. Everyone out there rode like true champions and proved how good of snowboarders they truly are. I am very proud to have landed my first run and end up in fourth place. I’m looking forward to the rest of the up and coming season. Congratulations to Scotty, Yuto, and Ruka."

Australian Scotty James continued his streak of perfection after winning every competition he entered last season. Japanese riders Yuto Totsuka and Ruka Hirano finished second and third respectively.

TRICK LIST
Men

1. Scotty James (AUS) - Frontside double 1080 Stale, cab 900 melon, switch backside double 1080 Indy, backside 1260 Mute, Frontside double 1260 Stale.

2. Yuto Totsuka (JPN) - Frontside double 1440 Indy, cab 1080 Nose, frontside double 1260 Indy, backside 900 Mute, frontside 1080 Tail. 

3. Ruka Hirano (JPN) - Frontside 900 Tail, backside 900 Mute, frontside double 1080 Indy, cab double 1080 Truck Driver, frontside 1260 Tail.

Women

1. Queralt Castellet (ESP) - Backside Air, front 900 Lien, backside 540 Mute, frontside 360 Indy, cab 720.

2. Jiayu Liu (CHN) - Switch backside air, Haakon 720 Mute, frontside 540 Stale, backside 540 Mute, frontside 620 Lien.

3. Maddie Mastro (USA) - Backside air, Crippler 540 Indy, backside 540 Mute, frontside 720 Indy, Haakon 720 Stale, frontside 540 Melon. 

RESULTS
Men’s snowboard halfpipe
Women’s Snowboard halfpipe

Post Event Press Conference - Video
 

Sophie Caldwell landed another podium performance for the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, finishing third in the FIS Cross Country World Cup freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday. On the men’s side, Simi Hamilton, who was in the podium hunt in the finals, posted the best result of the season in sixth.

‘It’s nice to get a good day in this early in the season,” Simi said. “It gives me a lot of confidence in my fitness, speed and race hunger going forward into this long and busy season. I was pretty tanked after those fast quarter and semifinals, but I’m psyched with a solid sixth.”

The U.S. Team qualified seven athletes for the sprint heats Saturday. In addition to Sophie and Simi, Jessie Diggins, Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, Julia Kern, Hailey Swirbul and Kevin Bolger qualified. Kevin and Logan Hanneman tied for 30th in qualifying. However, Kevin won the tiebreaker to advance to the heats by way of being ranked higher in the World Cup standings. For Hailey, it was the first time in her career she has qualified for the sprint heats and scored World Cup points.

“It was a really exciting day, and extra special to have the team and coaches with me and celebrating this small victory,” Hailey said. “The level sure is high here, but I think I'm slowly closing the gap, and have teammates to show me how it's done.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I scored my first World Cup point ever today!!!! But you know what was the greatest part of this day? How dang STOKED my team was for me. I swear, I’ll never find a group of people more caring, encouraging, and all around inspiring. Thank you team (coaches and techs included of course) for all that you do. These small victories wouldn’t be possible without you ❤️ 📸 @sbjornsen #bestteam

A post shared by Hailey Swirbul (@hai.swirl) on Dec 14, 2019 at 8:06am PST

In the women’s quarterfinals, Sophie was the lone U.S. athlete to move on to the semifinals, and then on to the finals. In the finals, she worked to grab the outside line on the second of two laps heading into the final climb, but Sweden’s Linn Svann moved into the line, forcing Sadie up the final climb behind Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Fallen, who had a slight stumble, which broke Sophie’s momentum. In the final 100 meters, Svann skied away for her first World Cup victory. Sophie and Maiken sprinted to a photo finish, with Maiken just getting ahead of Sophie for second place. Sophie is now the third American to score an individual podium finish this season.

“I was really happy with the day,” Sophie said. “I felt strong throughout the whole day, had very fast skis, and any day ending up on the podium is a great day! It was also really cool to see Simi in the final, have Hailey score her first World Cup points, and see Julia post a really strong top 15 result!”

