Noted national and international ski racing official Bruce Crane passed away peacefully December 9 at his home in Park City. A devoted husband and father, he served his passion as a sport leader for nearly a half century with U.S. Ski & Snowboard and the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Crane passed after a long battle with cancer, his loving wife of 38 years, Anita, and other family members at his side at their Old Town home in Park City, Utah.

"Bruce embodied the great passion that is emblematic of our sport professionals and volunteers," said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw. "His contributions as a staff leader, volunteer and technical delegate were exemplary. His work will live on and continue to benefit the sport for years to come."

The son of Emily Townsend and Henry D. Crane, Jr., he was born Nov. 18, 1947 in Cambridge, Mass. His parents, both doctors, moved the family to Plymouth, N.H. where Bruce grew up with a passion for skiing. His mother Emily played a key role in the sport as a longtime race secretary and administrator. He graduated cum laude from Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H. before earning his bachelor's degree from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass.

He served as an educator and a coach at Tilton School in New Hampshire after college, where he began his work as both a coach and competition official in alpine ski racing. He was certified as a national ski competition official by the then U.S. Ski Association in 1972. In 1976 he achieved his FIS Technical Delegate license - the highest level of competition officiating. Two years later he was recognized with the Burckett-Dodge Award for his service to officiation in New England. He also served for many years as head of the New Hampshire Alpine Racing Association.

Early in his career he also worked as a race manager and coach at Waterville Valley, Great Gorge Resort, Pat's Peak and Squaw Valley.

Crane went on to serve as national alpine competition director for the U.S. Ski Association for 16 years in both Colorado Springs and Park City where he played a key role in establishing and maintaining management protocols for the sport, including race scoring and athlete ranking systems.

He put his vast sport skills to work serving in a high-level capacity at two Olympic Winter Games. Leading up to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, he served as a consultant to the Canadian Ski Association as well as head referee for alpine skiing at the Games. During the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City he served as assistant manager for ski jumping and nordic combined. 

During his tenure in the sport he served on many national and international committees including service as chair of U.S. alpine courses and rules committees. He also served as secretary of the FIS Alpine NorAm Subcommittee from 1982 to 1997 before being named as an honorary member.

He was honored many times for his service including the Westhaven Award for service as a technical delegate in 1997 as well as the Bud and Mary Little Award for his work with FIS and the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2002.

Colleagues in the ski world will remember him for his great attention to detail and organizational skills that allowed him to play such a key role in the sport during its rapid growth period from the 1970s through 1990s. He was world acclaimed for his work in race timing and scoring, athlete ranking systems and race course homologation. Much of the infrastructure he pioneered during that time is still in place today.

While maintaining his role in alpine ski racing, he also worked in various management roles in Park City for the Park City Mountain Resort, Mountainlands Housing Trust and Destination VIP.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Anita Crane, along with his son Jeremy Crane and grandchildren Sydney, 12, and Marley, 9 of Boston, Mass., four stepchildren, Ellen Marie Ramsey of Pinedale, Wyo., Donald Dean McPherson of Roseville, Calif., Ronald Lee McPherson of Pontotoc, Miss., and Robert Donald McPherson of Roseville, Calif. and his five sisters Suzanne Gilman of Bridgewater, N.H., Charlotte Crane of Chicago, Ill., Cynthia Fisher of Bridgewater, N.H., Dr. Margaret Mumford of Plymouth, N.H., and Dr. Joan Barthold of Lyme, N.H. 

A memorial service is being planned in Park City after New Year, with a celebration of life next summer in New Hampshire.

The Park City memorial service will be held Saturday, January 13 beginning at 10:00 a.m. at St. Mary's of the Assumption church located on state route 224 at White Pine Canyon Road. A social gathering with refreshments will be held after the service.

