U.S. Snowboard Pro Team member Taylor Gold rounded out the podium at the 2020 Laax Open halfpipe finals in third place by landing the first-ever double Michalchuk 1080 in snowboard halfpipe competition. 

“I was so stoked to put my new trick in a run,” said Taylor. “To end up in third was unreal. It feels like I finally got some redemption for three years of dealing with my knee injury.”

Taylor’s result serves as his fourth World Cup podium, and his first since 2015. A top-three finish at the Laax Open, arguably Europe’s pinnacle park and pipe snowboarding event, should be a confidence builder moving forward into the remainder of the season. 

“Taylor’s never been done double Michalchuk 1080 was the perfect way to end a classic Taylor Gold run,” said U.S. Snowboard Halfpipe Pro Team Head Coach Rick Bower. “Huge amplitude, unmatched style, and textbook execution are what Taylor is known for. It has been an epic five-year battle returning from a shattered knee cap, but now the world knows Taylor Gold is back.”

U.S. Snowboard team rider Chase Blackwell finished in a respectable sixth place, followed U.S. Rookie Team rider Jason Wolle in seventh. Jason showed great confidence in only his second World Cup final ever with huge amplitude in a run that resembled controlled chaos from top to bottom. 

In a very familiar scenario, Australian Scotty James continued his winning streak from January of 2018 to remain the FIS Cup Standings leader. Yuto Totsuka of Japan finished in second place. 

FIS Snowboard World Cup halfpipe competition will continue after X Games next week in Aspen, Colo. at the Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area where halfpipe qualifications are set to go down on Jan. 29, followed by finals on Jan. 31. 

RESULTS
Men’s snowboard halfpipe
Women’s snowboard halfpipe

CUP STANDINGS
Men’s snowboard halfpipe
Women’s snowboard halfpipe
 

The second FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup competition of the 2019-20 season hit Italy’s Seiser Alm resort on Saturday where U.S. Freeski Pro Team member Caroline Claire stomped a bold second run to top the podium. 

“Today was unreal,” said Caroline still reeling from the day’s event. “I went into today pretty sore after taking a big fall in practice on Thursday, so I wasn’t really sure how I’d fare in finals. Then finals practice was firing and everything starting clicking for me on the course. I was able to get a few reps of my switch double cork 900, which I wanted to try in my slope run. I’m just happy that when it came down to it, I was able to link up a clean run that included that new trick! It’s always a pleasure to come back to Seiser Alm and ski my best!”

Putting together an ultra-smooth rail line at the top of the course, Carline set herself up in the jumps with a right-side 540 before dropping the heaviest trick of the day in the women’s competition - a switch left double cork 900 safety on the second jump. Finishing things off with left side 720 tail grab, Caroline climbed into the top spot for her second career World Cup victory at the very same venue where she took her first win back in 2017-18 and her first World Cup podium in 2016-17. With her win, Caroline moves into the third position in the FIS Slopestyle Cup Standings. 

Johanne Killi of Norway finished in second, and Elena Gaskell of Canada finished in third. 

For the men, U.S. Freeski Team’s Colby Stevenson took third place. As the top qualifier, Colby earned his fourth World Cup podium at the venue where he claimed his first, and so far only, World Cup win back in 2016-17.

“The weather was better than forecasted and we were able to have an awesome competition,” said Colby. “I nailed my first run and was good enough for third place. I’m happy to land what I had planned. I’m feeling healthy and excited for all the competitions to come!”

Birk Ruud of Norway won the event and Fabian Boesch of Switzerland finished second. 

After a break next week during X Games Aspen in Colorado, FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup will continue at the Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area where slopestyle qualifications are set to go down on Jan. 29, followed by finals on Jan. 31.

