It was an incredibly strong finish for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes with 19 podiums over four days of competition, including Team Challenge and Streetstyle events, at the 2018 Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Sunday started with a U.S. Freeski Team sweep of the men’s modified superpipe podium. Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.) defended his title in the Dew Tour halfpipe competition, while teammates Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.) and David Wise (Reno, Nev.) were second and third respectively. The podiums did not stop there as Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.) also defended her Dew Tour halfpipe title alongside Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.) in second-place. The day concluded with a second-place finish from Olympian Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) in his first slopestyle competition of the season.

The freeski modified halfpipe competition did not come without its challenges. There were big crashes early in the competition, which seemed to prevent the overall momentum from building as it usually does at a high-level halfpipe competition. That being said, these athletes are professionals and pushed through to put on a great show. Although there were some difficult moments throughout the competition, overall the course was well received.

“I was super excited to come to Dew Tour,” said Ferreira. “It’s creative, very unique and never been done before. To be able to ride this course, take advantage and really enjoy myself was a pleasure. It was an excellent contest and David and Aaron crushed it and I’m happy to be sharing the podium with them.”

Blunck, who fell hard on run two, claimed redemption on his final run to move into second place. As Chase Josey (Sun Valley, Idaho) and Toby Miller (Mammoth, Calif.) referenced after Saturday’s snowboard modified superpipe final, carrying energy from last week’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain was crucial.

“The momentum coming off last week was awesome,” said Blunck. ‘It gave me a lot of confidence coming into this week. I have been hyped-up for this event since I heard it was going to be modified pipe. It adds creativity and changes things up quite a bit.”

Blunck and Wise certainly did not come out of the blue, linking together two podiums in two weeks adding to their success from the first halfpipe event of the year. Wise also felt there was something more than momentum at play when referring to the all American sweep.

“I get asked often why the American halfpipe team is so strong and I believe that’s because we have that rebel spirit,” said Wise. “We are here to do things differently than everyone else. I think that's why we had such a strong showing in the modified pipe. I don’t think anyone was excited for this format as the American skiers and riders coming into this event.”

The modified superpipe stayed hot as the women’s snowboard competition immediately followed. Although Kim was still a favorite, some skeptical fans thought the slopestyle inspired features being incorporated into the Dew Tour modified superipe would be the great equalizer. These individuals were quickly be proved wrong as Kim’s well-rounded skill set was very apparent after only one run when she soared more than 10 points ahead of the rest of the field.

“I love it, I had so much fun,” said Kim referring to the modified features of the halfpipe. “It’s like a playground and it’s great to be able to mix it up and try different things. The first couple days were tougher for all of us as we tried to figure out our lines and speed, but it was a cool process. It was fun to push ourselves as we’ve never really done anything like this.”

Although Kim’s early success was very clear as she was yet again in a position to take a victory lap. But she’s always one to push the sport to the next level, so she put down a more difficult run, incorporating her first 1080 in a competition of the season to close out the day. Still, she has no desire to compete in slopestyle.

“Have you seen the slopestyle girls,” she said. “I do not want to do that. They are so gnarly and amazing, so I’m going to just stick to the pipe. (Austria’s) Anna Gasser has a triple and almost all the girls have doubles. I think I’m going to stay in the halfpipe and watch the slope girls from the other side of the fence.”

Mastro, with a throwaway crash score on her first run, needed something big. Coming into her second run she started with a stylish and difficult backside 180 seatbelt grab and finished her run with a beautiful crowd-pleasing method. The run would put her in third place behind veteran Queralt Castellet of Spain. On Mastro’s third run she added technicality to increase her score and jumped into second-place ahead of Castellet.

“For a while, I kind of felt like I had the Dew Tour curse,” said Mastro. “Where just every Dew Tour would not go the way I wanted, so it was very nice to break that streak this year.”

Mastro was also a big fan of the modified superpipe. “I think the modified pipe is an amazing thing for women’s snowboarding,” she said. “We get to be creative and hit spines out of the pipe and really challenge ourselves. I would love to see more contests like this.”

Referring to watching Mastro and Kim progress, third-place finisher Castellet said: “It’s been really amazing. For me it's like a movie. It starts with them young and full of energy, then you get to see the evolution of their riding. It’s a pleasure to be able to share this time with them and also get inspired by what they are able to do.”

To close out the week at Dew Tour, the snowboard slopestyle competition began with a very impressive jumps competition riddled with 1440s, 1620’s and triple corks. Summit County locals Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.) and Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) came out of the gate with strong first runs, but would quickly find out this competition was no walk in the park. Corning would finish fourth on the jumps section with Japanese riders Takeru Otsuka and Yuki Kadono in first and second, and Norwegian Stale Sandbeck in third.

Corning’s solid rail line put him in second in the rails portion and second overall in the slopestyle competition. Corning also finished second in the 2017 Dew Tour Olympic qualifying slopestyle competition where he secured his nomination to the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team. Norwegians Stale Sandbech won the event and Mons Roisland finished third.

