(April 25, 2024 – Park City - Utah /St. Louis, Missouri) Stifel Financial Corp., the title sponsor of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, is thrilled to announce the recipients of the Stifel Awards for the 2023-24 season. As the season officially wraps for the athletes, Stifel has contributed $36,000 to the team across nine distinct award categories spanning alpine, cross country, freestyle and freeski disciplines. Winners were nominated and elected by their teammates and staff.

“At Stifel, we strive to be the place where success meets success, and nobody embodies that more than all of the athletes that make up the Stifel U.S. Ski Team,” said Ron Kruszewski, Chairman and CEO of Stifel. “This year, we expanded the scope of the Stifel Awards to encompass all ski teams under the U.S. Ski & Snowboard umbrella, allowing athletes and staff alike to recognize outstanding contributions. We take pride in providing a platform to celebrate not only victories but also the resilience and dedication displayed by these athletes."

“The winners of each category are more than deserving for what they accomplished this season, whether it was a comeback, success story or just being an invaluable member of the team. This season was historic in many ways and it’s great to see the support from Stifel to honor these incredible athletes and staff,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport Anouk Patty.

Demonstrating their dedication to the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, the Stifel Awards underscore Stifel's commitment to supporting athletes both on and off the slopes. The following athletes and staff have been recognized as the winners of the awards within each respective team:

STIFEL U.S. ALPINE SKI TEAM AWARD WINNERS

• Athlete of the Year: AJ Hurt, River Radamus
• Rookie of the Year: Elisabeth Bocock, Stanley Buzek
• Most Improved: Lauren Macuga, Ryder Sarchett 
• Best Comeback: Jackie Wiles, Wiley Maple
• Staff Member of the Year: Ian Garner 

STIFEL U.S. CROSS COUNTRY SKI TEAM AWARD WINNERS

• Athlete of the Year: Jessie Diggins, Gus Schumacher
• Rookie of the Year: Sammy Smith/Haley Brewster (tie), John Steel Hagenbuch
• Most Improved: Sophia Laukli, Zanden McMullen
• Best Comeback: Rosie Brennan, Gus Schumacher
• Staff Member of the Year: Kristen Bourne

STIFEL U.S. FREESKI TEAM AWARD WINNERS

• Athlete of the Year: Alex Ferreira, Rell Harwood
• Rookie of the Year: Henry Townshend, Kate Gray
• Most Improved: Colby Stevenson, Rell Harwood
• Best Comeback: Hunter Hess, Riley Jacobs
• Staff Member of the Year: Matt Voss

STIFEL U.S. FREESTYLE SKI TEAM AWARD WINNERS (moguls, aerials)

• Athlete of the Year: Olivia Giaccio, Winter Vinecki
• Rookie of the Year: Kasey Hogg, Connor Curran
• Most Improved: Asher Michael, Karenna Elliott
• Best Comeback: Tess Johnson, Tasia Tanner
• Staff Member of the Year: Bryon Wilson, Stanislav Kravchuk

 

 

 

 

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U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the governing body for skiing and snowboarding in the United States, has officially wrapped one of its most successful seasons in history. Throughout the organization’s 10 sports, U.S. Ski & Snowboard brought home four Nations Cups, 13 individual FIS Crystal Globes, 14 Youth Olympic Games medals, 14 Junior World Championships medals, and had two teams, cross country and freeski, end their year with their most successful seasons in history. Alongside the athletic success, the organization hosted 11 domestic World Cups and is celebrating the launch of initiatives and new partners that are reshaping the organization and celebrating a successful revenue year. 

Breaking Down the Numbers: a Historic 2023-24 Season

Four U.S. teams brought home the coveted Nations Cup this season, awarded to a nation that tallied up the most World Cup points throughout the season: the Stifel U.S. Freestyle Ski Team in both moguls and aerials, the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team park & pipe team and the U.S. Para Snowboard Team. The women’s moguls team is the best in the world for a reason, with six of the world's top 10 spots held by U.S. women. 

The FIS Crystal Globe is awarded to the most successful World Cup athletes in their respective sports. The Globe is given on both a discipline and an overall basis and this season, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard teams brought home 13 globes. The FIS overall Crystal Globe, seen by many athletes as more prestigious than an Olympic medal, was won by four U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes, including freeskier Alex Ferreira, cross country skier Jessie Diggins and Para snowboarders Brenna Huckaby and Noah Elliott. 

On the freeski side, two-time Olympic medalist Ferreira won every halfpipe contest he competed in, a feat never seen before in freestyle skiing. He also secured the overall Crystal Globe for freeski park & pipe with his perfect season and the discipline Globe in halfpipe, with his teammates Mac Forehand and Alex Hall winning the slopestyle and big air Globes, respectively. Ferreira also won the X Games and Dew Tour halfpipe, bringing his total 2023-24 season victories to seven out of seven.