In the men’s race, Simi, who qualified eighth, and looked strong throughout the heats. In the opening quarterfinal, Simi finished third but advanced as the lucky loser as he was in the fastest heat. Similar story in the semifinals, as Simi was again in the fastest heat, finishing third to advance to the finals. In the finals, he was hunting for a podium position, but on the second of two laps, he got caught up in the second to last corner and dropped back to sixth.

In the World Cup standings, Jessie moved up to third overall, Sadie is fifth, Rosie Brennan is 11th, and Sophie is 22nd. For the men, Simi is the top American in 27th.

Up next, the women compete in a 10k freestyle, and the men in a 15k freestyle Sunday in Davos.

RESULTS
Women’s sprint
Men’s sprint

STANDINGS
Women’s World Cup
Men’s World Cup

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Sunday, Dec. 15
4:35 a.m. - Women’s 10k, Davos, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
8:45 a.m. - Men’s 15k, Davos, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
9:00 a.m. - Women’s 10k, Davos, SUI - 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.
 

U.S. Snowboard Team member Chris Corning retained the yellow leader bib at the Air+Style FIS Snowboard World Cup with a third-place finish in Beijing, China. 

“I had a great time here in Beijing,” said Chris. "It’s great to see everyone ride really well and I am stoked to be apart of this crazy contest. Thanks to China for building a great jump and hosting an awesome event.”

Although the beautiful jump structure in Beijing can not be considered a scaffold jump, this is the first time Chris has landed his signature quad cork 1800 in a city big air! It paid dividends as he only finished behind Candian Max Parrot in first and ahead of Swedish snowboarder Sven Thorgren in third.  

The competition certainly did not lack excitement, suspense, or competitive spirit. 

"This event will go down as one of the most heated big air competitions ever," said U.S Freeski and Snowboard Halfpipe, Slopestyle and Big Air Head Coach Mike Jankowski. "The men's competition was incredibly fierce and I'm very happy with how Sean and Chris performed."

U.S. rider Sean FitzSimons landed two solid runs to finish seventh overall. Sean landed both a backside and frontside triple cork. This is a solid result to build his confidence leading into his start at the Visa Big Air presented by Land Rover next week.

For the women, U.S. Snowboard Team member and 2018 Olympic big air silver medalist Jamie Anderson finished seventh followed by teammate Julia Marino in eighth. Both Jamie and Julia were both going for their most difficult tricks, but couldn't quite stick the landing. They will look to dial in these runs for next week's final big air World Cup.  Miyabi Onitsuka of Japan won the event, Austrian phenom Anna Gasser was second, and Laure Blouin of Canada finished in third place. 

With only one more stop left on the FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup Tour, Chris remains the overall World Cup leader. However, Nicolas Laframboise from Canada is not far beyond him in second and is confirmed to compete at the final stop at the Visa Big Air presented by Land Rover at SunTrust Park in Atlanta, Ga. Competition in Atlanta is sure to be exciting with the FIS Big Air Crystal Globe on the line!

Join us at SunTrust Park or tune in on NBC to catch all the action. 
 

 
 Tickets on sale now at Braves.com/visabigair  

RESULTS
Men’s Snowboard Big Air
Women’s Snowboard Big Air

CUP STANDINGS
Men’s Snowboard Big Air
Women’s Snowboard Big Air

EVENT SCHEDULE
Visa Big Air presented by Land Rover
SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Ga., USA
Snowboard & Freeski Big Air FIS World Cup
December 18-21, 2019
*Subject to change

Friday, Dec 20
12:00 - 10:00 p.m. - Sponsor Village/Entertainment - The Battery
5:30 p.m. - Gates Open
6:00 - 6:45 p.m. - Men's and women's snowboard big air finals practice
7:00 - 8:30 p.m. - Men's and women's snowboard big air finals          

Saturday, Dec 21
12:00 - 10:00 p.m. - Sponsor Village/Entertainment - The Battery
5:00 p.m. - Gates Open
5:30 p.m. - Teton Gravity Research Premiere - “Fire on the Mountain” 
6:00 - 6:45 p.m. - Men's and women's freeski big air finals practice
7:00 - 8:30 p.m. - Men's and women's freeski big air finals

