Seventeen Americans will be dropping in at the fourth annual Seiser Alm Legends FIS Freeski and Snowboard World Cup in Italy. Freeskiers are set to kick off the program Jan 17-18 and snowboarders will close it out Jan 22-23. U.S Freeski Pro Team member Willie Borm can’t wait for the action to get started.

“I’m super pumped to be going to Italy for the Seiser Alm World Cup,” said Willie. “I’ve actually never even been to Italy before, so I’ve been looking forward to this competition for a long time. It’s also my first slopestyle competition back since my knee injury back in February. The course in Seiser Alm looks super low impact, which is going to be perfect for my knee. I’m extremely pumped for a great week ahead of us.”
 

Joining Willie from the U.S. Freeski Team are pro team members Alex Hall and Colby Stevenson, who are coming hot off a one-two finish at U.S. Freeski Team alumnus Tom Wallisch’s “Steel City Showdown” in Seven Springs, Penn. last weekend. Also competing are U.S. Freeski Team members Nick Goepper, Caroline Claire, Deven Fagan, Marin Hamill, Rell Harwood, as well as Americans Tim Ryan and Ryan Stevenson. 

For the snowboarders, U.S. Snowboard Team member Ryan Stassel and Sean FitzSimons will lead the way. Americans Isabella Gomez, Storm Rowe, and Dave Retzlaff will also compete. 
 

Last year both Ryan and Sean put on a great display of riding, finishing fourth and seventh respectively. Back in familiar territory, they’ll be looking to improve on their performances this year to step on their first podiums of the season. 

SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 17 - Men’s and women’s freeski qualifications
Saturday, Jan. 18 - Men’s and women’s freeski finals
Wednesday, Jan. 22 - Men’s and women’s snowboard qualifications
Thursday, Jan. 23 - Men’s and women’s snowboard finals 

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

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

FREESKI 
Saturday, Jan. 18
5:20 a.m. - FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup - Seiser Alm, Italy - Olympic Channel and NBC Sports Gold
9:30 a.m. - FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup - Seiser Alm, Italy - Olympic Channel-TV*

All streams will be available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Gold and OlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports and Olympic Channel app are available on the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.
 

Twelve slopestyle and 10 halfpipe riders will represent the U.S. at the fifth edition of the Laax Open FIS Snowboard World Cup Jan. 13-18 in Switzerland. 

“The Laax Open brings all kinds of snowboarders together,” said Reto Gurtner, President & CEO of LAAX ski resort. “The top riders, the amateurs, rising stars, the next generation of jibbers and all the boarder families. It’s a mountain lifestyle affair!”

The event serves as the first FIS Snowboard World Cup slopestyle of the season and the third of five World Cup halfpipe events. In halfpipe, Australian phenom Scotty James currently has a stronghold on the cup standings, but returning Laax Open third-place finisher from 2019, Jake Pates, will be looking to break Scotty’s winning streak, which includes the entire 2018-19 season and well as this season’s Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colo. and the Secret Garden World Cup in China. 
 

In slopestyle, men’s competition is already underway and U.S. Rookie Team member Dusty Henricksen qualified first in his heat and will compete in his first-ever World cup final. Joining Dusty in finals are U.S. Pro Team riders Sean FitzSimons, Judd Henkes, Lyon Farrell, Ryan Stassel, Luke Winkelmann, Kyle Mack, and Olympic gold medalist Red Gerard. With last year’s defending champion Chris Corning just missing the cut to the finals, a new champion will be crowned in Friday’s final. 
 

Competition continues all week long. See a full event schedule below. 

SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Monday, Jan. 13 - Men’s slopestyle qualifications
Tuesday, Jan. 14 - Women’s slopestyle qualifications
Wednesday, Jan. 15 - Men’s halfpipe qualifications
Thursday, Jan. 16 - Women’s halfpipe qualifications
Friday, Jan. 17 - Men’s and Women’s slopestyle finals
Saturday, Jan. 18 - Men’s and Women’s halfpipe finals 

ATHLETES
Slopestyle
Chris Corning
Luke Winkelmann
Dusty Henricksen
Red Gerard
Judd Henkes
Lyon Farrell
Ryan Stassel
Sean FitzSimons
Kyle Mack
Julia Marino
Hailey Langland
Ty Schnorrbusch

Halfpipe
Toby Miller
Chase Josey
Jake Pates
Ryan Wachendorfer
Chase Blackwell
Jason Wolle
Lucas Foster
Taylor gold
Josh Bowman
Maddie Mastro

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

SNOWBOARD
Friday, Jan. 17
6:00 a.m. - FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup - Laax, Switzerland - Olympic Channel-TV and NBC Sports Gold
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
 

The U.S. Moguls Freestyle Ski Team competed in U.S. Selections at Steamboat Resort, Colo.  Jan 9-12, which provided an opportunity for up-and-coming moguls athletes to earn domestic World Cup starts.

