U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski & snowboard sports in the USA, announced today a multi-year partnership with Pacifico®, making the adventurous, Pilsner-style lager the official beer partner of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team.

“It’s exciting to bring a new brand into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard family. Our fans are spirited, and we are excited for them to engage with the Pacifico brand at our many dynamic venues at our domestic events over the next four years.” U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief Marketing Officer Dan Barnett

As part of the partnership, Pacifico will receive title sponsor rights to the snowboard events during the 2019 World Championships in Utah Feb. 1-10. These rights will include prominent Pacifico branding for snowboard halfpipe, snowboardcross, slopestyle, and big air events, as well as activation space in the vendor villages for experiential marketing opportunities.

In addition, Pacifico will be the founding partner for the highly anticipated City Big Air Series, premiering in 2019 and running annually for three years. The City Big Air series will be held in a different major metropolitan area each year and announcements for the showcased venues will be forthcoming.

To build on Pacifico’s connection with action sports and competitions, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard sponsorship will run through 2022 and the next Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. Pacifico will engage and activate with fans, as well as receive branding rights, at all domestic World Cup events hosted by U.S. Ski & Snowboard for the next four years, including alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle and snowboard events. Pacifico will also establish an athlete ambassador program, highlighting high profile, legal drinking age athletes as they train and compete towards reaching podiums.

“On behalf of the Pacifico brand, we are very excited to be the Official Beer Partner of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team. Pacifico is brewed for those who follow their own path, and this team is made up of athletes that are pioneers in their sport.  We look forward to sharing Pacifico’s independent spirit with their fans.” Pacifico’s Senior Director Matt Escalante.

For more information about U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Pacifico’s partnership, contact U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Tom Webb, at tom.webb@usskiandsnowboard.org.
 

After much careful consideration, the organizers of the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships have taken the decision to cancel the snowboard big air competition, based on the weather forecast and with the best interests of the athletes in mind, and the remaining events scheduled to take place.
   
The snowboard big air finals were due to take place at Park City Mountain's Canyons Village from 7pm on Tuesday 5 February. Having taken into account all relevant factors, including the weather forecast for the next 24 hours in Park City, Utah, the organizing committee, comprising U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the International Ski Federation, Park City Mountain Resort and a number of related agencies, took the regrettable decision to cancel the event.
   
"There is an awful lot of snow coming in to Park City in the next 24 hours, and the temperatures are dropping fast" said Calum Clark, Chair of the the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships Organizing Committee. "This means that we have had to take the toughest of decisions, cancelling one of the headline events of these World Championships. We looked in detail at every option open to us, but the Organizing Committee agreed unanimously that the safety of the athletes taking part in the competition is our primary concern, as is the smooth running of the rest of the schedule. Despite this news, we have five more days of incredible action to look forward to, and many more World Champions to crown."
   
Also announced today was a change to the schedule for Wednesday February 6, with the freeski slopestyle finals moved from 11am to 2pm, still at Park City Mountain Resort. This change also takes into account the postponement of freeski slopestyle qualifiers on Tuesday February 5, allowing the qualifiers to take place from 9.15am on Wednesday February 6 at Park City Mountain. For full schedule details please go to https://2019worldchamps.com/schedule/.

Robert Burns (Mount Shasta, Calif.) battled snowy conditions and raced his way into finals Tuesday at the 2019 FIS Alpine Snowboard World Championships at Park City Mountain, Utah. In the first round of the parallel slalom finals, he faced a very worthy competitor in the 2019 parallel giant slalom World Champion, Dmitry Loginov of Russia. In what was a very close race from the start, Loginov bested Burns by only .62 seconds.

“It’s so much fun,” said Burns. “Honestly, it’s just an honor to be out here with some of my best buds on snowboards. I’ve been out training in Steamboat Springs, Colo, and it’s been a crazy year. I’ve been working a lot and training as much as possible, so getting to come out here and represent the U.S. is a huge honor. Head to head I have never had to race Loginov before, but I know he is such a talented kid. He won yesterday and he’s already the champion of the world in PGS, so anytime you’re up against someone like that, you have to bring your best. It’s been truly amazing to compete in Park City on home soil at the World Champs in front of a great crowd. It just makes my heart happy. Also, it’s rare to have my family here, so it’s a very special moment.”