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
Streaming schedule TBD
*Same-day broadcast
**Next-day broadcast

SNOWBOARD
Friday, December 20
7:00 p.m. - Visa Big Air World Cup - SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Ga. - NBCSN

Saturday, December 21
4:00 p.m. - Visa Big Air World Cup - SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Ga. - NBC Sports**

FREESKI
Saturday, December 21
7:00 p.m. - Visa Big Air World Cup - SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Ga. - NBCSN

Sunday, December 22
3:00 p.m. - Visa Big Air World Cup - SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Ga. - NBC Sports**

After a week of questionable weather reports, both the classic unpredictability of St. Moritz, Switzerland and the sunshine shone through on Saturday during a super-G where Mikaela Shiffrin led three women into the points for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team with a third-place finish. 

Prior to Saturday's race, Mikaela told NBC, "It doesn't matter what the conditions are or what the weather is, the most aggressive, cleanest skier is going to end up on top." On Saturday, that honor went to Italy's Sofia Goggia. 

With St. Moritz's typically technical super-G, featuring a fair amount of terrain, it was no surprise that Italy's fiery and fast Federica Brignone - who was bib 9 - was the early leader. Mikaela stood in the start gate, the clouds parted and the sun came out. She came out of the start - guns blazing - bib lucky number 13 and though it appeared she'd take the lead, a couple of small mistakes in the mid-section of the course cost her some time and she skied into second behind Federica, by a mere .12 seconds. She saw the time, stuck out her tongue playfully and thanked the crowd. All eyes on Sofia, bib 16. After struggling with a DNF in the season super-G opener in Lake Louise, Canada, Sofia stayed true to her wild style, always keeping fans on the edge of their seats, cutting line and even losing a pole along the way, to sneak ahead of Federica by .01 and take the lead.

As often is the case in St. Moritz, the weather can be tricky, and no one never knows when the dreaded "Maloja Snake" will rear its ugly head. The forecast called for wind and potential snowfall for Saturday, though the weather gods were kind to the FIS Ski World Cup this year, parting the clouds and allowing the sun to shine through on the women for a perfect day of super-G. It was an American course set, by women's speed Head Coach Chip White. With the venue hosting the recent Europa Cup, the track was awesome, buff - like Colorado snow. In other words, it was a complete 180 from last weekend's soft surface at Lake Louise, and much like what the women had been training on at U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain, Colo. in November. 

At Friday evening's team meeting, Head Coach Paul Kristofic told the women that the snow was "super familiar, Colorado-type snow." "You've had the best training in the world [at Copper Mountain], so translate that into the best skiing you've ever done. Do not worry about the weather, rise above it. Wherever the start is, accept it and go, go go." The word on the mountain was that wind gusts would be strong, so it was likely that at least one of the reserve starts would be utilized. On Saturday morning, there was some light snow and clouds were coming in and out, but the weather was relatively clear despite some wind out of the start gate.

"It was really, really nice to ski today, and the surface was very good," reflected Mikaela in the post-race press conference. There was slightly more air time off the jump than the women thought. "Sofia was really aggressive on the pitch going into the jump, so she carried a lot of speed, and I did a similar thing and I felt like when I was in the air I was like, 'Hmm, maybe I'm not going to land on the ground before the next gate,' so I was trying to rush to get back to the ground so I could actually make the next turn, but it was building up a lot and for a moment I thought I'd maybe not finish," Mikaela continued. 

It was a great collective team showing for the Americans, with both Alice Merryweather and Alice McKennis (29th) in the points for the fourth straight race, and Alice Merryweather coming from bib 44 to 20th. Jackie Wiles also started for the Americans, but finished outside of the points. In just her second World Cup race series back from an injury that had her sidelined for 22 months, Jackie will look to take what she learned from Saturday into the next speed series in Val d'Isere, France⁠—a favorite stop of the American women. 