TRICK LISTS
Women

1. Claire - down rail left 270 on, snowpad to tailslide 270 out down rail, up rail rightside slide frontside 450 out, right 540 safety, switch left double 900 safety, left 720 tail

2. Killi - wide rail switch right tailslide 270 out, snowpad to left 270 on down rail, up rail rightside slide frontside 450 off, left 900 tail, switch left 720 safety, switch right 720 japan

3. Gaskell - wide rail left 270 on 270 out, switch right on to the snowpad rightside slide pretzel out, right 900 opposite tail, switch left 900 japan, left 900 tail

Men

1. Ruud - right 450 on pretzel 270 out on waterfall rail, switch left onto the wall to transfer backside 270, left 270 on cork 650 off up rail, switch left double cork 1260 mute, right double bio 1440 mute, right double cork 1620 toxic

2. Boesch - right 270 on pretzel 270 off, super fed, switch left 270 on misty 450 safety off up rail, switch right double bio 1260 safety, left double 1620 tail, switch left double 1440 double japan

3. Stevenson - switch left 270 backswap to switch, switch right 270 pretzel 450 japan, left 270 backslide safety to 270 out, switch left double 1440 stale, switch right double 1260 double japan, left double 1440 cuban

RESULTS
Women’s freeski slopestyle
Men’s freeski slopestyle

CUP STANDINGS
Women’s freeski slopestyle
Men’s freeski slopestyle
 

Under the sunshine in Sestriere, Italy, Mikaela Shiffrin was third Saturday in a giant slalom where just .01—that's one-hundredth of a second—separated three women. Italy's Federica Brignone and Slovakia's Petra Vlhova tied for first. 

Mikaela's fourth-fastest first run was a "little sloppy," as she said, and she sat .42 seconds out going into the second run. But, she skied a solid second run, .23 faster than anyone else, which gave her something to smile about after the last couple of weeks. "The second run I was more aggressive and cleaner with my skiing, so I was happy with that," she reflected. "But, in the end, when it's .01 seconds and the two girls ahead were tied for first, I'm like...arghhhh...well, that's how it goes. That's ski racing."

In a challenging and deep women's giant slalom field, five different women from five different nations have stood on the top step of the podium—New Zealand's Alice Robinson in Soelden, Austria, Italy's Marta Bassino in Killington, Vt., Federica in Courchevel, France, Mikaela in Lienz, Austria, and now Federica and Petra in Sestriere. For certain, the level of women's giant slalom is increasing, and to Mikaela, that's fun and motivating to see. 

"I said this almost every race last year. It's not easy," Mikaela said. "It is never easy to win and you can ask Fede and Petra—it wasn't like they just skied down, had a nice Sunday drive and won the race...they were both skiing really hard and really well, and that's why they ended up ahead. For me, last year, that happened a lot, but it was never easy. It's motivating to have so many athletes that are able to be on the top this year, but it's also not something I didn't expect. Everyone is motivated, everyone wants to win, and I think the most exciting thing for me is that people have stopped asking me, 'Are you unbeatable?' I feel like we're all racing and it's just normal now."

When your "normal" is 11 podiums in 15 starts with four victories, it's a good thing. And that's the case for Mikaela. Last year, in a record season with 17 World Cup victories that may never be topped, she acknowledges that she was on the right side of the hundredths many times. 

"I know, especially last season, I had the lucky side of the hundredths many times, so sometimes I’m not going to be on the lucky side, too," she said. "For me, giant slalom has always been the most difficult event to find my timing and my technique, because you have to be pushing 100% super aggressive with the line and with how you’re skiing, but also really precise with the technique. It can be really challenging to find the balance between those two, and it’s so easy to lose the time if you’re not going as hard as you can. Right now, a lot of the athletes have a pretty good idea of what that balance needs to be. That means different winners, and everybody’s hungry."

The ongoing rivalry between Mikaela and Petra has become a main topic on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit and is arguably the most exciting storyline the sport currently has. Even so, Mikaela is quick to point out the respect she has for her rival. “One of the things I respect the most about Petra is she has a really disciplined, great style of skiing…but she does—and she did—the work to come out on top," she commented. "There aren’t many athletes who have been willing to do that, so the last years I’ve been able to stay on top, maybe because I was doing more work or smarter work, or something. So it does feel a little bit like I have to find something new [to get back on top], but also I just have to get my feeling in slalom back. It wasn’t there in Zagreb...and in Flachau, too – I skied the best I could that day, but I know it’s not the best I could ski. She was able to win because she did the work, so I am looking forward to doing better work.”

