OBERHOFEN, Switzerland (Nov. 10, 2015) – The International Ski Federation’s governing FIS Council this weekend confirmed the 2016-17 Audi FIS Ski World Cup calendar. The approval paves the way for Killington to be added as an opening women’s event in November, followed by the men’s Birds of Prey World Cup at Beaver Creek and the World Cup Finals in Aspen to finish the season.

READ MORE: USSA PROPOSES WORLD CUP AT KILLINGTON

The traditional U.S. swing in early season will kick off Thanksgiving weekend Nov. 26-27, 2016 at Vermont’s Killington resort with a women’s giant slalom and slalom. The weekend is traditionally held at Aspen, which will isntead play host to the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals March 15-19, 2017. Beaver Creek Resort will continue with its traditional speed and GS weekend Dec. 2-4, 2016.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The International Ski Federation’s FIS Council approved the 2016-17 Audi FIS Ski World Cup calendar at meetings in Oberhofen, Switzerland Nov. 7.
• The schedule includes a Thanksgiving weekend women’s World Cup at Killington, VT.
• It will be the first alpine World Cup in New England since 1991, when Julie Parisien won a giant slalom for the U.S. Ski Team.
• The 2017 season will also be highlighted by the World Cup Finals in Aspen, CO March 15-19, 2017.
• The calendar also includes the traditional Audi Birds of Prey World Cups for men at Beaver Creek, CO Dec. 2-4, 2016.
• Having the opportunity for the traditional Aspen Thanksgiving races move to March, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association worked together with its partner Powdr, Corp. and FIS to schedule an eastern World Cup at Killington.

QUOTES
Tiger Shaw, President and CEO, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association
Bringing Audi FIS World Cup ski racing back to the east has been an important organizational initiative to raise the profile of the sport in America. Since we announced Killington in October, we’ve been gratified with the outpouring of support from our fans and the entire ski industry. The combination of an eastern World Cup at Killington, along with the global showcase of the World Cup Finals in Aspen, plus our traditional iconic week on Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek, will provide an amazing platform for alpine ski racing in America.

Inspired by the official U.S. Ski Team mascot Champ, the Team kicked off a content series asking athletes and fans about the moment they truly felt like a champion. Hundreds responded using the hashtag #WhatMakesAChamp to try and win a trip to the NASTAR Pacesetting Trials at Copper Mountain to race Olympic champion Ted Ligety.

Ligety sorted through athletes young and old, from the east coast and the west, from new racers to experienced professionals, and here is who he chose...

1) GOLD MEDAL GRAND PRIZE – Auden Pankonin, Hudson, WI – Welch Village

Auden is the lucky winner of a trip for three to Copper Mountain to race in the NASTAR Pacesetting Trials with Ted Ligety on November 21st, round-trip tickets to Colorado, transportation, two nights lodging in Copper's Center Village, three two-day lift tickets, an official U.S. Ski Team uniform and a VIP swag bag.

2) SILVER MEDAL – Colin Rathbone, Groton, MA – Attitash Race Team
Colin will receive official U.S. Ski Team outerwear from Spyder. Check out his entry below.

3) BRONZE MEDAL – Dasha Romanov, Denver, CO – Loveland Ski Club 
Dasha snagged an official U.S. Ski Team hoodie, t-shirt, and hat.

NATURE VALLEY FIRST TRACKS CELEBRATION AND PUTNAM INVESTMENTS NASTAR PACESETTING TRIALS
Due to U.S. Ski Team athletes’ training schedule and warmer weather in Colorado, the date of the U.S. Ski Team’s annual Nature Valley First Tracks celebration and Putnam Investments NASTAR Pacesetting Trials was pushed from November 6 to November 21. The day of festivities will be hosted by three-time Olympian, U.S. Ski Team alum and NASTAR pacesetter Daron Rahlves and two-time World Champion Chris Davenport.

Schedule of Events:
8:30 a.m.                 Putnam Investments NASTAR Pacesetting Trials
11:00 a.m.               First Tracks Festival
1:30 p.m.                 U.S. Alpine Ski Team Naming
3:00 p.m.                 Athlete Signing Session

Congratulations to all that entered the #WhatMakesAChamp contest!

Share your story throughout the 2015-16 season by telling us what makes YOU a champion on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram by using the hashtag #WhatMakesAChamp for a chance to be featured amongst your favorite U.S. Ski Team athletes.

PARK CITY, UT (Nov. 6, 2015) – The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) announced the hiring of Kyle Darling as its Eastern region development coach. Darling joins the USSA alpine development team following the promotion of Martin Guyer to Eastern Region Development Director earlier this fall.