TRICK LIST

Men’s freeski modified superpipe

1. Alex Ferreira: switch right 5 Japan, left dub 12 mute, right double 12 mute, left 9 tail, right flat 3 Japan to shifty, right 3 safety.

2. Aaron Blunck: switch left 7 mute, switch 3 in, switch left double 9 Japan, switch right 7 Japan, left double 9 safety, right 7 tail, right 270 safety

3. David wise: switch left misty 9 tindy, switch right 7 Japan, left double 12 mute, right 9 tail, right alley oop 7, left cork 7 tail

Women’s snowboard modified superpipe

1. Chloe Kim: back 540 indy, switch front 900 melon, switch back 360 indy, indy McTwist, frontside 360 indy, massive frontside air

2. Maddie Mastro: back 180 seatbelt, Haakon flip stale, front 900 tucknee, back air, back alley-oop 270 stale, backside air

3. Queralt Castellet: front 360 indy, back 540 mute, front 900 melon, method, backside 720 reverting at the bottom

Men’s snowboard slopestyle

Jumps

1. Takeru Otsuka: frontside 1440 tail, backside triple 1620 melon, cab triple frontside 1440 mute

2. Yuki Kadono: cab 1440 mute, switch backside 1260 stale, backside triple cork 1440 mute

3. Stale Sandbech: frontside 1440 tail, backside 1260 mute, cab 1440 stale

Rails

1. Mons Roisland: cab 180 tail tap switchup to noseslide pretzel 270, switch backside 270 on to 270 out, cab hardway backside lipslide, boardslide 630 Rippey underflip

2. Chris Corning: switch boardslide to 50-50 frontside 360, backside 360 on frontside 180 out, gap frontside 270 to down, 50-50 backside rodeo melon.

3. Stale Sandbech: cab 180 frontside cab 270, backside 180 switch 180, cab hardway 270 on, 50-50 transfer boardslide pretzel 270 off

Overall
Stale Sandbech - 181.33
Chris Corning - 180.00
Mons Roisland - 179.33

RESULTS
Men’s freeski modified superpipe
Women’s snowboard modified superpipe
Men’s snowboard slopestyle

HOW TO WATCH
*Subject to change
All times in EST

Saturday, Dec. 29
4:00 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBC

Sunday, Dec. 30
5:00 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBC

Thursday, Jan. 3
11:00 p.m. -  Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBCSN

Tuesday, Jan. 8
11:30 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBCSN

Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) is on fire after winning back-to-back FIS Freestyle World Cup moguls and dual moguls events in Thaiwoo, China, Sunday. Kauf, currently ranked as the number one female moguls skier in the world, now leads the World Cup tour, which comes back to North America on January 12, 2019, in Calgary, Canada.

“My strategy was to just ski my run the best I could," Kauf said. "I was able to put down some solid runs during the moguls competition (on Saturday) and wanted to build on those. I knew I was the fastest yesterday and just played on that strength today. I’ve won back-to-back before so I’m really happy to have done that again! The competition was tough out there but I’m really happy I was able to ski my runs and land on the podium again!” 

It was another beautiful day in Thaiwoo, and Kauf, after a win from the previous day’s moguls event, could not be beaten as France’s Perrine Laffont was second, and Kazakhstan's Yulia Galysheva, was third.

“The women’s field on the World Cup circuit is very deep, so it is hard enough to win one event, let alone two in a row," said Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. "Today was a little extra special though as Jaelin knocked off number-one in the world - Perrine Laffont, to not only take the victory but also the number-one ranking. It will be great to return to North America in the new year with the yellow leader’s bib. Now that Jaelin has the leaders bib I think it is going to be pretty hard to take it away from her.

“Jaelin’s success can be attributed to her top air exit and speed through the middle section of the course, none of the other competitors could even come close to matching Jaelin’s speed. Jaelin skied with great body position in all five runs which allowed her to ski mistake free fast runs,” Gnoza continued.

Other notable achievements from the American women was Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.) who finished eighth. Johnson bounced back from the previous day’s singles competition before losing to Laffont a couple of runs before Kauf beat her. Ness Dziemian (East Hampstead, N.H.) had back-to-back top-10 finishes, seemingly on a roll heading into the new year. Olivia Giaccio (Redding, Conn.) put up a good fight against Laffont, finishing 11th.

On the men’s side, Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury claimed first, Sweden’s Oskar Elofsson took second and France’s Benjamin Cavet came in third. Bradley Wilson (Park City, Utah) came in sixth, skiing fast but just short versus Kingsbury. Casey Andringa (Bouder, Colo.) put up the biggest airs of the day and finished ninth, while brother Jesse Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) had his first World Cup Top-20 finish, earning him his first World Cup points.

Kauf leaves China and leads the U.S. Freestyle Team as the world’s number-one ranked moguls skier. “The U.S. Moguls Team currently leads the race for the Mogul Nation’s Cup by two points over Canada. Jaelin’s success has lead the way; however, what makes this special is that the entire team has contributed to the current point tally.  We are happy to be leading the Nation’s Cup race. We know that this is far from over and we still have plenty of work to do, but I know this group is definitely up to the challenge,” says Gnoza.