SECRET GARDEN, China (Dec. 14, 2017) – The U.S. Ski Team aerials athletes will compete at a new site this week when the FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup tour opens at Secret Garden Resort. Athletes will compete in an individual event on Dec. 16 followed by a team event on Dec. 17. Results from Saturday’s World Cup and the individual qualification results from Sunday’s team event will be taken into consideration when nominating the team for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

After two productive on snow camps this fall, the U.S. team is ready to kick off the Olympic season with some top results. Nine athletes are expected to compete, including reigning World Champions Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) and Jon Lillis (Rochester, N.Y.) as well as 2015 World Cup champions Mac Bohonnon (Madison, Conn.) and Kiley McKinnon (Madison, Conn.). McKinnon achieved one of two top-3 finishes required to meet minimum objective criteria with a second place finish in last season’s selection event at Deer Valley Resort, Utah. Secret Garden, which is also the site for the 2022 Games, will include two of six selection events taking place in 2017-18.

Read on to see who to watch and where to watch all the action from Secret Garden.

MEN’S STARTERS
Mac Bohonnon
Alex Bowen
Chris Lillis
Jon Lillis
Eric Loughran

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Ashley Caldwell
Kiley McKinnon
Morgan Northrop
Madison Olsen

HOW TO WATCH (times EST)
Dec. 16
12:30 a.m. – Men’s and women’s aerials – Olympic Channel TV

Dec. 17
12:30 a.m. – Men’s and women’s team aerials – Olympic Channel TV

When the FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup kicks off this weekend in Secret Garden, China, all eyes will be on reigning World Cup champion Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) as she begins the journey to make her third Olympic team. U.S. Ski & Snowboard caught up with Ashley before she left for China to talk about the two training camps she participated in this fall and how she’s feeling heading into this Olympic season.

With pre-season on-snow camps, what is your strategy as far as progression goes? Is the goal to be landing your biggest tricks before the first World Cups?

The pre-season camps we did in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Ruka, Finland were incredible for this season's preparation period. Usually, before the first World Cup of the season, our team rushes through tricks in order to get up to the degree of difficulty tricks that we need to compete. Not only is this dangerous and scary, but it’s also unproductive. As an aerialist, it is important to nail the basic tricks before moving on to harder jumps. My strategy during these camps was to nail some of my basic tricks and feel confident when I get to my highest degree of difficulty. My goal isn't to peak at the first World Cups. I'd like to be doing some of my easier triples. Then, when I start to feel good, I will begin doing my biggest tricks, probably heading into the Deer Valley and Lake Placid World Cups in January in front of the home fans.
 

 

Still pretty happy for seeing the sun. But also for all the incredible people that I have in my life. I feel not only thankful but fortunate. Sending lots of love home from Finland! 📷 @emilycook02 • • • #thanksgiving #thankful #grateful #sendinglove #sunnydays #happy #smile #winterwonderland #snowglobe

A post shared by Ashley Caldwell (@ashleyskis93) on Nov 23, 2017 at 11:57am PST

What were some cool aspects of the camps in Saas Fee and Ruka? What made you enjoy each one?

Both locations were beautiful. We got to experience both locations but also made sure that we focused on our jumping and our physical fitness during these camps. I loved the town of Saas-Fee, just walking around and hiking was incredible. The jumping site in Saas-Fee was smaller than most World Cup sites, which made it perfect for our first singles and doubles of the season. Ruka was like living in a snow globe made for World Cup skiers. The training was superb and the environment was focused. Also, both places had really great food...especially cookies!

 

Missing the sunny beautiful @saasfee! 😎 📷 @mnorthrop16 • • • #smile #gobigorgohome #jump #mountains @mtnchicks #sunshine #fallphotoshoot @oakleyskiing #smile #switzerland #getoutside #igobig #missingsummer @outsidemagazine

A post shared by Ashley Caldwell (@ashleyskis93) on Nov 10, 2017 at 10:38am PST

How hard is it mentally preparing to jump in a new location?

It can be a little nerve-racking showing up to a site that you have never been to before. Every hill in the world has a little different profile. The angles and dimensions of each site fall within a scope but can vary enough to make your eyes wide at first glance. Luckily for us, we can start with easier tricks to get used to a new site.