After narrowly making the flip, tied for 30th in the first run, Nina O'Brien went on to ski two solid runs and finish 29th. This is the third time this season she's scored World Cup giant slalom points. AJ Hurt, Keely Cashman, and Paula Moltzan also started in Saturday's giant slalom but did not qualify for a second run. 

Mikaela still has a commanding lead in the overall title race, with 946 points—233 points ahead of Petra, and 281 points ahead of Federica. The hardest part to swallow about a third-place finish by a mere .01 is that it's the sizable difference between 100 points and 60 points, and though it's 60 more points for Mikaela, she now trails Federica in the giant slalom standings by 61 points. It'll be tough with how strong Federica is in the discipline, but there are still three more giant slaloms on the World Cup calendar and anything is possible. 

Up next, the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes take on a parallel giant slalom on Sunday, in the event's FIS Ski World Cup debut on the women's circuit. When asked about whether or not she'll find revenge tomorrow with rival Petra, Mikaela answered, "I don’t normally ski with revenge. I don’t have this sort of vindictive personality. Tomorrow is a new day, and it’s a new opportunity and I’m really looking forward to racing and we’ll see what happens. I’m just going to do my best, try to bring a little bit more fire and go for it."

RESULTS
Women's Giant Slalom

STANDINGS
Giant Slalom
Overall

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
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Official event hashtags: #skiworldcupsestriere

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Saturday, Jan. 18
5:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBC*
8:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBCSN*

Sunday, Jan. 19
3:45 a.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom qualifying, Sestriere, ITA - NBC Sports Gold
4:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBC**
8:00 p.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - Men’s slalom, Wengen, 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. 

After heavy snowfall overnight, the sun came out for the 90th anniversary of the Wengen downhill. Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Bryce Bennett put down a blazing run to take seventh place in the downhill—his best finish so far this season.

Beat Feuz of Switzerland dominated his run, thrilling the Swiss crowd by winning the race handily. Beat has now podiumed in an impressive 16 of the last 18 FIS World Cup downhills. Dominik Paris of Italy, who was going for his third downhill win in a row, was second and Thomas Dressen of Germany took third.

Bryce, who has had moments of brilliance on Wengen's Lauberhorn track before, including a fifth place finish in last season’s downhill, was thrilled about the run. He wore bib 1 and energized the crowd in the finish—pumping his fists over his 6-foot-7-tall body.

It had been a tough year for Bryce leading up to the Wengen World Cups. He hadn’t had a top-15 result until Friday’s alpine combined, and struggled to finish in the points in many of the races. He’s looking at Wengen as a turning point.

“This season started off really poorly and I really had to find some things very quickly and ask some questions to myself,” said Bryce. “I was excited I was able to make some quick decisions and change a few things in my skiing and execute today in this downhill. It just feels good to get some confidence back in my skiing, which I did not have in the first couple of months.”

Ryan Cochran-Siegle also had a solid day; even with a mistake, he put down a 14th place finish. “I was actually happy with the mistake,” said Ryan. “Downhill is tough to make up for that and I think I saved the run with my skiing below that. I was just trying to ski more aggressively and a bit more direct and try to shave time. With that risk comes the ability to make mistakes. Overall, I’m pleased.”

Also skiing into the points were Steven Nyman in 21st, Jared Goldberg in 22nd and Travis Ganong in 27th. Sam Morse finished 51st.

Next up, the tech men get a chance in Wengen with a slalom on Sunday, while the speed skiers are packing up their things to head to the wildest World Cup on the circuit: Kitzbuehel.

“The one place you don’t want to go without confidence in Kitzbuehel,” said Bryce. “Having a little bit of confidence in your skiing is very helpful and having some good focuses is going to be really important for next weekend.”

RESULTS
Men’s Downhill

STANDINGS
Overall
Downhill

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
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Official event hashtag: #lauberhorn

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Saturday, Jan. 18
8:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBCSN*

Sunday, Jan. 19
4:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBC**
9:00 p.m. - Men’s slalom, Wengen, 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. 