Mikaela now leads the overall standings by 271 points, with 532 points to Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg's 261 points. Up next is a parallel event on Sunday, an event that Mikaela has excelled in previously but she has opted to sit out on Sunday, so she can manage energy levels and focus. Mikaela, who is one of the few athletes to compete in all disciplines (and the only athlete to win in all six currently contested FIS World Cup disciplines), is heading into a busy next couple of weeks on the World Cup tour that includes five races across four disciplines in the next 15 days. She announced the news in an Instagram post on Saturday after the super-G race:

Today was so much fun and the surface was perfect!! Congrats to Sofia Goggia and Federica Brignone, and to my teammates for an awesome collective result. I’ve been asked a couple times if I’m skiing the parallel tomorrow - obviously it’s not an *easy* decision, but I’m opting out of the race tomorrow. There are quite a few reasons for this but at the top of the list is that for several years I have been longing to race Val d’Isere but have never been able to because the @fisalpine schedule is always too tough (for those who race in all disciplines), but one of my goals this season is to get on that track and to race a little more speed in general so I’m trying to manage energy and focus accordingly! It’s always a day to day process, and tough to make these decisions but I’m looking forward to Courchevel! And good luck to the girls tomorrow especially USA 💪💪🤗

 

Balancing all of the events in what proves to be a challenging and busy FIS schedule is still something Mikaela is working on, but she's finding enjoyment across all of the events—and she continues to prove she is a podium contender every time she steps into the start gate. "I don't really have a favorite event anymore, but for sure in slalom it's still where I'm the most comfortable or I have the most experience or the best feeling, so I don't need as much training to feel 100% anymore," reflected Mikaela. But, this time of year is probably the biggest push—from Copper to Levi to Killington to Lake Louise to here—and trying to feel like I can really push for a podium every time, with no training basically. So that's the most difficult thing. But it's also really nice to race like that, because you build your momentum and just keep going."

Nina O'Brien and Alice Merryweather will start in Sunday's parallel for the Americans. From there, the women will travel to Courchevel for a giant slalom on Tuesday and then Val d'Isere, France—a favorite stop on the tour for the women's speed team—for a downhill and alpine combined on Dec. 21-22. Mikaela is slated to compete in all three upcoming French venue events. 

RESULTS
Women's Super-G

WORLD CUP STANDINGS
Overall
Super-G 

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter

Official event hashtag: #worldcupstmoritz

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Dec. 14
2:00 p.m. - NBC Special "Mikaela's Masterpiece" - NBCSN
9:30 p.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN*

Saturday, Dec. 15
3:30 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Val d‘Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel.com - delayed until 4 a.m., NBC Sports Gold
3:45 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom qualifying, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel.com - delayed until 10:30 a.m., NBC Sports Gold
6:30 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Val d‘Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
8:00 p.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN*

*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.
 

Due to a weather pattern that came in to Val d'Isere, France, producing snowfall and strong winds, the men's slalom race was cancelled on Saturday. 

After discussions with the organizing committee, French Ski Federation, and InFront (the broadcast rights holder), the jury decided to reschedule Saturday's men's slalom race to Sunday. As such, the men's giant slalom will be rescheduled to a later date, and will be communicated as soon as the International Ski Federation (FIS) can confirm a new date and location. 

With knowledge of the weather pattern coming in, the jury - with the support of the organizing committee, French Ski Federation and InFont, had decided on Wednesday to alter the program, with slalom on Saturday and giant slalom on Sunday. On Friday evening, the winds were so strong that the organizing committee decided - for safety reasons - to cancel the public bib draw. After numerous delays on Saturday, including a move to the reserve start, the final decision was made. 

Young rising stars River Radamus and Luke Winters will be starting for the Americans on Sunday. Luke has had some solid slalom training in Val d'Isere prior to the race, and both men are looking forward to throwing it down on Sunday. 

More details about the rescheduled giant slalom will be forthcoming. 

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter

Official event hashtags: #worldcupvaldisere

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Dec. 14
2:00 p.m. - NBC Special "Mikaela's Masterpiece" - NBCSN
9:30 p.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN*

Sunday, Dec. 15
3:30 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Val d‘Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel.com - delayed until 4 a.m., NBC Sports Gold
3:45 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom qualifying, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel.com - delayed until 10:30 a.m., NBC Sports Gold
6:30 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Val d‘Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
8:00 p.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN*

*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.