 

Training going awesome in Finland! Olympic year gotta send new tricks! 📷 @mbohonnon • • • #girlswithguts #crash #skiing #failfriday #triplebackflip #freerideskiing #testedtough #notit #whoops #training #girlathlete #aerials

A post shared by Ashley Caldwell (@ashleyskis93) on Nov 24, 2017 at 10:45am PST

You posted a video of a pretty epic crash from Ruka. Walk us through what happened in that jump and how you prepared yourself to get back up and do it again.

Despite popular belief, it’s almost impossible to land backward on an aerials site due to the degree of the slope of the landing. In Ruka, on my first days of triples, I messed up one of my tricks and landed - safely - backward. I didn't ski away, but that would have been cool.

What had happened in the trick is that I got a little confused and almost went for a bigger trick, a lay-full-full. I quickly realized my mistake and then got a little out of place in the air. I have a lot of trampoline background so I felt pretty comfortable looking at the ground and putting my feet down even though it was the wrong direction.

Our sport is scary and dangerous, so when you mess up a trick that bad it can be mentally challenging. My mental strategy to handle fear looks the same most time: acknowledge the fear, make fun of the fear, realize you've been successful after crashes and fear before, then go have fun and enjoy overcoming another one of sport's challenges.

With two on-snow camps under your belt (way more than last year ha), how are you feeling heading into China?

Despite a crazy landing in Ruka, I feel pretty good heading into China. I haven't done all the tricks that I need to do, but I have logged more snow time than any other year heading into these first World Cups. I have a lot of work to get done this year, but our whole team is off to an incredible start.

VAL THORENS, France (Dec. 13, 2017) – Five-time snowboardcross World Champion Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, Vt.) rode to her second victory of the 2017-18 season in Val Thorens, putting her in good form to make the Olympic team for PyeongChang 2018. Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City, Utah) finished just off the podium in fourth. 

After battling difficult weather conditions during qualifications, the women had good conditions for Wednesday's finals. Jacobellis was ranked first coming into the final race and maintained a solid lead to claim victory over France's Chloe Trespeuch in second and Italy's Michela Moioli in third. Gulini was in podium contention until she caught an edge near the end of the course.

“I'm really happy that the course was working well today,” said Jacobellis. "Normally everyone loves snow being a winter sport athlete but actually it was very challenging here as it makes the course so slow. The past days it was hard for the women as we couldn't clear the landings but today was good.”

“I was just trying to get in where I could, and I knew some of the style of the ladies, so I tried to anticipate that and try to set up for the hard turns like turn five. I wanted to get at least enough space between me and them, and it all went down.”

On the men's side, Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, Mich.) were the lone U.S. athletes to advance to quarterfinals, finishing ninth and 14th respectively. Germany's Paul Berg took the win, followed by Australia's Adam Lambert in second and Spain's Lucas Eguibar in third. 

The FIS Snowboard snowboardcross World Cup continues this week with individual and team events in Montafon, Austria Dec. 16-17.

RESULTS
Women's Snowboardcross
Men's Snowboarcross

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team athletes landed 10 podiums at the first Toyota U.S. Grand Prix Olympic qualification events of the season last weekend in Copper Mountain, Colorado, including wins from halfpipe masters David Wise (Reno, Nev.) and Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.).

The women’s U.S. Cross Country Ski Team continued to show depth with impressive results in Davos, Switzerland, including a podium from World Champion Kikkan Randall. The moguls team kicked off their season advancing five women into finals, with World Championship bronze medalist Jaelin Kauf notching a fifth-place finish.

With just under two months to go until the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, read on to see where the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team will be in action this week and how to watch via NBC, NBCSN and the Olympic Channel - Home of Team USA - as America’s best skiers and snowboarders continue to vie for spots on their respective Olympic teams.