Three-time Olympic medalist Diggins took home the overall Crystal Globe for the second time in her storied career after her most successful season to date, which included setting a record for the best season in U.S. history for a cross country athlete, winning the overall Tour de Ski and bringing home six victories and 12 podiums. She also secured the distance discipline Globe. 

Two-time Paralympic medalist Elliott of the U.S. Para Snowboard Team closed out a phenomenal season, where he found the podium seven out of eight times and added six World Cup wins to his resume to secure the overall and banked slalom Globes. Teammate Brenna Huckaby, who won the first-ever gold medal in the banked slalom discipline at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, added yet another overall Globe to her resume, along with two discipline Globes. Peggy Martin also secured the Globe for banked slalom.

Despite an injury sidelining Mikaela Shiffrin for six weeks, the most dominant alpine skier of all time still took home the title of best slalom skier of the year—her eighth slalom Globe in her exceptional career. 

2023-24 Season Globes  

• Noah Elliott - Para Snowboard Overall
• Noah Elliott - Para Snowboard Banked Slalom
• Jessie Diggins - Cross Country Overall
• Jessie Diggins - Cross Country Distance
• Alex Ferreira - Freeski Park & Pipe Overall
• Alex Ferreira - Freeski Halfpipe 
• Mac Forehand - Freeski Slopestyle 
• Alex Hall - Freeski Big Air
• Brenna Huckaby - Para Snowboard Overall
• Brenna Huckaby - Para Snowboard Cross 
• Brenna Huckaby - Para Snowboard Banked Slalom
• Peggy Martin - Para Snowboard Banked Slalom
• Mikaela Shiffrin - Alpine Slalom 

The junior skiers and snowboarders also shined, showcasing the dominant pipeline making its way to the top. U.S. Ski & Snowboard secured 14 medals in skiing and snowboarding at the Youth Olympic Games, including three golds, marking a significant improvement over previous years. Notably, the team clinched its first-ever ski jumping, ski cross and mixed team dual moguls medals. The U.S. also won an additional 14 medals at the Junior World Championships and U23 Junior World Championships, including the first-ever cross country sprint and men’s ski jumping medals. 

“The success of this season is a true testament to the hard work and dedication from not only the athletes but the team behind the team,” said Anouk Patty, U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport. “It takes everyone to find this level of excellence and I am confident that next season we will see even more. As we take the time to reflect on these past several months, I am so proud of what our team has accomplished and know that in many areas, we’re just getting started.”

Success Off the Snow

Off the snow, the success of U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s foundation and partnerships team has been equally as impressive during the 2023-24 season. Revenue growth surpassed expectations, reaching record level for the organization.

This season, U.S. Ski & Snowboard welcomed more key partners to the team. New partners included United Airlines, iFit, Hedlum Brewing, Knockaround and NakedCashmere. Existing partners like Stifel, Hydro Flask and Textron Aviation expanded their partnerships in a variety of ways, including sponsoring World Cup events and fundraisers, supporting more teams and partnering with individual athletes, with Stifel and Hydro Flask becoming the title sponsors of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team.

“Working with prominent brands like Stifel, Hydro Flask, Toyota, United Airlines, iFit, Kappa and more solidifies our commitment to excellence,” said Trisha Worthington, Chief Revenue and Philanthropy Officer at U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “This season, we dove deeper into what we can do with these partners by working together on marketing initiatives and enhancing what a partnership can look like.” 

This season, U.S. Ski & Snowboard introduced Easy Green, the organization’s new climate initiative. Named after an “easy green” trail at a resort, the concept embodies the idea that making sustainable choices should be easy. It included partnerships with leaders in the climate advocacy space, including Protect Our Winters, the National Ski Areas Association’s Sustainable Slopes, Keep Tahoe Blue and more. The HERoic initiative, focused on promoting women athletes and coaches, also continued. HERoic panels were held around the country at domestic World Cup events, featuring women trailblazers across various fields of sport and industry. 

With the season wrapping up, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes will take well-deserved breaks but the 2024-25 season is just around the corner, with more records to break and history to be made. 

“Success does not happen overnight,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “What U.S. Ski & Snowboard has accomplished this season came from years of hard work, both on and off the snow. I am proud to lead an organization that cares deeply about the athletes that represent our teams and know that coming off a season like this, the momentum is palpable and we are ready to get back to it and continue making history.”

New on-demand offering adds to the portfolio of North American races
currently streaming live on Outside Watch.

Park City, UT and Boulder, CO (Feb. 1, 2024) – Outside and InFront officially announced a new agreement expanding the availability of international FIS World Cup events for ski and snowboard fans on Outside Watch.

Already the exclusive home of all World Cups that take place in the United States, Outside Watch will now host international World Cup events (besides Austria) on its on-demand  platform following the live event, giving fans in the United States the opportunity to watch the action in their own time. All international events from Jan. 1, 2024, onwards will be available on the Outside Watch website, which is accessible with an Outside+ subscription.