Loginov went on to earn his second FIS World Championship gold medal of the week in parallel slalom, carving his way through the bracket to take the victory. Burns finished 15th overall on the day. Although he did not reach the podium, he represented his country and snowboarding in fine fashion at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota.

Tune in to NBC for five more days of World Championships action.

RESULTS
Men’s parallel slalom
Women’s parallel slalom

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

FREESKI
Wednesday, Feb. 6
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN*

Saturday, Feb. 9
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC

FREESTYLE
Wednesday, Feb. 6
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s aerials - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Thursday, Feb. 7
12:00 a.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s aerials - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s team aerials - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 8
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 9
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s dual moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 10
2:00 a.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s dual moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN*

SNOWBOARDING
Tuesday, Feb. 5
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s snowboardcross re-air - Park City Mountain Resort, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 8
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 9
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC*

Sunday, Feb. 10
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
4:30 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC*

All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold and OlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are 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.
 

Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) took some calculated risks and squeaked out her first gold medal of the 2019 FIS World Alpine Ski Championships, winning the super-G Tuesday in Are, Sweden.

"This is crazy," a surprised Shiffrin said after winning her fourth career World Championships gold medal, just 0.02-seconds ahead of Italy's Sofia Goggia in second, and 0.04-seconds ahead of Switzerland's Corinne Suter in third. "It was a really tight race - seven-hundredths to fourth place, I mean, come, on."

It was a tough day for Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.), competing in the final super-G of her 18-year career when she crashed hard after putting her body through a panel on a gate and sliding into the safety nets. After a few minutes, Vonn was able to stand up and eventually skied to the bottom of the course where Shiffrin was waiting to give her a big hug.

Despite the victory, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Shiffrin though as she made a miraculous recovery towards the bottom of the course, just sneaking inside a gate at the last possible moment.

“I knew that everybody was pushing really hard, and the surface was amazing, so you could really go for it,” she said. “You had to have the balance between risk and also really nice turns. I was going really aggressive, and just the one spot towards the bottom where I had to fight to stay in the course, but otherwise it was all good and I was accelerating all the way.”

Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.), competing in her first World Championship race, finished 22nd. Almost a one-third of the field didn’t finish Tuesday’s race, including Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.), who also went through a panel and slid into the safety net, but was OK and skied to the finish.

Tuesday victory was Shiffrin’s fourth World Championship gold medal to go along with her slalom titles from the 2017, 2015 and 2013 World Championships. With the first race of the World Championships in the win column, Shiffrin hasn’t ruled out competing in Friday’s alpine combined, or Sunday’s downhill, which is also expected to be Vonn’s final race.

“I’m going to take a minute tonight and talk with my coaches and see what we think we can do for the rest of these World Champs,” Shiffrin said.

Up next, the men compete in super-G at the World Championships Wednesday.

RESULTS
Women's super-G

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

Wednesday, Feb. 6
6:25 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s super-G, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 8
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined downhill, Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
9:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined downhill, Are, SWE - NBCSN*
10:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined slalom, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 9
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
6:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

Sunday, Feb. 10
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
10:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are 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.

The U.S. Freeski Team is set to compete against an impressive international field on Tuesday with the beginning of the slopestyle program at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, in Park City, Utah.

The U.S. will be represented by four men and four women including defending world champion and Park City local McRae Williams (Park City, Utah), 2019 X Games gold medalist Alex Hall (Salt Lake City, Utah), and two-time Olympic medalist Nick Goepper (Lawrenceburg, Ind.). Mac Forehand, (Winhall, Vt.) and Willie Borm (Chaska, Minn.) will also compete.

“The course that the I Ride Park City crew put together for world champs is super fun to ride," said Williams. "There is a variety of creative rail options that flow nicely into the jumps, which is important to maintain speed on the relatively flat pitch of the slope they had to work with. The jumps themselves are very well shaped and the wide kickers make it super playful.”