FIS Women’s Ski World Cup - Val d’Isere, FRA / Courchevel, FRA
The U.S. Ski Team women’s speed team continues the European leg of the FIS Ski World Cup this weekend in Val d’Isere Dec. 16-17 with downhill and super-G races. The deeply talented women’s speed team will be out in full force, including Stacey Cook (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, Calif.), Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) and more. Though Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) has arrived to Val d’Isere, she has yet to make a decision about whether or not she’ll kick out of the start gate this weekend, due to spinal joint dysfunction sustained in Saturday’s super-G. Stay tuned. Then, on Monday the tech women head to Courchevel for a giant slalom and a parallel slalom under the lights, led by current overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) and Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.).

FIS Men’s Ski World Cup - Val Gardena, ITA / Alta Badia, ITA
The men’s speed and tech teams are in action this weekend with downhill and super-G races in Val Gardena Dec. 15-16 and a giant slalom and nighttime parallel giant slalom in Alta Badia Dec. 17-18. U.S. Ski Team athletes expected to compete in Italy include Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah), Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.), Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.), Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.), and more. Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) has yet to decide if he’ll kick out of the start gate on the famed Saslong classic downhill—a track he knows and loves, and where he’s won all three of his FIS Ski World Cup victories.

FIS Freestyle World Cup - Secret Garden, CHN
The U.S. Ski Team aerials athletes kick off their World Cup season with an individual and team event Dec. 16-17 at Secret Garden resort, a site for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Nine U.S. athletes are expected to compete, including reigning World Champions Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) and Jon Lillis (Rochester, N.Y.) as well as 2015 World Cup champions Kiley McKinnon (Madison, Conn.) and Mac Bohonnon (Madison, Conn.).

FIS Freestyle World Cup - Montafon, AUT
After wrapping up a race in Arosa, Switzerland on Dec. 12, U.S. athletes Tania Prymak (Goshen, N.Y.), Tyler Wallasch (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), Whitney and Brant Crossan (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) move on to their third World Cup of the season in Montafon.

FIS Cross Country World Cup - Toblach, ITA
The men’s and women’s cross country World Cup tour continues Dec. 16-17 with freestyle and classic pursuit races. The U.S. Ski Team is coming off another solid weekend with three women making the freestyle sprint finals in Davos, including a podium from Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) posting his first top-10 finish of the season.

FIS Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup - Hinterzarten, GER
After a week off, Abby Ringquist, Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, Utah), Nina Lussi, Nita Englund and Tara Geraghty-Moats will compete Dec. 16-17 in one team and one individual event. The American women will return to the U.S. this month for U.S. Olympic Trials Dec. 30-31.

FIS Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup - Engelberg, SUI
Will Rhoads (Park City, Utah), Mike Glasder (Cary, Ill.) and Kevin Bickner (Wauconda, Ill.) will compete in two individual HS140 events. Qualifications are on Dec. 15 with finals Dec. 16-17.

FIS Nordic Combined World Cup - Ramsau, AUT
Bryan and Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and Adam Loomis (Eau Claire, Wis.) return to World Cup action Dec. 16-17 with two individual World Cup events. The USA Nordic nordic combined team will also compete at U.S. Olympic Trials this month.

FIS Snowboard World Cup - Val Thorens, FRA / Montafon, AUT
After kicking off the World Cup tour in Argentina back in September, U.S. Snowboard Team snowboardcross athletes are back in action with races in France on Dec. 13  and Austria Dec. 16-17, including a team event on Sunday. The U.S. has a strong contingent of 19 athletes competing, including Olympic bronze medalist Alex Deibold (Boulder, Colo.), World Champion Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, Vt.) and Jonathan Cheever (Saugus, Mass), who landed a podium at the first Olympic selection event in Argentina. The U.S. advanced seven men to the finals for the Val Thorens event.

Dew Tour - Breckenridge, Colo.
After a week of strong performances at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix, U.S. Freeski and Snowboard Team athletes move over to Breckenridge for the Dew Tour, which is also serving as the second Olympic qualification event of the season. Halfpipe and slopestyle athletes will compete in finals Dec. 15-16. A full schedule is available here.