"This partnership further enhances the accessibility of our international World Cups for our fans in the United States, creating a single destination where they can watch this season’s competitions,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. "This new agreement reflects a shared commitment to enhancing the viewer experience and bringing the excitement of international ski and snowboard World Cups into our homes in an easier way.”

Outside will continue to live-stream all domestic World Cup events and provide on-demand access for replays of these events immediately following the conclusion of races. “We’re pleased to partner with InFront to make the full range of iconic international competitions available to the Outside audience,” said Robin Thurston, CEO of Outside. “There’s no longer a need to shuffle between different TV platforms to view the performances of Mikaela Shiffrin and other medal favorites.” 

Domestic events will also be on NBC platforms (NBC, CNBC and/or Peacock). International events (outside of Austria) will continue to be streamed live and hosted on demand on skiandsnowboard.live. Austrian events can be streamed on Peacock. Keep up with the TV listings by sport in the links below.

For detailed how-to-watch listings for each World Cup per sport, click the links below.  

Alpine
Cross Country
Freestyle
Freeski
Snowboard

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ABOUT U.S. SKI & SNOWBOARD 
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic and Paralympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders competing on 10 teams: alpine, cross country, freestyle moguls, freestyle aerials, snowboard, freeski, nordic combined, ski jumping, Para alpine and Para snowboard. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org.

ABOUT OUTSIDE
Outside Interactive, Inc. is the premier destination for outdoor inspiration, activation, and reward. Each month, Outside reaches 80 million of the most active consumers in the world across its network of 25 media, digital, and technology platforms, creating an experience for both longtime adventurers and those just getting started. Outside’s mission is to get everyone outdoors, experiencing healthy, connected, and fulfilling lives. Outside’s membership offering, Outside+, bundles best-in-class storytelling, videos, gear reviews, mapping apps, online courses, discounted event access, magazines, and more. Learn more at OutsideOnline.com.

Contact: PR@outsideinc.com

(PARK CITY, UT / DENVER, CO - Jan. 29, 2024) - The Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation announced a $1 million commitment to U.S. Ski & Snowboard to support athlete mental health services and return-to-performance programming. 

Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation (AMCCF) is a public charity established to provide support to communities in which Alterra operates, including Park City, Utah — home of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team. This new collaboration enhances a longstanding partnership between U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Alterra Mountain Company and highlights a notable shift towards embracing mental health and encouraging outreach for services among elite athletes. 

All people face challenges throughout their lives and world-class athletes are no different. As the National Governing Body for ten ski and snowboard sports, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to offering comprehensive mental health services and education to athletes at every level. The Community Foundation’s investment in mental health and performance recovery resources is unprecedented for U.S. Ski & Snowboard and its impact on the more than 240 athletes named to the national team will be significant. 

“The Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation is proud to support the dedicated work that U.S. Ski & Snowboard is providing toward mental health initiatives for their athletes,” said Meegan Moszynski, AMCCF’s Executive Director. “This aspect of the sport is such a crucial component of success before, during and after competition, and we are grateful for the partnership in this space.”

This $1 million commitment will markedly increase the scope of services provided by U.S. Ski & Snowboard, including specialized sports psychology and wellness programming, athlete mental health and performance training, and return-to-sport performance programming for athletes who are recovering from injury. 

“As someone who has benefitted from existing mental health resources at U.S. Ski & Snowboard, this commitment from AMCCF makes me incredibly excited,” said Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Alice Merryweather. “It’s a big step forward for current and future athletes to have access to a more robust set of mental health and wellness resources for all stages of their careers.”

“We are extremely grateful for this Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation commitment, which was spearheaded by Rusty Gregory, Vice Chairman, partner and former Chief Executive Officer of Alterra Mountain Company and a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Trustee,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “This helps to further bolster our organization’s commitment to making a lasting impact on the lives of our athletes, fostering a culture of well-being, resilience and high performance. We are now able to increase our investment in mental health services and return-to-performance programs, to continue to help our athletes holistically.” 

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About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic and Paralympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders competing on 10 teams: alpine, cross country, freestyle moguls, freestyle aerials, snowboard, freeski, nordic combined, ski jumping, Para alpine and Para snowboard. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org.

About Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation
The Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation is a public charity created to provide financial support to members of the communities in which Alterra operates. Founded in 2020, the Community Foundation started by providing emergency relief and hardship assistance grants to those in need within the communities surrounding Alterra’s North American destinations. Grants are available to individuals who live or work in any of Alterra’s communities, and to local community foundations. Moving forward, the Community Foundation is expanding its programming to include support for mental health initiatives in our mountain communities. This work includes initiatives to reduce the stigma around mental health; providing specialized psychotherapies for first responders; and establishing a platform to convene mental health leaders in mountain communities to foster collaboration toward long-term strategic planning and holistic solutions.