The U.S. Moguls Team takes a break for the holidays before revving up again for a World Cup event in Canada on January 12, 2019.

RESULTS
Women’s dual moguls
Men’s dual moguls finals

For the second time in three giant slalom races, the American men stacked four into the points on the famed Gran Risa slope in Alta Badia, Italy, with Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) leading the way, landing in a career-best fifth place finish. That makes it back-to-back career-best finishes for Ford, between Val d’Isere where he scored sixth, and Sunday’s fifth place.

“During the first run, I built from the top to the bottom and really had more power," reflected Ford on his skiing. "And the second run I brought more power from the top all of the way through, through the middle section and down even rolling with the mistakes; and kept driving. It’s a two-run race and second run I knew I had more in the tank and I just allowed it to come out."

The result today shows depth and consistency in the tech squad, which is something all of the guys are fired up about. There's no doubt that the results in Saturday's downhill fired up the men for Sunday's giant slalom, and they'll continue to take that momentum forward. For this crew, it's really a team effort. 

“It all starts with Ted, and I’ve been training with him a long time," said Ford. "He’s shown me some speed and I’ve shown him speed and over the last couple of years our training group has really been pushing each other every day – everyone has been trading off fast runs, so we all know we can do it and we did it today, so it was cool to be a part of it."

The surface was smooth and consistent, and many of the athletes commented that it was the best snow they’ve ever skied on during Saturday’s hill free ski. In fact, the surface has been uncharacteristically buff and aggressive on the tracks in Europe this year, where it’s normally more slick and icy. That means it held up for the guys in the back, enabling three-time Youth Olympic Games gold medalist, two-time World Juniors medalist and 2018 NorAm Overall Champion, River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.) to stick it in there from bib 53 and grab his first career FIS Ski World Cup points in just five giant slalom starts, finishing in 24th. During the first run, Radamus showed flashes of brilliance, with the second-fastest time in the bottom split both runs. He was 15th-fastest in the second run.

“It feels amazing to score my first World Cup points!" exclaimed Radamus in the finish area. "I missed it in the last two races – in Val d’Isere and Beaver Creek – so I really wanted to perform here; it’s the mecca of GS skiing. I skied it a little bad up top and I realized it just wasn’t going to cut it so I just tried to shift it into another gear and I made it into the top 30. I felt, after first run, like finally I’m in the show – I’m finally a part of this and wanted to prove what I got so I really wanted to throw down my second run…I felt really good about my mentality. I didn’t want to back off at all.”

Radamus reiterated the fact that the team dynamic is great and the guys are building each other up. “We’ve got a really great group right now. Everybody is firing and everyone is skiing well – obviously Ryan and Tommy, and all of those guys are just crushing it," said Radamus. So, I’m just focusing on training and trying to keep improving and getting better, and the speed will come like it did today. I’m just trying not to stress out as much about the race. This venue is the one I most looked forward to – this is the perfect GS hill – everybody loves this one the most. I love this one, I’m glad I got to race it. I’m also looking forward to Kranjska Gora. These are the classic giant slaloms right here, and it’s a dream come true to get to race them.”

Olympic champion Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) got on his inside ski and went down on his hip first run, and did not qualify for the second run, but his teammates showed the depth in their re-emerging tech squad. At first, it appeared Brian McLaughlin (Waitsfield, Vt.), who was tied with Canada’s Trevor Philp for 31st, would not make the flip, but luck was on their side today as Austrian Magnus Walch was disqualified for lingering too long on the mountain during first run course inspection. It was a scramble to second run inspection for McLaughlin, but he made it and landed in the points for the second time this season, in 27th.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.), who is fresh off some super-G points in Val Gardena, continued his consistently strong skiing, with a 16th place finish Sunday. "It’s a tough event to really push through in training, so I’m working to learn from Tommy [Ford] and those top guys and watch how they’re skiing," Cochran-Siegle said after his race. "Moving forward, I need to push myself harder and figure out the right skiing to suit the course and the hill because with GS there are so many variables and it’s always changing, so I want to try to be ahead of those changes and adjust how I need to adjust – Saalbach [Austria], for example, is a totally different hill than today."

Cochran-Siegle, Ford, and Ligety qualify for Monday night’s parallel giant slalom in Alta Badia, though not all three have confirmed whether or not they will start. The guys look ahead to the parallel giant slalom, as it's a night race and the only event of its' kind on the calendar. 

“It’s cool because it’s a night event and it’s head to head, so it’s fun," Ford commented. "It’s a little different than GS. The jumps are always the highlight. It’s a good crowd…and it’s just a fun event. To have the only PGS event in Alta Badia is special because it’s a giant slalom mecca.”

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change
*Same-day delayed broadcast

Sunday, Dec. 16
6:00 p.m. - Giant slalom run 2 - Alta Badia, ITA - NBCSN-TV*

Monday, Dec. 17
12:00 p.m. - Men's parallel giant slalom - Alta Badia, ITA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Fans can catch all the action in spectacular high definition via NBC Sports online atNBCSports.com/Live or through the NBC Sports app which is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow.
 

Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) and Rosie Brennan (Park City, Utah) skied strategic races on Sunday to finish fifth and sixth respectively in Sunday’s FIS Cross Country World Cup 10k individual start freestyle in Davos, Switzerland. Norway took the top two podium positions with Therese Johaug winning followed by Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg in second. Krista Parmakoski of Finland was third.

The two-lap 5k women’s course in Davos is always a challenge, due to its high altitude, more than 150 meters of climbing per lap, and minimal areas to recover on the hilly, technical course. But it suited Diggins and Brennan just fine.

“I was really happy with today, this is a really tough course to pace because it’s such a long and hard grind, but I’m happy with where my shape is for this time of year and where it’s trending,” said Diggins. “I was super focused on skiing as efficiently as possible with strong technique and I was stoked about how I got after my process goals for this race”.

“Today was a dream finish to Period 1 for me,” exclaimed an ecstatic Brennan, who posted a career-best World Cup result. “Davos is a perfect course for me with lots of work and not much recovery and a little bit of altitude thrown in so I had some high expectations for myself today. The first 2k is my strength so I just focused on finding a good rhythm out of the start and then carrying it until the last km where I hoped to go for broke.

In the three-lap 15k men’s race, Russian Evgeniy Belov took the narrow victory by just 0.90 seconds over France’s Maurice Manificat. Norwegian Martin Johnsrud Sundby was third.

The U.S. Cross Country Team now breaks for the holidays and will resume competition at the Tour de Ski on December 29th in Toblach, Italy.

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

Keep the tally going as U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes Alex Hall (Park City, Utah), Chase Josey (Sun Valley, Idaho) and Toby Miller (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) claimed an additional three podiums on day three of Dew Tour Saturday in Breckenridge, Colorado. Their podiums bring the count to 13 top-three finishes including the team challenge competitions for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes with one more day of competition to go.

Olympian Chase Josey and Toby Miller grabbed their second consecutive podiums this season at the Dew Tour modified superpipe competition. Josey finished in second place and Miller in third-place while Australian Scotty James topped the podium once again.

Josey claimed his first Dew Tour podium and contributed part of his performance to a successful showing at last week’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix. “Me, Toby, and Scotty shared the podium at Copper and at this modified halfpipe competition,” said Josey. “I think we were all feeling pretty good after that first week at Copper and then we got to come here and ride very unique and different terrain obstacles. It was low pressure to do the standard halfpipe run and was up to us to be creative and do what we wanted to do.”

Miller, who claimed his first World Cup podium at the Grand Prix also commented on the benefits of a strong performance at Copper Mountain. “I think doing well at the Grand Prix definitely helped me out today,” he said. “I went for the back to back 1260’s and I wouldn’t have been confident here without putting that down in Copper. The number one goal coming into this was to put a full top to bottom run down with creative tricks, big doubles and I did that on my first run, so I couldn’t be happier.”

Run one was the Scotty James and Toby Miller show who were leading in first and second respectively almost a full 30 points ahead of the rest of the field. Moving into the second runs, Josey stepped up his game with a technical run including three back to back switch tricks in the traditional part of the pipe including a switch double Michalchuk. This put Josey ahead of Miller with James holding the lead after his first run. This top three rankings would hold until the end of the competition. Miller and Josey are making habit of finding themselves standing atop the podium. Look for these two athletes to continue their success as the season develops.

In the men’s freeski slopestyle competition it was U.S. Freeski Team member Alex Hall (Park City, Utah) who made it to the podium with a second-place finish. This was Hall’s third top-three finish at this year’s Dew Tour. He earned second with Team Faction in the team challenge competition but finished first in his rail portion, then went on to win the streetstyle competition Friday night followed by his second place in the slopestyle competition. Fair to say that Hall had an incredible week. Previously, Hall had never podiumed at any Dew Tour event.

In the jumps section of the slopestyle program, Hall put down an effortless run for a score of 94, including a seatbelt Japan grab on a huge 1440 which put him in first place. That score would hold and put Hall in a great position moving into the rails portion of the competition. Just like Josey and Miller on the snowboard modified halfpipe competition, Hall capitalized on momentum from prior success earlier in the week.

“This week has been hectic,” said Hall. “I’ve skied every day, all day, for the past six days. I think the streetyle competition was more fun that I have in a long time.”

Anyone watching the Freeski Team Challenge event knows that Hall’s rail game is strong, especially on the Dew Tour course. He had a solid first run, but still was not in the podium contention in the overall rankings until after his second run where Hall jumped to first. Evan McEachran of Canada continued to land consecutive runs scoring in the ’90s and got better as the competition went on.  McEachran finished first, Hall second, and Henrik Harlaut of Sweden finished third in the freeski slopestyle competition.

The final day of competition will continue on Sunday with men’s ski modified superpipe, women’s snowboard modified superpipe and men’s snowboard slopestyle.