Darling, whose racing background spans over 19 years, has worked previously with the USSA in various capacities, including a position as a World Cup technician and coaching the men’s World Cup technical team for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. He has also held coaching positions at Stratton Mountain School and the Snowbird Sports Education Foundation. Both programs have produced elite level athletes, including current national team members Jared Goldberg, Brennan Rubie and Nick Krause. Darling most recently managed the Nordica USA race program.

“Kyle brings a breadth of coaching experience and equipment knowledge to our staff,” stated USSA Alpine Development Director Chip Knight. “He will be a huge asset in the East, collaborating with clubs to bring coaches and athletes together with the long-term goal of broadening the talent base in the region.”

In his new role, Darling will work with other regional staff on a variety of programs, including Regional Training Group projects, coach and club education, and divisional SkillsQuest programs. He will track and help manage developing athletes in the Eastern Region and work with the rest of USSA’s development staff on tri-regional and national projects.

“This is an exciting time to be re-joining the USSA and the Eastern Region,” said Darling. “With all the great assets and resources already established within the region, I aim to enhance communication between clubs, coaches and the regional staff to take full advantage of all the East has to offer. I’m looking forward to working with our region’s coaches and programs to provide additional training opportunities and race management, propelling Eastern athletes through the USSA pipeline and reaching their ultimate goals."

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (Nov. 5, 2015) – U.S. Ski Team’s Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) has been nominated for Best Male Olympic Athlete in Team USA’s Best of the Year awards. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) announced a total of 26 male, female and team finalists for this year’s awards. Fans are invited to vote for their favorite athletes and teams at TeamUSA.org/Awards through Friday, Nov. 20. 

In the midst of a challenging 2015 season, Ligety brought his A game to the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail/Beaver Creek. There, he took home a gold medal in giant slalom and a bronze in the combined, making him the second most-decorated U.S. skier in World Championships history.

“This win was a little more emotional that some of the other ones just because this year has been a little more of a struggle,” stated Ligety after his win at the World Championships. “In 2013, I was winning everything, so I felt like I should have it really easily. Same with the Olympics. I was skiing great before that and knew I should be able to win it. This one was a bigger question mark as far as how I was skiing and how I could handle it. To be able to come through and pull it off is awesome.”

In the Best Male Olympic Athlete cateogory, Ligety is up against wrestler Jordan Burroughs, track and field star Ashton Eaton, skeet shooter Vincent Hancock and USA Hockey’s Auston Matthews. A full list of categories and nominees is available at teamusa.org.

Fans can vote until 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, November 20 on Team USA’s website.

At the end of the 2014-15 season, the U.S. Alpine Championships took place on an uncharacteristically warm day at Sugarloaf in Maine. World Cup winner and longtime U.S. Ski Team member Steven Nyman sat in first at the super G after 29 racers. The crowd at Sugarloaf, the TV audience and those watching live timing all assumed Nyman had taken yet another national title and had started to pay attention to other things. Journalists began writing the articles with Nyman as the headline. But then, bib 30 came down and the audience glanced up at the scoreboard to see young Drew Duffy slide into first place by four hundredths of a second. 

The U.S. Alpine Championships win capped off a roller coaster season for Duffy--a season that started with watching two of his best friends pass away in an avalanche: Ronnie Berlack and Bryce Astle. Read about Duffy's surprise season and what his plans are for the upcoming winter in Vermont Ski + Ride.

READ FULL ARTICLE IN VERMONT SKI + RIDE.

After stellar showings at Soelden last weekend, Ted Ligety and Mikaela Shiffrin were nominated for Team USA's Female and Male Athlete of the Month. Think both Ligety's first place and Shiffrin's second place results were pretty rad? Head over to Team USA's page to vote!

VOTE ON TEAMUSA.COM

The Audi FIS Ski World Cup opening weekend in Soelden, Austria is a celebration of the sport. Thousands descend on the tiny Oetztal valley to cheer on their favorites. High atop the stands in the Glacier Stadium, a hard core group of fans waved the American flag proudly, holding Ted Ligety banners for all to see. There’s nothing unusual about that. After all, the Park City, Utah native has long been a star of the sport.

But what unusual was that this group – the Ted Ligety Fan Club – didn’t come from America. They weren’t hometown supporters from Park City. Many of them didn’t even ski. Yet they drove 600+ kilometers from Saxony, in east central Germany, simply to march down Soelden’s main street in the Fan Club Parade, try to meet up with Ted during an autograph session at a local ski shop and to cheer on an athlete most of them had never met. Last winter, a contingent of them came to Vail/Beaver Creek!