U.S. SKI & SNOWBOARD BROADCAST AND STREAMING SCHEDULE
All times EST
*schedules subject to change

ALPINE
Dec. 15
6:00 a.m. – Men’s super-G; Val Gardena – Olympic Channel TV

Dec. 16
4:30 a.m.  – Women’s downhill; Val d’Isere – Olympic Channel TV
6:00 a.m. – Men’s downhill; Val Gardena – Olympic Channel TV
5:00 p.m.  – Women’s downhill; Val d’Isere – NBCSN (SDD)
6:00 p.m. – Men’s downhill; Val Gardena – NBCSN (SDD)

Dec. 17
3:30 a.m. – Men’s giant slalom run 1; Alta Badia – olympicchannel.com
3:30 a.m. – Women’s super-G; Val d’Isere – Olympic Channel TV
6:00 a.m. – Men’s giant slalom run 2; Alta Badia – Olympic Channel TV
3:30 a.m. – Women’s super-G; Val d’Isere – NBCSN (SDD)

FREESTYLE
Dec. 15
4:30 a.m. – Men’s and women’s skicross – Olympic Channel TV

Dec. 16
12:30 a.m. – Men’s and women’s aerials – Olympic Channel TV

Dec. 17
12:30 a.m. – Men’s and women’s team aerials – Olympic Channel TV

CROSS COUNTRY
Dec. 16
5:00 a.m. – Women’s 10k freestyle – olympicchannel.com
7:30 a.m. – Men’s 15k freestyle – olympicchannel.com
1:00 p.m. – Women’s 10k freestyle – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)

Dec. 17
5:30 a.m. – Women’s 10k classic pursuit – olympicchannel.com
7:45 a.m. – Men’s 15k classic pursuit – olympicchannel.com
1:00 p.m. – Women’s 10k classic pursuit – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)

SKI JUMPING
Dec. 15
10:00 a.m. – Men’s HS142 qualifications; Engelberg – olympicchannel.com

Dec. 16
6:30 a.m. – Women’s Team HS108; Hinterzarten – olympicchannel.com
10:00 a.m. – Men’s Team HS140; Engelberg – olympicchannel.com
5:30 p.m. – Women’s Team HS108; Hinterzarten – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)
7:00 p.m. – Men’s HS140; Engelberg – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)

Dec. 17
8:00 a.m. – Men’s HS140; Engelberg – olympicchannel.com
9:30 a.m. – Women’s HS108; Hinterzarten – olympicchannel.com
5:30 p.m. – Men’s HS140; Engelberg – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)
7:00 p.m. – Women’s HS108; Hinterzarten – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)

NORDIC COMBINED
Dec. 16
5:00 a.m. – Men’s HS96 – olympicchannel.com
7:30 a.m. – Men’s 10k – olympicchannel.com

Dec. 17
5:30 a.m. – Men’s HS96 – olympicchannel.com
7:45 a.m. – Men’s 10k – olympicchannel.com

SNOWBOARD
Dec. 13
6:30 a.m. – Snowboardcross; Val Thorens – Olympic Channel TV

Dec. 16
6:30 a.m. – Snowboardcross; Montafon – olympicchannel.com
2:00 p.m. – Snowboardcross; Montafon – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)

Dec. 17
5:30 a.m. – Snowboardcross team event; Montafon – olympicchannel.com
2:00 p.m. – Snowboardcross team event; Montafon – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)

DEW TOUR
Click here for streaming channel listing
Dec. 15
11:00 a.m. – Men’s halfpipe skiing finals
12:45 p.m. – Women’s halfpipe skiing finals
2:30 p.m. – Men’s halfpipe snowboarding finals
4:15 p.m. – Women’s halfpipe snowboarding finals

Dec. 16
11:00 a.m. – Women’s slopestyle snowboarding finals
12:15 p.m. – Men’s slopestyle snowboarding finals
2:30 p.m. – Men’s slopestyle skiing finals
4:15 p.m. – Women’s slopestyle skiing finals

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. (Dec. 10, 2017) – U.S. Snowboard Team riders took three of six podium positions in Sunday’s big air at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix Olympic qualifying event. Snowboard big air debuts at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) was second in the women’s competition. Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi took the victory while Norway’s Silje Norendal was third.