A total of six hours of Winter Dew Tour coverage will air on NBC and NBCSN, with DewTour.com live streaming all finals through Sunday, Dec. 16. All finals will stream live on Facebook, Periscope, Twitch, Daily Motion, Youtube, TWSnow.com, Newschoolers.com, Powder.com, adventuresportsnetwork.com, and Snowboarder.com.  The new Dew Tour app will also exclusively offer live scoring in addition to the live stream.

RESULTS
Men’s modified superpipe
Men’s freeski slopestyle

HOW TO WATCH
*Subject to change
All times in EST

Saturday, Dec. 29
4:00 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBC

Sunday, Dec. 30
5:00 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBC

Thursday, Jan. 3
11:00 p.m. -  Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBCSN

Tuesday, Jan. 8
11:30 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBCSN

EVENT SCHEDULE
*Subject to change
All times in MST

FREESKI
Sunday, Dec. 16
9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. - Men’s modified superpipe final presented by Toyota

SNOWBOARD
Sunday, Dec. 16
10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.- Women’s modified superpipe final presented by Toyota
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. - Men’s slopestyle jump final
1:45 p.m.  – 3:00 p.m. - Men’s slopestyle jib final

Sophie Caldwell (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) secured her first sprint podium of the season Saturday, finishing second in the FIS Cross Country World Cup freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland. Caldwell was the top qualifier and led five U.S. women into the quarterfinal heats, including Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.), who finished 14th in the finals; Ida Sargent (Craftsbury, Vt.) 21st; Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) 26th; and Rosie Brennan (Park City, Utah) 29th.

“My strategy going in the finals was to tuck in behind some skiers the first lap to conserve some energy as I knew I had fast skies and was taking the final corner well,” said Caldwell after finishing 0.72 seconds behind Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, and 2.60 second ahead of Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist in third in the final. “I was thrilled with today. This gives me a confidence boost as I have been a little sick and I am now looking forward to the second period.”

On the men’s side, Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) advanced the final heats after qualifying 17th and ended up finishing 12th on the day after running out of gas in the semifinal.

“I chose to set a slightly more realistic goal of making the semifinals today and so I sacrificed a bit of recovery time in order to have the best shot of achieving that goal,” said Hamilton. “I pretty much burnt all the matches I had in my quarterfinal heat and was left with the needle on empty in my semifinal. But, I consider any day you race in the heats as a good day, so I’m encouraged with where I am right now.”

Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won, followed by Italy’s Federico Pellegrino in second, and  Baptiste Gros of France third. Kevin Bolger (Sun Valley, Idaho) missed qualifications for the heats by one place, finishing 31st.

Up next, the men will compete in a 15k interval freestyle start, and the women’s will race in a 10k interval freestyle event Sunday in Davos.

RESULTS
Men’s sprint
Women’s sprint

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

Sunday, Dec. 16
3:15 a.m. Women’s 10k interval - Davos, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:45 a.m. - Men’s 15k interval - Davos, SUI - NBC Sports Gold / Replay available on OlympicChannel.com
9:00 a.m. Women’s 10k interval - Davos, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV*

On another cold and beautiful day on the Saslong in Val Gardena, Italy, the Americans stacked three into the top six in the FIS Ski World Cup downhill, led by Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) with a career-best fourth place - just off the podium by six hundredths. Fellow “Twin Tower” Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) was fifth, followed by Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.) in sixth. The American downhillers showed their depth, as the United States was the only nation to have three men finish inside the top 10. 

The track was perfect, and the snow was dry, buff and consistent - a little reminiscent of Colorado snow. The vibe was good from the start of the day, as the men were greeted by a nine-piece band outside of the Alpino Plan, a cherished Val Gardena race tradition, where they start at the hotel, making the rounds in town, and ending in the athlete team hospitality at the resort. Norway was once again victorious, with the Attacking Viking Aleksander Aamodt Kilde skiing a blazing fast run and winning by nearly one second, ahead of Austria’s Max Franz.

Nyman came down bib 12 and skied into third place, but his “Twin Tower” teammate Bennett came down bib 14 into third place just three hundredths faster, pushing Nyman into fourth. It looked like the podium was going to stick, but then the Swiss Beat Feuz snuck into third place ahead of Bennett by a mere six hundredths. With solid training runs under his belt and confidence to boot, Ganong came down bib 31 and skied into sixth place. Seven-hundredths separated Bennett and Ganong.

It’s been a solid and strong start for Bennett, who was 12th in Lake Louise, ninth in Beaver Creek - tied with Nyman, and fourth in Val Gardena. Just hundredths have separated he and Nyman, and they are now in a tie from a time differential standpoint. It’s a tie on the year for the Twin Tower time title, folks! "It was a solid run for me," Bennett reflected, "I'm pretty happy with it. I knew I could do well here. Obviously I wanted to do a little bit better, and I knew I was capable of that. This is for sure my favorite downhill, and one that I know I can perform my best on, with my skillset. But, I'm happy with the day. I'll take it!"