For the women, Olympians Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.), Caroline Claire (Manchester Center, Vt.), and 2019 World Championships big air silver medalist Julia Krass (Hanover, N.H.) will compete. In addition, U.S. Freeski Rookie Team member Marin Hamill (Park City, Utah) will be in the running. 

Freeski slopestyle made its debut in the World Championships for the first time in 2011 at Park City Mountain’s famous Kings Crown run. Park City is home to some of America’s top slopestyle athletes and this week, they welcome the world to compete. With a beautifully built slopestyle course and a stacked U.S. roster, the World Championship slopestyle competition at Park City Mountain is one you will not want to miss. Tune in to NBC to catch all the action.

START LISTS
Men’s freeski slopestyle
Women’s freeski slopestyle

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day broadcast

FREESKI
Wednesday, Feb. 6
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN*

Americans will face off against a strong international field this week in parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, at Utah’s Park City Mountain. The U.S. will be represented by four women and four men. For the men, Ryan Rosencranz (Weston, Mass.), Cody Winters (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Robert Burns (Mount Shasta, Calif.) and 2018 PyeongChang Olympian, and U.S Alpine Snowboard B Team member AJ Muss (Rumson, N.J.) will represent the U.S.

“At 24, I'm lucky enough to come back to the U.S. to participate in my third World Championships with my first being in Stoneham, Canada, and then two years ago in Sierra Nevada, Spain,” said Muss. “Coming home to compete on my home soil means alot since I have been training in Europe for so long! I’m super stoked to come back to Park City having not ridden here since Nastar Nationals years and years ago as a child. It always means alot to represent the U.S. whether it be the highest honor of representing Alpine Snowboarding at the Olympics last year in Korea or every time I pull out of gate on the World Cup Stage. The journey is not easy, but I am truly a proud American athlete striving to wins medals for myself and my country.“

For the ladies, Abby Champagne (Park CIty, Utah), Kaiya Kizuka (Sinking Spring, Penn.), Lynn Ott (Boston, Mass.) and Alexa Bullis (Slinger, Wisc.) are set to compete.

"I am beyond excited to be racing my first World Champs in my home town of Park City in front of my family and friends," said Champagne. "I am so thankful for the opportunity to represent the U.S. while racing with the best in the world. I have been fighting some injuries this season, but my goal for these World Champs is to come out strong and ride to the best of my abilities and of course to have fun and enjoy every bit of it."

Ott also shared her thoughts on being the veteran in the group. 

"I’m definitely not the youngest out here so when people fixate on me being older, I just think that it's just a number as not to let it get in my head," said Ott. My biggest accomplishment is living the dream for so long in the sport I love and getting to snowboard and enjoy life as much as I do. Snowboarding is my place of peace from working in the city."

The qualification round will be run on parallel courses. These courses are the same as, or similar to, the parallel finals courses, in terms of the number of gates, fall line, gate distance and angle of inclination. The qualification consists of two runs: the qualification run (first run) and the elimination run (second run). All qualified competitors (those with a valid time registered) from the qualification run start in the elimination run. They start on the opposite course in reverse order of their rank. The top 16 ranked competitors according to the combined time of the two runs qualify to the finals.

In the final round, two competitors ride side-by-side down the courses. The setting of the courses, configuration of the ground and preparation of the snow are to be as nearly identical as possible (vertical drop is 120-200 metres). Parallel finals heats consist of two runs. The competitors change courses for the second run ("Red" and "Blue" course). The loser of the first run starts with a time delay, which corresponds to his/her time behind from the first run. The delay is limited to a "penalty time" of 1.5 second). Finals heats consist of a direct knockout format: the best qualified competitor can choose his lane at start, the first to cross the finish line wins the heat and moves on to the next round.

The head-to-head direct knockout format will make for exciting competitions at Park City Mountain. Tune in on NBC to catch all the action.

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

SNOWBOARDING
Monday, Feb. 4
3:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s parallel giant slalom - Park City Mountain Resort, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s parallel giant slalom - Park City Mountain Resort, Utah - NBCSN*

Tuesday, Feb. 5
3:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s parallel slalom - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s big air - Park City Mountain Resort, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold
 

Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) and Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) earned the gold for U.S. Ski & Snowboard in the inaugural mixed-team snowboardcross at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, at Utah’s Solitude Mountain Resort.