“I’m feeling great,” Marino said. “I mean it’s, it’s kind of – it’s really, really cool to see where this sport is going and I’m really happy with, with what I did. But I’m mostly really excited to push myself more because obviously the level of snowboarding is being stepped up by all these younger ones and even some of the older girls too, which is really cool.”

In the men’s completion, Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) was second, with Chandler Hunt (Park City, Utah) in third. Norway’s Mons Roisland took the victory.

“I’m feeling super good,” Hunt said after his third-place performance. “I’m so – was definitely not what I was expecting coming into this event, so just to put all my runs down is like a dream come true. I’m so amped.”

Sunday’s event also served as a World Cup event.  Snowboard World Cup will continue in less than 10 days with this season's third Halfpipe World Cup in Secret Garden, China December 19-21, 2017.

RESULTS
Men’s big air
Women’s big air

DAVOS, Switzerland (Dec. 10, 2017) - Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.) matched a career-best 10k freestyle Sunday, skiing to 12th in Davos. Bjornsen led four Americans into the top 20 with five in the top 30 points. it was one of the strongest overall performances on a higher elevation distance course for the U.S. Ski Team.

Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg took the win for the women while Maurice Manificat of France won for the men. It was the first race of seven this year not won by Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who chose to sit out. Paddy Caldwell (Lyme, N.H.) led the U.S. men in 41st.

While the American women did not challenge for the podium, they were formidable in depth. The distance in Davos had been 15k the last two seasons for the women, dropping this year to the 10k Olympic length.

Just a day after her skate sprint podium, Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) was 14th - her best 10k skate finish since she was on the podium in Gaellivare, Sweden over five years ago. Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) was 15th with Rosie Brennan (Park City, Utah) 17th for one of her best distance finishes ever. Continental Cup leader Chelsea Holmes (Anchorage) was 29th for her first World Cup points outside North America and first time on the track at Davos.

“Davos always feels like the hardest thing in the world,” said Bjornsen of the high altitude track that offers little rest. “Today my goal was to go out harder. When I pace things sometimes I have a tendency to go too slow and don’t get into the flow of the race. I new I was taking a dangerous path going out hard and try to hold it. I know I lost a little bit but I was happy at the end of the day. There’s a lot more in my skating bank this winter.”

The Davos course sits at over 5,000 feet elevation - the highest on the tour and around double that of the Olympic course in PyeongChang.

“Overall pretty decent but it’s going to leave us wanting for a little bit more,” said Head Coach Chris Grover.

Diggins is now eighth in the World Cup overall rankings with Bjornsen ninth..

The team capped the weekend Sunday afternoon with a reception to dedicate its new waxing truck, that has been responsible for faster skis and a better work environment for the team's ski technicians.

The tour now heads to Toblach, Italy for a pair of pre-Christmas events next weekend. Saturday will feature another 15k/10k freestyle race, an Olympic discipline, then wrap up Sunday with a 15k/10k classic pursuit.

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

 

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (Dec. 10, 2017) – The Maloja Snake bites again!

For the second time in three days, this notorious weather phenomenon rose up the slopes of the Maloja Pass and laid a thick, heavy blanket of fog on the Engiadina track, canceling the women’s FIS Ski World Cup super-G and alpine combined.

The U.S. had nine athletes scheduled to start the morning super-G and alpine combined event, which was added to the Sunday schedule following Friday’s cancellation – also caused by the Maloja Snake. No make-up dates for the event have been announced by the FIS.

Up next, the women’s World Cup circuit heads to Val d’Isere, France for downhill and super-G races Dec. 16-17.

Hirscher Wins Men’s Slalom in Val d’Isere

David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, Colo.) finished 18th in the first run of men’s FIS Ski World Cup slalom in Val d’Isere, France, and was well on his way to a top-15 finish when he hooked a gate near the end of the second run and DNFd.