Though he had a couple of minor mistakes, Nyman - who was out with two different knee injuries for much of the last two seasons - was happy with the performance, "...for the most part, I skied the way I wanted to ski," he said. "The hill really shaped up. It was kind of soft and slow the first day, but the track got faster and faster and it's just great confidence builder here for me here. I love this hill...to be able to push for the win and know that I can compete for that top step is the reason I'm still racing. I'm really happy with the way I'm currently performing, I definitely can make steps forward...and my body is getting there. It's pretty cool to be so tight with Bryce right now." 

Ganong, who is also returning from a season-ending knee injury in Bormio last season, is feeling more and more comfortable on his skis. "We're showing that we have what it takes now," Ganong commented, "it's been a year or so of inconsistencies with the speed team. We're starting to get in our groove now and the pieces of our team are in a really good spot. Now having a solid team result like this will definitely help as we go into the next part of the season. For me, coming off my knee injury, I'm just stoked to be back racing and being able to be competitive. I feel like I'm skiing really relaxed, which is nice. The first couple of races I was nervous, I was scared about my knee, and now I'm just relaxing and enjoying skiing." 

Two more Americans stuck it into the top 30 from the back, including Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, N.Y.), who went from bib 50 to 27th, and Wiley Maple (Aspen, Colo.) who skied from bib 53 to 28th.

The men will continue the pizza and pasta tour with a giant slalom on Sunday and a parallel giant slalom on Monday in Alta Badia.

RESULTS
Men’s Downhill

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change
*Same-day delayed broadcast

Saturday, Dec. 15
8:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill - Val Gardena, ITA - NBCSN-TV*

Sunday, Dec. 16
3:45 a.m. - Giant slalom run 1 - Alta Badia, ITA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Giant slalom run 2 - Alta Badia, ITA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:00 p.m. - Giant slalom run 2 - Alta Badia, ITA - NBCSN-TV*

Monday, Dec. 17
12:00 p.m. - Men's parallel giant slalom - Alta Badia, ITA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Fans can catch all the action in spectacular high definition via NBC Sports online atNBCSports.com/Live or through the NBC Sports app which is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow.

It was a picture-perfect day for the FIS Freestyle World Cup moguls in Thaiwoo, China, and Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) took full advantage, claiming victory with a 360 on the top air and a backflip and cross on the bottom. She shared the podium with Australia’s Jakara Anthony, who finished second, and France’s Perrine Laffont in third.

“I love this course. I love competing here. The moguls don’t get too beat up, they’re more ‘overlappy’ which I like and I’m able to just push my speed through and go big on the airs,” said Kauf, who has a history of success in Thaiwoo. Last season she finished first and second over two days of competitions.

“Jaelin is the queen of Thaiwoo," said Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. "She had a smoke-show of a run in the first final but left a little on the landing. When she skied out of the gate for her second run she shut all the doors and had quite the outstanding performance. Jaelin put pressure on the woman in first and Jakara just couldn’t catch her.”

It’s hard to catch Kauf when she’s the fastest skier on the course, especially when the course is Thaiwoo and is known for being challenging. “Jaelin has the strength of being a skilled skier on top of her speed. She has the ability to charge through and some of the stuff that catches other skiers here in Thaiwoo but doesn’t catch her,” Gnoza added.

Three American women qualified for finals and Nessa Dziemian (East Hampstead, N.H.) created some momentum for herself with a seventh-place finish. This is her first top-10 finish since coming back from an ACL injury.

On the men’s side, Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury won his 51st career World Cup, Japan’s Ikuma Horishima finished second and Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Reikherd finished third. Bradley Wilson (Butte, Mont.) returned to form in great fashion with a seventh place while not feeling one hundred percent. “Brad came out and competed to seventh place on one day of training and no inspections from being sick in bed. He just saddled up and went, it was a gutsy performance. He’s a warrior to not let that sickness get him,” said Gnoza.

Another notable finish for the men was Hunter Bailey (Vail, Colo.) who finished 14th. “Hunter did his job today cutting his bib number in half by making finals. This positive momentum will carry over throughout the season,” noted Gnoza.

The World Cup moguls fun continues in Thaiwoo, China, on Sunday with dual moguls. “It’s going to be a fun day tomorrow. Jaelin just unhooked the dog from the chain, giving her serious momentum going into duals. Brad is a duals animal and will be healthier tomorrow. Those two are going to be tough to beat!” said Gnoza.

“I’m really excited for duals," said Kauf, who now has five World Cup victories. "I love duals and seems like forever since I’ve skied them. Finishing today with a win feels amazing and I’m super stoked going into tomorrow."

RESULTS
Women’s moguls
Men’s moguls

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change

Sunday, Dec. 16
12:20 a.m. - Men and women’s dual moguls, Thaiwoo, CHN - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
12:30 a.m. - Men and women’s dual moguls, Thaiwoo, CHN - Olympic Channel-TV

The day started with a love, hate, relationship with the modified superpipe for freeskiers on day two of the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado. But by the end of the day, Devin Logan (West Dover, Vt.) showed some slopestyle love to court a third-place finish.