Why do they do it? “We just like the way he skis,” said fan club leader Lutz Ebert. It was as simple as that.

Fan clubs are pretty common across Europe. The norm is for passionate friends and neighbors from local resorts to come together in support of hometown heroes. In the past decade, though, the U.S. Ski Team has begun to transcend national borders. Going back to the early days of Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves, fans across Europe became more and more attracted to the wild west style of the U.S. Ski Team stars. The red, white and blue is becoming a staple at European World Cups, and they aren’t all being waved by Americans!

Ted Ligety poses with his European fan club. (USSA-Tom Kelly)

It’s been a decade now since a 21-year-old Ligety was a surprise Olympic champion in the combined at Torino. Since then he’s gone on to win Olympic gold in giant slalom, three straight World Championship titles and four season-long crystal globes.

So what it is about his style of skiing that attracts fans from around the world? Many of the sport’s quintessential heroes made their name in downhill – winning the big ones like the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel or the Lauberhorn in Wengen. Ted’s specialty has been GS. Don’t get us wrong though – he can throw it down in speed, as evidenced by his 2013 World Championship super G gold.

But when you think of Ted Ligety, you think of him arcing a GS turn – literally prone to the snow, fingers rippling off the icy piste. You see his Head skis vibrating incessantly in the slo-mo replay – how DOES he do that? You’re struck by his calm, cool demeanor – even in the face of adversity – as well as his familiar Putnam Investments baseball cap standing in front of the leaderboard.

A year ago in Soelden, Austrian hero Marcel Hirscher was the man of the hour. Ligety was 10th. That was painful. Even more painful was Hirscher taking the title away.

“The first race is always a bit of a mystery,” said Ligety after winning on the Rettenbach Gladier Sunday. “Soelden in a lot of ways feels a bit like a World Championships or Olympics because there’s this added anxiety because you don’t know where you stand. It’s nice to start out on the right foot and to get that confidence back.”

For Ted Ligety Fan Club, it was a pretty cool weekend. They met up with Ted Friday afternoon, hoisted an obstler at a local restaurant that evening, headlined the fan club parade Saturday and cheered their hearts out for the American ski star on Sunday.

Ted Ligety isn’t much on records. Not yet, anyway. He set another on with his fourth Soelden win, moving ahead of the incomparable Hermann Maier with whom he was tied at three.

“At this point I try not to think about records,” said Ligety. “I still want to ski race for a bunch more years and I think I have a lot of years left If I start thinking about that it clouds the direction of my skiing.”

But the most poignant accolade of the weekend came from Ted’s own rival, Marcel Hirscher, who finished third. It was tell-tale about the way Ligety approaches his preparation.

“Well, we learned one thing today,” said Hirscher at the press conference. “Ted Ligety did his homework this summer.”

ISHPEMING, MI (Oct. 27, 2015) – The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame announced Friday seven people elected to the Hall of Fame Class of 2015. Those who will be inducted in the coming year are: freestyle skiing world champions Genia Fuller and Bob Salerno; longtime ski industry leader David Ingemie, veteran magazine publisher Henry Kaiser; Olympic snowboarding medalist Chris Klug; adaptive skiing innovator Jim Martinson and the late Edgar Stern who developed Deer Valley Resort. Their induction will take place in Aspen, CO, April 9, 2016. There will also be a special enshrinement ceremony weekend for them in Ishpeming the following September. The announcement was made at a pre-induction reception October 23 in Aspen.

“Each member of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 was a remarkable leader as an athlete or sport builder,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame Chairman Tom Kelly. “So much of what all of us enjoy in our sport today has emanated from the outstanding honored members of the Hall of Fame.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• Seven athletes and sport pioneers have been elected to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame including Genia Fuller, David Ingemie, Henry Kaiser, Chris Klug, Jim Martinson, Bob Salerno and the late Edgar Stern.
• The induction of the Class of 2015 will take place on April 9, 2016 at Aspen’s St. Regis Aspen Resort.
• The class will also be formally enshrined into the Hall of Fame in September 2016 in Ishpeming, MI, the home of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.
• Ishpeming is the birthplace of organized skiing in America, where in 1905 the National Ski Association of America was founded, now known as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.
• With the addition of the Class of 2015, there are now 410 honored members of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.
• 2016 will be the 60th Anniversary of the Hall of Fame, which was founded in Ishpeming in 1956.

HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2015
To be inducted April 9, 2016 in Aspen

Genia Fuller (originally from Framingham, MA, now Simi Valley, CA)
Genia Fuller was an ambassador to the early years of hot dog skiing and was an innovator in pole-free ballet. During eight years of competition, her smile, laugh and genuine love for freestyle made her one of the sport’s sweethearts. Her multi discipline abilities in freestyle, aerials and ballet led her to world championship titles in 1975 and 1978.

David Ingemie (originally from Fitchburg, MA, now McLean, VA)
David Ingemie has been involved with the marketing of skiing and snowboarding for over 45 years, serving as the president and CEO of Snowsports Industries America (SIA) since 1981, with a planned retirement from his position in January 2016. His boundless energy, enthusiasm and intelligence was monumental for building a healthy national snowsports trade association, garnering high regard for his work throughout the industry.

Henry Kaiser (originally New York City, now Captiva Island, FL)
Henry Kaiser was a forerunner in the ski industry during the 35 years when he served as the publisher of Skiing magazine. He helped advance the freestyle skiing movement by finding sponsors and providing a platform for the sport on the pages of Skiing. Often referred to as the “First Family of Skiing” he and his wife, Carolyn, helped raise over a million dollars for the U.S. Ski Team, most notably through engagement with the New York Ski Ball. They were also closely involved with the SIA.

Chris Klug (originally from Vail, CO, now Aspen, CO)
Chris Klug started to compete in snowboarding in 1983 on his Burton Backhill and continued for the next two decades. During that time, he competed in three Olympic Games and won a bronze medal in snowboarding giant slalom at Salt Lake City in 2002—an achievement coming just 18 months after he had undergone a liver transplant due to a birth defect that challenged him throughout his career. He authored To The Edge and Back and founded the Chris Klug Foundation to help promote organ donation.

Jim Martinson (originally from Sumner, WA, now Puyallup, WA)
Jim Martinson grew up ski racing in Washington state but lost both legs in 1967 during the Vietnam War. His frustration in trying to return to skiing led to his development in 1985 of a sit ski he called “The Shadow” and with that revolutionized adaptive skiing. Using his innovation, he went on to win a Winter Paralympic gold medal in 1992 and in 2009 he became the oldest person to compete in the Winter X Games.

Bob Salerno (originally from Ogden, UT, now Santa Monica, CA)
Bob Salerno is another true legend of freestyle who competed at the top levels successfully for over 25 years. In 1974 he took gold in aerials at the World Championships in Heavenly, CA. In 1998 he claimed first place at the Wayne Wong World Championships in Hot Dog Skiing. He is one of the sport’s leading celebrities being featured in Warren Miller and Willy Bogner films while also devoting his time to enhancing the sport through his writing, filming and creation of ‘Virtual Snow’ ski training simulators.

Edgar Stern (originally from New Orleans, LA, later Aspen, CO and Park City, UT)
Edgar Stern brought his extraordinary vision and focus on customer service to the ski industry, revolutionizing hospitality at ski resorts. His benchmarks established in the development of Deer Valley Resort became the norms for many of today’s leading resorts. After investing in the Park City Ski Area and luring the U.S. Ski Team to Park City, he turned his attention to what became Deer Valley, which opened in 1981. Through his efforts it has remained one of the top resorts in the country, including playing a pivotal role in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Stern passed away in 2008.

SOELDEN, Austria (Oct. 25, 2015)—In front of a packed crowd, Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) reminded ski racing fans of his giant slalom skills at the opening Audi FIS Ski World Cup race, taking his fourth win in Soelden, Austria. It was a stacked podium, with Thomas Fanara of France and Marcel Hirscher of Austria finishing under two-tenths behind Ligety, in second and third place respectively.

A year ago on the Rettenbach glacier, Hirscher set the tone for his 2014-15 season of collecting small and large crystal globes by claiming a decisive victory in the giant slalom opener as Ted Ligety finished a disappointing 10th. But the tallies refresh anew every year in Soelden, and Ligety is back on top after claiming a nail-biting victory over Fanara and Hirscher.

Mastering the lower flat by carrying speed off the pitch and then gliding through the final gates on the course was something Ligety learned from Swiss great Didier Cuche in 2009.

“That’s the most crucial part of this hill, that bottom flat because you can lose a little bit of time on the pitch as long as you can carry that speed across the flat,” said Ligety. “I learned my lesson the opposite way back in the day with Cuche – I had beat him by seven-tenths on the pitch and he crushed me by eight-tenths on the flat, and so learning from that and knowing that … that’s something I’ve been able to do over the last couple of years.”