With heavy snow falling, Austria’s Marcel Hirscher held off Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen for the victory. Sweden’s Andre Myhrer was third. Kristoffersen maintained his overall World Cup lead over Hirscher by 11 points.

Next up for the men’s World Cup are downhill and super-G races in Val Gardena, Italy Dec. 16-17.

RESULTS
Men’s slalom

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. (Dec. 9, 2017) – American athletes dominated Copper’s Main Vein halfpipe in Saturday’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix Olympic qualifying event, claiming five of the six available podium spots. Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.), Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Kelly Clark (West Dover, Vt.) swept the women’s podium while Ben Ferguson (Bend, Ore.) and Shaun White (Carlsbad, Calif.) put down some massive runs to land in second and third.

Kim was on top of her game straight out of the gate, landing an immaculate frontside 1080 tailgrab in her first run to help her score a 93.75 that carried her through the rest of the day.

“I’m totally speechless,” said Kim. “I woke up this morning and I was nervous, but the halfpipe kind of makes me feel at home and all the nerves go away when I’m dropping in and I’m just excited to try new stuff. It’s always awesome to get a U.S. podium sweep. I think it’s so rad that we were all able to put down very solid runs.”

17-year-old Mastro was the top rider from Thursday’s qualifying rounds and went big again in finals, progressing up to a 90.75 on her last run to claim her fourth career World Cup podium.

“My strategy was to just put down a run and have fun with it,” said Mastro. "I progressed through the practice and through the contest and I’m happy with what I got. I’m super excited with how everyone’s riding this winter. It’s going to be interesting to see where we’re gonna go throughout the winter and what it’s going to take to make the Olympic team.”

While Kim and Mastro are looking to make their first Olympic team, Clark, who has three Olympic medals under her belt, is one step closer to attending her fifth Games after a solid third place finish.

“Olympic years, we always see a big jump in the progression of the riding and the level of the riding, so I’m not surprised to see how great all the ladies were riding today,” said Clark. “It’s one run at a time, one contest at time, but I’m real happy to get a podium and start to accumulate those points that I need to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team.”

Ferguson stepped it up against a strong international field to land his first World Cup podium since 2014, edging out White by just .5 points. White broke out a frontside 1440 stalefish in his final run, but it wasn’t enough to surpass the clean landings Ferguson put down. Japan’s Ayumu Hirano rightfully claimed the top spot, going huge with a frontside 1440 indy and a frontside 1260 indy in his arsenal to post a high score of 95.25.

“I’m feeling pretty great,” said White. “Obviously I wanted to post a better score for the Americans. I was putting in my first kind of easier runs to just put in a great score, lock it in and that allowed me to then go for my second and third run a little harder.”

“Today was a crazy contest,” said Ferguson. “I’m just stoked I landed some stuff - it feels good for sure.”

Olympic qualifying competition continues next week in Breckenridge at the Dew Tour, Dec. 14-17.

RESULTS
Women's halfpipe
Men's halfpipe

RUKA, Finland (Dec. 9, 2017) – World championship bronze medalist Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) led five American women into finals at the opening FIS Freestyle moguls World Cup with a fifth-place finish. Keaton McCargo (Telluride, Colo.) also broke into the top 10, finishing ninth.

Australia’s Britteny Cox, who won the World Cup opener in 2016, started her Olympic season off with another win on the Ruka course. Canada’s Audrey Robichaud was second and Russia’s Marika Pertakhiya third. Olivia Giaccio (Redding, Conn.), Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.) and Morgan Schild (Rochester, N.Y.) rounded out the top U.S. finishers in 14th, 15th, and 16th.

Emerson Smith (Dover, Vt.) was the top U.S. men’s finisher in 15th. Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury added another victory to his resume while Kazakhstan skiers Dmitriy Reikherd and Pavel Kolmakov finished second and third.

The FIS Freestyle moguls World Cup tour continues Dec. 21-22 in Thaiwoo, China.

RESULTS
Women’s moguls
Men’s moguls