For DIerdorff the gold was World Championship win number two, coming hot on the heels of his victory on day one of the competition in the men’s snowboardcross event. For Jacobellis, the most successful female athlete ever in the sport, the win was redemption after falling short of the podium earlier this week in the individual women’s snowboardcross competition.

With eight inches of fresh snow blanketing the snowboardcross course at Solitude Mountain, the mixed-team race made its World Championship debut at the 2019 FIS World Champs, ahead of its first appearance at an Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022.

“It feels great to come back a couple days later and do well and find the top of the podium again, and earn another world champs title,” said Jacobellis. “It was amazing to have Mick there with me. This new dynamic kept me relaxed and added an extra element of fun.”

Dierdorff also commented on the similarities and differences from a traditional snowboardcross race to a mixed-team snowboardcross race.

“I don’t think anything changes as far as mindset,” said the newly crowned double-World Champ. “Especially dropping first. It feels like a normal boardercross heat. More so, it changes for the second person. You don’t know if you will be coming out of the gate last and have all this ground to make up, like what happened today for Lindsey. Your mindset in a normal heat is to get out in front early, and to turn that into a hunt and chasing a rabbit out in front of you changes things. In addition, the fresh snow also changes conditions as we had to figure out how to ride the course in a different way at a different speed.”

Jacobellis earned her sixth World Championships gold medal and has still has never failed to top a podium at a World Championship event she has contested. This is also Dierdorff’s second top-level international competition victory. The team of Jacobellis and Dierdorff was clearly a great match.

“It was a really great experience teaming up with Mick,” said Jacobellis. “I was really happy with my performance on the individual race side and being able to switch it up and have a strategy with Mick was amazing. I’m used to going out of the gate first in the team race, so it was a little nerve-wracking sitting at the gate and waiting for it to drop. I was definitely a little over gripped in some situations and even had some trouble getting out of the start. I’m happy that turned around for me and I was able to execute.”

The sport of mixed-team snowboardcross requires a different type of communication than the traditional individual race format. With the men starting first, and the women waiting for a signal from the coach, and ultimately for their teammate to cross the line before the start gate opens, it makes for an interesting dynamic on the course.

“We do have spotters on the course,” said Jacobellis. “Jeff Archibald is down at the bottom and radios up to the top to give an idea of how the men will finish. I did know my gate was going to drop fourth. It made me really want to focus and nail that start to get as much momentum and tuck into the draft.”

With the men running first in the final, Dierdorff found himself in trouble for the first time in either the individual race or the mixed-team competition at the worst possible time, falling behind and unable to make a pass at any point throughout his half of the race. While he was able to keep himself close to the pack of riders ahead, Dierdorff crossed the line just over a half-second back.

“The first thing I am trying to do is be first and give Lindsey a big as of a gap as possible,” said Dierdorff. “The first two worked out, and then in the final, the heat didn’t go my way for the first time on their course. Initially upon crossing the finish line in fourth, but still very much in the pack, I couldn’t help but have a gut wrenching feeling. I think one of the coolest parts about it was that I realized I have one of the greatest of all time in Lindsey Jacobellis on my team. I think it made it that much more exciting for her to have that task ahead to go from fourth to first and it just shows how good of a rider she really is. It was so cool being down there and cheering for Lindsey in the first ever mixed-team event.”

With an amazing week of snowboardcross training and competition, one thing was clear, the U.S. riders really enjoyed their time at Solitude Mountain Resort.

“Coming to Solitude, I knew it was going to be an awesome course. It’s such a cool mountain and has incredible people. They supported us so well, and that helped make the dreams come true this week!”