With a long gap in the moguls World Cup schedule, the Team took advantage to train and compete on home snow to refine their skiing and work in some new tricks. U.S. Selections are usually held in December, so the national moguls community was eager to get in those start gates. Steamboat provided an outstanding, World Cup-caliber course. Fresh snow throughout the competition meant soft moguls and soft landings, which really let the athletes push their limits. 

Thursday was the first of two moguls competitions, and from the skiing laid down, there is promising depth in the national moguls field. Fourteen-year-old new Team member Kai Owens skied an amazing run, according to Head Coach Matt Gnoza. Landing jumps right from the get go, she really let it fly through the middle, hitting a bottom cork 7 and stomping the landing to earn the top spot. Jaelin Kauf finished in second and Tess Johnson was third. It was a win for Colorado women, as Kai and Tess both skied for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV), and Jaelin was back on familiar terrain having skied for Steamboat Winter Sports Club. 

“It was an incredible feeling getting down to the bottom of the course and hearing the announcer say that I had won,” said Kai. “I have been watching Tess and Jaelin ski World Cup for a long time and it felt unreal to share the podium with such great skiers.”

Team member Jesse Andringa took the top spot for the men, while Landon Wendler (Steamboat Winter Sports Club) and Wyatt Antkiewicz (Steamboat Winter Sports Club) were second and third. An exciting group of young men are coming up through the ranks that will hopefully develop into some world-class skiers and Matt can see the next generation starting to show itself. 

Saturday Hannah Soar claimed the top spot for the women. She had been having amazing runs all week and after Matt suggested she go find a natural mogul line to train on and find herself, which she did. Jaelin skied to second again, with Japan’s Satsuki Ito rounding out the podium in third. Tess worked in a new trick to finish fifth, and although she did not podium, she showed that putting in the work to progress will bode well in the next part of the World Cup schedule. 

On the men’s side, Bruce Perry (Squaw Valley Ski Team) topped the podium with Team member Nick Page in second and Landon in third. Nick skied a bit tight on Thursday, but he executed at a high level on Saturday putting down a true World Cup run. 

Sabrina Cass was the only Team member to compete in Sunday’s Duals competition, and after a rocky start to Selections with a DNF on Thursday, put herself together to finish second.

Four domestic World Cup starts were awarded from the combined results of Thursday and Saturday’s competitions. Kasey Hogg (Wasatch Freestyle) clinched her spot with a pair of fourth places. She is putting the U.S. on notice with her top air cork 7, fast middle section and a  big grab on the bottom. Maggie Ryan (Steamboat Winter Sports Club) earned a start as well. As an athlete on the U.S. Team’s radar for some time, seeing her grind it out and get it done was exciting for all. Team member Nick sealed his fate and earned his Deer Valley World Cup start. Deer Valley will be a true homecoming for Nick, who has grown up skiing in Park City for Wasatch Freestyle. Bruce will also be starting at Deer Valley, who is on the comeback from being a previous U.S. Ski Team member. 

The Team trains one more block in Steamboat before continuing on their World Cup tour, which has them in Tremblant on Jan. 25.

RESULTS
Thursday, Jan. 9 Women’s Moguls
Thursday, Jan. 9 Men’s Moguls
Saturday, Jan. 11 Women’s Moguls
Saturday, Jan. 11 Men’s Moguls
Sunday, Jan. 12 Women’s Dual Moguls
Sunday, Jan. 12 Men’s Dual Moguls

Under sunshine and blue skies with excellent conditions, Emma Resnick (Vail, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail) led two Americans into the top 10 at the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games' giant slalom on Sunday. 

Emma almost pulled off the move of the day in the style of her family friend, double-Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin. Twelfth after the first run of the day, the 16-year-old tore down the slope in the afternoon, winning the second run by three tenths and finishing with a time of 1:02.79, just 0.33 seconds outside the medals in fourth at Sunday's Youth Olympic Games giant slalom in Lausanne, Switzerland. Nicola Rountree-Williams (Edwards, Colo.; Independent/Private) was eighth.

Alpine Development Director Chip Knight said that "it's a long giant slalom course with terrain, and the hill preparation is absolutely top-notch. Both Nicola and Emma skied solidly first run. The plan was to attack the upper 3/4 of the hill and then ski tactically smart through the rolls at the bottom, and they both did that well." 

Chip said that Dan Stripp, women's program director at Ski and Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV) and Emma's coach set the second run, using the terrain at the top more creatively, which added another important element to the hill. "Emma attacked the second run, skiing on the edge and looking for speed through the terrain. She made time the whole way and was especially fast over the tunnel and through the compression at the bottom. Nicola skied aggressively and well too, but she scrubbed speed through the terrain at the top and bottom that cost her time. " 

In the end, both women grabbed promising results that bode well for the future of the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team in women's giant slalom. 