Racing through deep, sugary snow in her first race since finishing the Tour de Ski earlier this month, Jessie Diggins led four Davis U.S. Cross Country Team athletes into the top 30, finishing fourth in Saturday’s 10k FIS Cross Country World Cup freestyle in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

Rosie Brennan was 17th, Sadie Maubet Bjornsen was 25th and Julia Kern was 30th. Caitlin Patterson finished 39th and Alayna Sonnesyn, racing in her first World Cup event of the season following a three podium performance at the recent L.L.Bean U.S. Cross Country Championships, was 46th. Norway’s Therese Johaug won Saturday’s race with a time of 23 minutes, 51 seconds. Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva was second at 32.7 seconds off Johaug’s time and Norway’s Heidi Weng in third at 40.3 seconds back. 

“Today was a good race for me, although it was kind of funny because, with the super deep, sugary snow, it never felt like I was moving very fast, especially stepping through the sugar on the uphills,” said Jessie, who was 48.5 seconds off the winning time. “But overall I’m happy with where my body is after the Tour de Ski, and I’m working on training as smart as I can to find that balance between racing and training hard, and finding good recovery after such a big effort.”

The weekend schedule at Nove Mesto was swapped in order to take advantage of the limited snow coverage, with freestyle technique on Saturday, classic on Sunday. With limited natural snow and overnight temperatures hovering just below the freezing mark, the vast majority of snow used to build the course was either machine-made or snow trucked in to build the course. 

“We faced some challenging conditions today,” Rosie said, “...it was deep sugary and dirty.

“I wasn't sure how I would feel after the Tour de Ski but tried to stay optimistic that my break was good and I would be back where I left off,” added Rosie, who finished 15th overall at the Tour de Ski. “I started well and was happy with my first lap. But I faded much more than I had hoped in the end, and think I am still feeling a bit of fatigue from the Tour. Overall, it was a solid day and I hope I can find another gear tomorrow.”

Sunday’s race for the women will be a 10k classic pursuit, with the start order based on Saturday’s results. “Tomorrow should be an exciting pursuit start and I’m excited to ski with so many speedy ladies,” Jessie said. 

In the men’s 15k freestyle Saturday, David Norris was the top American in 27th. Ian Torchia, competing in his first career World Cup, finished 67th. 

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

Overall World Cup Standings
Women
Men

Distance World Cup Standings
Women
Men

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Sunday, Jan. 19
5:00 a.m. - Women’s 10k classic pursuit, Nove Mesto, CZE - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s 15k classic pursuit, Nove Mesto, CZE -Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
10:30 a.m. - Women’s 10k classic pursuit, Nove Mesto, CZE - 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 Pro Team member Julia Marino topped the podium at the 2020 Laax Open in Switzerland at the first of five FIS Snowboard slopestyle World Cups set to take place over the remainder of the season.

“It feels so good just to break what feels like the ‘just outside of the podium curse’ here in Laax,” said a very relieved Julia. “It’s been so fun. The course and the weather have been amazing. I don’t think I have ever had so much fun at slope contest.”

After finishing fourth two years in a row, Julia put down a beautiful first run that would hold for the top spot. Slopestyle and Big Air Pro Team Head Coach Dave Reynolds was extremely happy about Julia’s performance. 

“Julia has been riding better than ever,” said Dave. “She is focussed and has the best attitude. I can’t wait to see what’s next. She learned the back 900 in our Park City Camp just before this event and it’s awesome to see her put it down in her winning run.”

For the men, 2018 Olympic gold medalist Red Gerard, and Judd Henkes earned second and third respectively. 

“What a crazy first event,” said Red. “Having the first major slopestyle event of year be in mid-January is much different. The entire crew was fully dialed and riding at the highest level. I’m stoked I could put one down to land on the podium and I look forward to X Games next week.”

Red was able to land a new trick in his run with the switch backside triple cork 1440 as part of his highest-scoring first run. In addition, Judd earned his second World Cup podium with two 1440s and proved he will likely be no stranger to the podium this season. 

The vibe between the whole U.S. Snowboard Team was incredibly supportive and positive throughout the entire Laax Open slopestyle program. Combined, the nine U.S. riders competing in finals put on a show for the Swiss crowd. 