Ted Ligety celebrates in the finish after taking the first victory of the season. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Michel Cottin)

With Ligety’s 24th career giant slalom victory, he officially passed Michael von Gruenigen (with whom he was tied heading into the race) on the all-time record board in second place for World Cup wins in the discipline behind Ingemar Stenmark’s 46. The American held a 0.17-second lead over Hirscher heading into an action-packed second run that kept fans on the edge of their seats.

During Ligety’s second run, his 0.33-second advantage over Fanara evaporated as he lost elevation in the middle of the pitch, and he was dead even with the Frenchman two splits from the end of the course. Working his magic on the lower flat, he miraculously made up 0.15 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line.

“It gets dark in the second run and there are some holes and it doesn’t feel good, but you just have to remember to try to keep yourself going down the hill and work for a little bit of speed when you can and try to survive in other places,” said Ligety. “I guess I found the right combination of that today.”

Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) was the only other American to qualify for the second run. He finished the day in 17th, a career-best result for him at the venue with which he confessed he’s “never had a very good relationship.”

The Ted Ligety Fan Club from Saxony, Germany was present at the race to cheer on the American. (USSA-Tom Kelly)

Rounding out the Americans, Tommy Ford (Bend, OR) was 40th, Kieffer Christianson was 48th and Hig Roberts (Steamboat Springs, CO) was 57th in his first World Cup. Nick Cohee (Gardnerville, NV) did not finish.

The guys now shift their focus to the opening slalom race of the season in Levi, Finland, scheduled for Nov. 15.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Ted Ligety won the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup opener in Soelden, Austria. This was his fourth win and seventh podium in Soelden.
• This was Ligety’s 24th career giant slalom victory, which means he officially passed Michael von Gruenigen on the all-time record board in second place for World Cup wins in the discipline behind Ingemar Stenmark’s 46.
• Tim Jitloff cracked the top 20, finishing 17th.
• Watch a replay of the race on Universal Sports at 9:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

QUOTES
Ted Ligety
Every year, Soelden is always tough. It’s always super bumpy and never feel-good. This year the snow was especially difficult to get a good feeling on. The second run it’s always dark, as well. There are some big bomb holes in there, so I just try and survive those. I definitely got thrown off the line a few times up there, but I know the last couple turns on the pitch you gotta carry the speed onto the flats and that’s something I’ve been able to do really well the last couple years. I learned that from [Didier] Cuche because I was seven-tenths up on him one year and then he blew me out in the bottom flats, as well. That flat is just as important as the steep and it’s easy to win and lose the race down there.

The first race is always a bit of a mystery. Soelden in a lot of ways feels like a championship or the Olympics because it has this added anxiety—it’s the first race of the year and you don’t know where you stand. Definitely a lot more nervous than maybe your average World Cup. I think that helps me in some instances and also is a good gauge for me. It’s nice to start off the season well and get the ball rolling—get some confidence for the rest of the races—but at the same time, it’s a long time until the next race. There’s still a lot of work to do, especially when you don’t have a comfortable victory like today. Today it was a tight one, so I know that there’s still a lot of work to be had, but I want to stay close to this.

I still want to ski race for a bunch more years and I still think I have a lot more years left. I still have a lot of goals, for sure: I think winning the overall title is my biggest career goal—it’s every ski racer’s career goal—but I never really wanted to be a specialist growing up. I’ve done well in all the disciplines at some point or another, but I haven’t been able to piece together a full season. I’m definitely an outside contender—I wouldn’t consider myself as one of the favorites for the overall, but it’s definitely a goal.

Tim Jitloff
This place—we haven’t gotten along in a long time! The first run, that’s on me. I skied really well on top and I had a great plan do be just pretty solid down the pitch, but it was way too conservative. At this level, you can’t lose that kind of time and make those kind of judgment errors. That second run, I tried to hammer it. I had a few mistakes. It’s an OK start and we’ve got a lot of season left, so I expect myself to pull my boots back up here as I get going back to Beaver Creek, to a hill I want to do very well on.

I’m planning on Lake Louise right now. I’m going to go in and do a five/six day camp with Ted and some of the French, I think, at Copper and then head up to Lake Louise. We’ll do one run of the downhill training and then jump into the super G. I want to be committed; I want to do every single super G. I love that event. This summer I focused a lot on speed stuff in Chile to try and learn some of those smaller details that maybe I’ve kind of lacked in. I want to put the proper effort into that event this year.

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom results

On-site details provided by SkiRacing.com.