"This is a really high-quality field at the top end, with 15-20 really good skiers in the race," added Chip. "And the Youth Olympic Games stage adds another level to the environment. It’s encouraging to see our athletes compete as well as they did today, and have strong finishes in the top 10. Now they know they can ski with anyone in the race, and they will have confidence moving forward into the slalom and the team event."

Up next is men’s giant slalom, on Monday. Daniel Gillis (Guilford, Conn.; Burke Mountain Academy; 2002), Maxx Parys (Bethel, Maine; Gould Academy; 2002), and Trent Pennington (Shalimar, Fla.; Ski and Snowboard Club Vail; 2002) will start for Team USA. 

RESULTS
Women's giant slalom

START LIST
Men’s giant slalom

SCHEDULE
(All times EST)
January 13 – Men's Giant Slalom – 4:00 a.m.
January 14 – Women's and Men's Slalom – 3:00 a.m.
January 15 – Parallel Mixed Team Slalom – 5:00 a.m.

HOW TO WATCH
Live stream of the Olympic Channel will be up in the U.S. at TeamUSA.org/Lausanne2020, and can be found on OlympicChannel.com – free of charge with no log-in needed. 

Luke Winters attacked from the back again to snag his third points-scoring result of the season, finishing 26th in the slalom in Adelboden, Switzerland.

To the Swiss crowd’s delight, Daniel Yule of Switzerland took the FIS Ski World Cup win—his second victory of the week after winning Wednesday’s slalom in Madonna di Campiglio—ending Switzerland’s 12-year wait for a win at Adelboden. Having just won on home soil, Daniel threw a celebration for the books, yelling to the camera and the crowd, "THIS IS MY HOUSE!" In 53 years of World Cup racing, Daniel is now the first Swiss man to ever win three World Cup slaloms. Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway was second and Marco Schwarz of Austria was third.

In the midst of his first full World Cup season, Luke had another heroic first run, skiing from bib 45 to 11th place—just .86 seconds off of the leader. A less aggressive line in second run paired with a couple of small mistakes dropped him back to 26th, but left him with more World Cup points as he skis through ‘slalom month.’

For Luke, an 11th-fastest first run and the consistency of scoring points show an upward trend in progression and a level head. Skiing fast first run forces him to experience the pressure and continue to work on finding the mental fortitude that will help him ski as fast as he can second run, rather than merely ski for points. "Just part of dealing with the pressure and putting yourself in that position is the best way to do it," Luke said after first run when asked about his game plan for second run. "I'm going to do what I did first run and not do anything crazy, and see what happens. I'm not too worried about it, though."

A mere 2.55 seconds separated Daniel in first and Luke in 26th, as the men's slalom circuit continues to be arguably the most competitive field on the World Cup circuit. Not only are many of the older skiers still skiing fast (including 36-year-old Olympic gold medalist Andre Myhrer of Sweden), but many of the younger guys are also slaying, like Norway's 19-year-old Atle Lie McGrath, who jumped from bib 75 to 14th after first run before DNFing second run. Perfect conditions, like those at Madonna di Campiglio and Adelboden, allow talent from the back to punch it in there and stamp their ticket to the top 30. 

"Ski racing is a crazy thing," said Luke. "I for sure felt like I was carrying more speed on my first run, but I don’t have a clear answer on why I was so much more slower (on my second run). Still, it’s a crazy tight race. You ski a little bit worse and you move back a lot and that’s what happens. Look forward to the next one."

Three other Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team men joined the slalom team in Adelboden: Ben Ritchie, Kyle Negomir and River Radamus. Ben—who just won a slalom NorAm in Stowe, Vt. on Wednesday—and Kyle both had just arrived in Adelboden on Friday, and their luggage did not make it to Europe. Ben was skiing on borrowed skis on Sunday. All three did not finish first run, but for Luke, it's great to have the whole crew together again. "It's so good to have three more U.S. guys here," Luke said. "It's just awesome to have them around."

The men’s World Cup tour next heads to the classic Lauberhorn track in Wengen, Switzerland for an alpine combined, downhill and slalom beginning on Friday. Downhill training gets underway on Tuesday in Wengen, but the U.S. men's slalom team will stay in Adelboden for a few extra days.

"We get some really good training on this hill for the next few days," said Luke. "I’ll try and dial everything in on this steep harder snow, which is what Wengen is going to be. I'll hope for a second run at least, and a better race."

RESULTS
Men’s Slalom

STANDINGS
Men's Overall
Men's Slalom

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Official event hashtag: #worldcupadelboden

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

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

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

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

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

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

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RESULTS
Women’s Alpine Combined

STANDINGS
Overall

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Official event hashtag: #zauchensee

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RESULTS
Women’s freestyle sprint
Men’s freestyle sprint

WORLD CUP STANDINGS
Women
Men

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

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

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

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RESULTS
Men’s Giant Slalom

STANDINGS
Men's Overall
Men’s Giant Slalom

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HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

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

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow. 

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