Catch the full slopestyle show on NBCSN at 8 p.m. EST Friday. Competition in Laax will continue Saturday with halfpipe finals. 

RESULTS
Men’s snowboard slopestyle
Women’s snowboard slopestyle

HOW TO WATCH
Subject to change
All times EST
*Same-day delayed broadcast

SNOWBOARD
Friday, Jan. 17
8:00 p.m. - FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup - Laax, Switzerland - NBCSN-TV

Saturday, Jan. 18
11:30 a.m. - FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup - Laax, Switzerland - Olympic Channel-TV and NBC Sports Gold

Races got underway on the famed Lauberhorn downhill track in Wengen, Switzerland, with an alpine combined—one run of downhill followed by one run of slalom. Bryce Bennett led three of his Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team teammates into the points in 14th place with Ryan Cochran-Siegle finishing 19th and Jared Goldberg 24th.

Austrian speed skier Matthias Mayer won the FIS Ski World Cup-winning the downhill and taking an impressive fourth place in the slalom. Pre-race favorite Alexis Pinturault of France was second—while he won the slalom by almost a second, his downhill run wasn’t quite fast enough to take the top step on the podium. Frenchman Victor Muffat-Jeandet, a tech specialist, was third.

It was a fast downhill under sunny Swiss skies with the downhillers flying off of the jumps on the longest and fastest track on the World Cup circuit. Bryce, Ryan, and Jared stacked it in, finishing 15th, 16th and 18th in the downhill portion before heading to the slalom. With a recent change in the combined rules, the racers started the slalom in order based on the downhill results instead of doing a flip-30, allowing for downhillers to get a better advantage in the usually heavy tech skier-favored combined event. Bryce had the best slalom finish of the Americans, taking 15th, while Ryan was 19th and Jared 29th. Sam Morse also competed, finishing 38th in the downhill and 34th in the slalom to take 34th overall.

With Pinturault’s second-place finish, he retook the overall World Cup lead from Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, who did not race the combined.

The U.S. men now set their sights on the downhill, which kicks off on Saturday. They all have good confidence going in after putting down some strong results in downhill training this week.

“I love Wengen—it’s such a cool experience,” said Bryce. “The snow this year is perfect—all the way down, top to bottom. I just love this downhill because you need all the pieces in your skiing to be competitive here. Anything you think of is in the downhill.”

RESULTS
Men’s Alpine Combined

STANDINGS
Overall
Alpine Combined

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
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Official event hashtag: #lauberhorn

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Saturday, Jan. 18
6:25 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com
8:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBCSN*

Sunday, Jan. 19
4:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBC**
9:00 p.m. - Men’s slalom, Wengen, 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. 

Olympic champions Mikaela Shiffrin and Chloe Kim have been nominated for the landmark 20th anniversary Laureus World Sports Awards. The world's sports media cast their votes and the greatest sportsmen, sportswomen and teams now have just over a month to wait to see if they have won a prestigious Laureus Statuette at the world's pre-eminent international sports Awards Ceremony in Berlin, Germany on February 17th. 

In the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year category, Mikaela is up against a stacked field of GOATs, including FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner Megan Rapinoe, gymnastic great Simone Biles, track and field stars Allyson Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and the first Asian tennis player to be ranked No. 1 in the world, Naomi Osaka. 

In the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year category, 2019 Action Sportsperson winner and snowboarding world champion Chloe Kim, is joined by world surfing champions Italo Ferreira and Carissa Moore, and 11-year-old Brazilian skateboarder Rayssa Leal, the youngest Nominee for the 2020 Laureus Awards. Also in contention for the Action Award are US skateboarding world champion Nyjah Huston and Canadian snowboarding star and slopestyle X-Games gold medallist Mark McMorris.

Sports fans can also have a say in the 20th anniversary Laureus World Sports Awards through the Laureus Sporting Moment: 2000-2020 public vote, which will celebrate the transformational power of sport and reinforce Laureus' 20th-anniversary message that 'Sport Unites Us'. The Laureus Sporting Moment Award shortlists 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world, exemplifying sporting values such as fair play, sportsmanship, humanity, overcoming adversity, dedication, and the power to unite through sport—all key values of the Laureus movement. Fans can vote for their favorite of the 20 shortlisted moments now at laureus.com/vote.