“I definitely think I had a little bit of an advantage with all the slopestyle skiing I have done over the years with this modified pipe,” said Logan. “You have the natural pipe in there, but playing with the tombstones and the regular jump landings cater to a slopestyle background. I think my experience helped and we had a lot of fun. I’m stoked to land on the podium.”

Canadians Rachel Karker and Cassie Sharpe finished in first and second respectively. Karker echoed logan statements. “I skied slope for the majority of my skiing career,” she said. “I think the weird angles were a lot easier to handle having some jump experience.”

U.S. Freeski Team members Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) finished just outside the podium in fourth putting down a very stylish run followed by U.S. Rookie Team members Abigale Hansen (June Lake, Calif.) and Svea Irving (Winter Park, Colo.) in fifth in sixth respectively.

The ladies snowboard slopestyle program followed suit with an exciting contest. U.S. Snowboard Team member and Olympian Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) finished second, claiming her first ever Dew Tour podium. As this is a non-Olympic year and Dew Tour did not need to serve as a qualifier, there was more flexibility with competition format. Dew Tour organizers chose to divide the slopestyle competition into a jumps and rails, essentially creating two contests for slopestyle athletes and making for a long day on the hill. Luckily the weather was beautiful and the riders pushed the sport once again.

“I actually prefer the rails and jumps all being part of one run,” said Marino. “But this was a nice change, the weather was beautiful and that’s the most important thing. As competitive snowboarders, we always adapt to whatever situation we are given. It was a long day and we are all really tired and it’s a relief it’s over. At the beginning, it was really hard, but I think after a couple practices we all adjusted. This is my first Dew Tour podium so I’m pretty hyped!”

PyeongChang big air gold medalist Anna Gasser of Austria topped the podium and Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi finished in third. In the jumps section, double-gold medalist Jamie Anderson (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.) made her three-jump combination look stylish and effortless. However, Anderson needed a bit more technicality to compete with Gasser who was firing on all cylinders, linking a backside double cork 1080 and a switch double underflip. Gasser was also the first female snowboarder to land a cab triple underflip in Stubai, Austria this fall.

Anderson looked to step up to Gasser with a double underflip 900 and frontside double cork 1080 combination, but unfortunately, she slid out the last 180 of her 1080 rotation putting her in second leading into the rails competition. Marino finished fourth in the rails section landing her first run but struggling with the backside 720 on her next two runs. Gasser did not slow down though, adding a frontside 900 to the last jump of her final run solidifying her position. In the jumps section, It was Gasser, Norwegian Silje Norendal and Anderson in the top three spots moving into the rails section of the slopestyle program.

Anderson showed her rail prowess right off the bat with a strong run, but it was Marino who would lead the way. Marino started her rail run very smooth with full presses and good speed. She upped the difficulty on her final run landing her in second-place at the end of the rails competition. Enni Rukajarvi from Finland finished first, Marino in second, and Spencer O’Brien from Canada finished in third to close out the rails competition. Marino’s rail performance would put her in second-place overall to finish the slopestyle competition.

As Marino was wrapping up the post-competition press conference, her eye caught Finnish snowboarder Rene Rinnekangas dropping into the modified pipe to kick off the snowboard team challenge competition on a TV in the Dew Tour Press Center. Marino’s excitement for the sport of snowboarding was incredibly refreshing as she spoke out during in a lull in the press conference exclaiming, “Rene is the definition of what it means to be a snowboarder and I love watching him ride. He just has so much fun.” Marino’s statement serves as a reminder that all these athletes are also true fans of the sport.

The team challenge proved to be a great show. Team DC grabbed the win led by Toby Miller (Mammoth, Calif.) in the modified superpipe, the Capita Team took second with U.S. Snowboard Team members Chase Josey (Sun Valley, Idaho) in the modified halfpipe and Nikolas Baden (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) on the slopestyle jumps, while Team Rome took third.

“I’m feeling great to walk away with a win with Team DC,” said Miller. “It's really cool to have this aspect of snowboarding. It’s an individual sport so if you don’t do well, you are the only one who suffers. In the team challenge, if you don’t do well your whole team comes down with you. Mons and Sebbe both had amazing runs to seal the deal for us. My mentality was you have to have creativity and fun and utilize the course, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure I did my traditional halfpipe tricks. I ended up taking second and Chase Josey won with an insane run”

As Miller referenced, there was no lack of creativity and style in the modified superpipe part of the team challenge with Miller throwing a lawn dart front flip on the first feature and Josey with a switch method and a disaster on the coping to close out his run. Not to mention Baden showing full control in the jumps section.

“This is just such a unique and cool course,” said Josey. “It reminds me of Danny Davis’ Peace Park. It’s fun to find new lines and honestly watch everyone else is a good time.”

The last competition of the day would take place right off Main Street under the lights with the snowboard and freeski streetstyle competition. After earning the top score in the Team Challenge Jibs competition for Faction yesterday, Alex Hall (Park City, Utah) clinched the first place finish in his second of three Dew Tour competitions this weekend. Teammate Colby Stevenson (Park City, Utah) claimed second-place. For the snowboarders, Brandon Davis (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) finished third.