The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during 2019, are the premier honours on the international sporting calendar. The winners, as voted for by the 68 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, will be unveiled at the 2020 Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin on February 17th.

It was at the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000 that Laureus Patron, Nelson Mandela, spoke the words which sparked the creation of the worldwide Sport for Good movement. 20 years on, these words still guide Laureus today—'Sport has the power to change the world; to unite people in a way little else does'. From sports stars to sports fans and the young people in Laureus Sport for Good programmes around the world: Sport Unites Us.

For more information on the Nominees and to stay updated in the build-up to the 2020 Laureus World Sports Awards, visit laureus.com/world-sports-awards and follow #Laureus20 on social platforms. 

Release courtesy of Laureus. 

Wintersteiger, official supplier to U.S. Ski & Snowboard since 2001, and exclusive tuning partner for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, set up a pop-up shop at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain this past November. 

Wintersteiger’s World Cup pedigree and support of the U.S. Ski Team make them the obvious machine tuning choice for both the U.S. Ski Team and other U.S. Ski & Snowboard club programs training at Copper Mountain. For the U.S. Ski Team, the goal was to launch a ski education platform that would allow coaches to address equipment problems quickly, visually. The idea is that properly tuned equipment makes it easier for the athlete to execute technique, and well-maintained equipment turns better and glides faster, thus, simply, increasing the athletes’ performance. 

For this event, Wintersteiger race technicians partnered with Swix and former U.S. Ski Team Serviceman, Graham Lonetto, to offer a full complement of services: ski evaluation, new ski prep, stone grinding, ceramic disc edging, and Wax Future cycling. Wintersteiger’s race technicians had a complete range of race tuning equipment, including a Scout. The Wintersteiger Scout offers the highest caliber ceramic disc finishing for precise tuning of side and base edges as well as World Cup proven grinds to ensure the smoothest, fastest base possible.

The ski tuning clinic program included in-depth training about ski tuning safety, a ski audit, ski flattening and structure, and identifying the missing piece—for instance, asking the questions: Is the binding position correct? Is the base bevel correct? Is the base structure correct? Are we using the correct side edge bevel? Is the wax correct? This initiative proved to be a significant help to the U.S. Ski Team, and development level athletes, in particular.  

“Winterstieger and Swix teamed up to provide a tuning center at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain during the month of November,” commented Land Rover U.S. Ski Team Alpine Director Jesse Hunt. “With its state-of-the-art equipment and well-educated service personnel, this tuning center was a game-changer for the development athletes attending Copper Mountain camps. Hundreds of skis were evaluated and, as a result, many of those skis were tuned by professional technicians onsite. It was an amazing service for our up-and-coming athletes, many of whom have not received this type of ski preparation before. Big props, specifically, to serviceman Michael Beer, who did the lion’s share of the work.”

Initially, these services were exclusive to the U.S. Ski Team but were then made available to other athletes around November 10th. The temporary shop in Copper acted as a supplement to Wintersteiger’s established partner locations in Colorado that use the same machinery and processes found in factory race rooms around the world. With the ultimate goal of minimizing equipment as a variable, it is critical that the machines your local shops utilize are as serious as you are. 

The hope is that U.S. Ski Team will take the lead internationally with projects like the “in-house” tuning shop/lab and concept center at the Center of Excellence, the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain, Colo., the spring coach’s training at Mammoth, Calif. (Level 100, 200, 300 and 400 coaching training), and sponsored regional training seminars with associated accreditation—for example, Green Mountain Valley School’s (GMVS) service center with proper machines/training techniques and wax/tools support. 

Check out the article Todd Carroll wrote for Ski Racing Media, entitled “Backshop Stonegrinding Illustrated” for more information.  

###

About  Wintersteiger
With four decades of experience and more than 30,000 ski tuning machines including 1350 automated ski tuning machines sold worldwide, Wintersteiger is the global market leader in racing service solutions. The Austrian, German, and US Ski Teams, as well as ski manufacturers Atomic, Fischer, Head, Rossignol, and Salomon, rely on the highest-quality results provided by Wintersteiger ski tuning machines.

About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic 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 in 2019, competing in seven teams; alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, nordic combined and ski jumping. 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. 

It’s a big weekend for alpine ski racing, with the men heading to the 90th edition of the classic FIS Ski World Cup Lauberhorn in Wengen, Switzerland, and the women returning to the site of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Sestriere, Italy. 

Wengen kicks off with an alpine combined—one run of downhill and one run of slalom—on Friday, but the highlight of the three-day race series in Wengen is undoubtedly Saturday’s classic downhill. At 2.78 miles long (about 2 minutes, 30 seconds), the Lauberhornrennen is the longest track on the World Cup circuit. It’s the fastest track, too. On January 19, 2013, France’s Johan Clarey clocked the fastest time through the Haneggschuss, the fastest section of the Lauberhorn slope, at 161.9 km/100.6 mph—a record that still stands today. 

With two solid downhill training runs under their belts, the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team boys are ready to rock. In the first of two downhill training runs on Tuesday, Ryan Cochran-Siegle led the Americans with the second-fastest time, just one-tenth off the pace, set by Swiss Mauro Caviezel. Bryce Bennett followed in seventh, and Jared Goldberg in 15th. Of course, as Ryan has said before, training runs are nothing more than “fool’s gold”—however, he backed that fast training run up with the fifth-fastest run in Thursday’s second and final downhill training run, followed by Bryce in ninth, Steven in 11th, and Jared in 16th. Training runs don’t count, but they certainly can be a harbinger of what’s to come. Cross your fingers, hold your thumbs, and let’s get ready to rumble! 

The weekend will close with men’s slalom, where Luke Winters—who has scored in three of five World Cup slaloms this season, rife with flashes of brilliance—will lead the Americans Sunday. Luke continues to show that he belongs among the best in the world, in an extremely competitive and stacked men’s slalom field. 

The women will return to Sestriere, Italy—a place filled with fond memories for the Americans, where Julia Mancuso won her giant slalom gold at the 2006 Olympics. A giant slalom on Saturday will be followed by a debut event for the women—a parallel giant slalom, on Sunday. Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin is coming off a rough couple of races but will look forward to changing the tempo and stepping in the giant slalom start gate this weekend. In the last World Cup giant slalom, Mikaela won by an impressive 1.36 seconds in Lienz, Austria, when she swept the tech series at the end of December. Mikaela will head into the weekend with a healthy 273-point lead in the overall World Cup standings, and trails Italy’s Federica Brignone in the giant slalom standings by just 21 points, in second. 

To travel from Flachau to Sestriere, Mikaela brought teammates Keely Cashman, AJ Hurt, Paula Moltzan, and Nina O’Brien along with her on a helicopter ride as a squad. The whole crew will look forward to throwing down some giant slalom turns this weekend! 

You'll be able to watch on the Olympic Channel, NBCSN AND NBC this weekend, so make sure to check out all the details about who and how to watch below. 

MEN’S STARTERS
Bryce Bennett
Tommy Biesemeyer*
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Travis Ganong
Jared Goldberg
Sam Morse
Kyle Negomir
Steven Nyman
River Radamus
Ben Ritchie
Luke Winters

*Injured in the second DH training run and will not start this weekend. 

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Keely Cashman
AJ Hurt
Paula Moltzan
Nina O’Brien
Mikaela Shiffrin

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

START LIST
Men’s Alpine Combined

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Official event hashtags: #lauberhorn, #worldcupsestriere

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Friday, Jan. 17
4:00 a.m. - Men’s combined downhill, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Men’s combined slalom, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Jan. 18
5:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 1, Sestriere, ITA - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
6:25 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com
8:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 2, Sestriere, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBC*
8:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBCSN*

Sunday, Jan. 19
3:45 a.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom qualifying, Sestriere, ITA - NBC Sports Gold
4:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBC**
8:00 p.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - Men’s slalom, Wengen, 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.