“The course had a good speed, dope rails, and was pretty fun!” said Hall. “I’m in the individual competition tomorrow so I came out just wanting to have fun. It’s so fun skiing with all of our friends and we all just feed off each other to go bigger.”

It was an amazing day two at Dew Tour for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes. Saturday’s schedule including men’s snowboard modified superpipe as well as men’s freeski slopestyle.

A total of six hours of Winter Dew Tour coverage will air on NBC and NBCSN, with DewTour.com live streaming all finals through Sunday, Dec. 16. All finals will stream live on Facebook, Periscope, Twitch, Daily Motion, Youtube, TWSnow.com, Newschoolers.com, Powder.com, adventuresportsnetwork.com, and Snowboarder.com.  The new Dew Tour app will also exclusively offer live scoring in addition to the live stream.

TRICK LIST

Ladies Freeski Modified Halfpipe
1. Rachel Karker: Left Alley-Oop 360 Mute, Left Flair Mute, Right Flair, Left 900 Safety, Straight Air Tail, Left 720 Safety.

2. Cassie Sharpe: Backflip, Left 900 Tail, Right 900 Safety, Left Flair, Carve, Straight Air, Right 360.

3. Devin Logan: Left Alley-Oop 360 Safety, Straight Air Mute, Right Flair, Left 540 Japan, Right 540 Japan, Left 540, Switch Left Alley-Oop 540.

Ladies Snowboard Slopestyle

JUMPS
Anna Gasser - 96.67 -  Cab Underflip 900 Mute, Cackside Corked 1080 Melon, Frontside 900 melon

Jamie Anderson - 86.33 - Backside Indy 540, Cab Underflip 900 Mute, Lightly Scrubbed Frontside 1080 Mute

Silje Norendal - 85.33 - Cab 900 Melon, Backside 720 Mute, Frontside Rodeo Indy 720

RAILS
Enni Rukajarvi - 92.00 - 50-50 Back 360, Front Board 270, Switch Back 180 Bump, 50-50 180 Out, Switch Lipslide to 50-50 to 180 Out

Julia Marino - 90.00 -  Lip Slide 270 Out, Front Boardslide Fakie, Half Cab Bump, Gap to Lipslide, 50-50 Frontside 360

Spencer O’Brien - 84.00 - 50-50 to Front Board out of the Stanley Rail, Backside Lipslide, Backside 50-50 to Frontside 360 out, Noseslide Pretzel 270 out of the Mountain Dew Rainbow feature.

OVERALL
Anna Gasser - 177.67
Julia Marino - 170.66
Enni Rukajarvi - 169.67

RESULTS
Women’s freeski modified superpipe
Women’s snowboard slopestyle
Snowboard Team Challenge

HOW TO WATCH
*Subject to change
All times in EST

Saturday, Dec. 29
4:00 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBC

Sunday, Dec. 30
5:00 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBC

Thursday, Jan. 3
11:00 p.m. -  Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBCSN

Tuesday, Jan. 8
11:30 p.m. - Dew Tour Show, Breckenridge, Colo. - NBCSN

EVENT SCHEDULE
*Subject to change
All times in MST

FREESKI
Saturday, Dec 15
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. - Men’s slopestyle jump finals
1:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. - Men’s slopestyle jib finals

Sunday, Dec. 16
9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. - Men’s modified superpipe final presented by Toyota

SNOWBOARD
Saturday, Dec 15
10:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. - Men’s modified superpipe final presented by Toyota

Sunday, Dec. 16
10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.- Women’s modified superpipe final presented by Toyota
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. - Men’s slopestyle jump final
1:45 p.m.  – 3:00 p.m. - Men’s slopestyle jib final

U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, welcomes the decision announced Friday, December 14, by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to back Salt Lake City as a possible future Olympic Winter Games destination.

“The possibility of having a future Olympic Winter Games in the USA is incredibly exciting,” said Tiger Shaw, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “Colorado and Utah have created many of the world’s best athletes in our sports and both have been very supportive in hosting world-class events. We are very appreciative of the passion and commitment from both states, Denver and Salt Lake City, and those propelling the bids. Naturally, we are excited that U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s home state of Utah is the home of the USOC’s chosen bid city of Salt Lake City. The 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Legacy Foundation, Utah Sports Commission and generous citizens have kept current and grown the Olympic venues, providing exceptional development opportunities for Olympic hopefuls. This impact will only grow with an Olympic bid. 

“This news also raises excitement levels even higher about the forthcoming 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, taking place in Utah in February 2019,” Shaw continued. “Those events will include a number of sports that will make their FIS World Championships debut ahead of their first appearance at an Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, 2022, and the opportunity to showcase how ready Utah is to stage world-class snowsports competitions just raises the stakes even higher for the events that will take place from February 1 to 10, 2019. This is truly an incredible time to be part of the winter sports community in the USA!”

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 2018, 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 

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Tom Webb
Director of Marketing and Communications
tom.webb@usskiandsnowboard.org