RESULTS
Mixed-team snowboardcross

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

FREESKI
Wednesday, Feb. 6
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN*

Saturday, Feb. 9
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC

FREESTYLE
Wednesday, Feb. 6
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s aerials - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Thursday, Feb. 7
12:00 a.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s aerials - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s team aerials - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 8
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 9
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s dual moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 10
2:00 a.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s dual moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN*

SNOWBOARDING
Monday, Feb. 4
3:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s parallel giant slalom - Park City Mountain Resort, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s parallel giant slalom - Park City Mountain Resort, Utah - NBCSN*

Tuesday, Feb. 5
3:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s parallel slalom - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s big air - Park City Mountain Resort, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 8
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 9
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC*

Sunday, Feb. 10
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
4:30 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s slopestyle - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC*

All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are 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.
 

Julia Krass (Hanover, N.H.) won the freeski big air silver medal at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championship, presented by Toyota, in front of a capacity crowd in the Canyons Village at Park City Mountain, Utah.

“Today was unbelievable, it couldn’t have gone better,” said Krass. “I have never done an event at night like this with so many people watching and to have it be in my hometown is crazy. My whole family is here and all my friends, it’s unbelievable. My family doesn’t get to watch me ski very often so it’s pretty special to have them here. For a second I was thinking of doing a mellower trick on my last run, just to put something really clean down, but my coaches told me I got this, just grab it clean, and that I could do it. I had nothing to lose, so I went up there and did the best trick I knew. I’ve never done something like that. The slope course looks great and to start World Championships like this is epic. I’m excited to keep it going!”

Krass dropped in and immediately stomped what is arguably her most difficult trick, the left double cork 1260 mute grab. She has previously landed this trick at the Stubai, Austria World Cup and in training at the Seiser Alm Italy, World Cup, but this was the first time she was able to put it all together and earn a spot on the podium utilizing the double cork. Krass made history medaling at the first ever freeski big air World Championship competition and will have a shot at another medal is slopestyle during Wednesday’s freeski slopestyle competition.

Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.) also competed but was unable to reach the podium. Although it was not her night, she commented on the amazing crowd in Park City, saying, “it was such an honor to ski in front of this crowd tonight. I seriously cannot believe how many people showed up. It’s so awesome and it really helped all of the skiers get stoked. We can’t ask for much more than that.”

Either side of Julia Krass was Tess Ledeux of France who earned the gold and Isabel Atkin of Great Britain who closed out the podium with the bronze.

In the men’s competition, Alex Hall (Salt Lake City, Utah) finished just off the podium in fourth but put down some amazing runs in front of his hometown Park City crowd.

“I’m stoked on how I skied,” said Hall. “I landed everything like I wanted to and was able to go a little bigger on that last jump. I didn’t think I would slide into third there, so just being in podium contention for a moment was great. Everyone who placed ahead of me killed it and I’m really stoked for them. It was sick tonight, there were so many people and I was really hyped on this event. It was a really fun night overall.”

Swiss freeskier Fabian Boesch finished took home the gold, crowd favorite Henrik Harlaut of Sweden earned silver and Canada’s Alex Beaulieu-Marchand earned the bronze.

With freeski big air slated to join the Olympic programme at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, it was long overdue that the event sees its premiere in world championships competition and the debut did not disappoint. Freeski World Championships competition will continue with slopestyle on Wednesday, Feb. 6 and in the halfpipe at Park City Mountain Resort on Saturday, Feb. 9. Tune in to NBC to catch all the action.

TRICK LIST

Men’s Freeski big air
Fabian Boesch -Left Double Cork 1620 Opposite Tail Grab | Right Triple Cork 1620 Safety Grab to Opposite Tail Grab
Henrik Harlaut - Switch Left 1440 Mute Grab | Left Double Cork 1620 Tail Grab
Alex Beaulieu-Marchand - Left Triple Cork 1260 Safety Grab | Switch Left Triple Cork 1440 Bow and Arrow Grab

Women’s Freeski big air

Tess Ledeux - Left Double Cork 1260 Mute Grab | Switch Left Bio 1080 Japan Grab
Julia Krass - Right Double 1080 Safety Grab | Switch Right 1080 Safety Grab
Isabel Atkin - Right 900 Opposite Tail Grab | Switch Right 1080 Mute Grab

RESULTS
Men’s freeski big air
Women’s freeski big air

HOW TO WATCH
*Same-day broadcast
**Next-day broadcast

FREESKI
Wednesday, Feb. 6
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men’s and women’s freeski slopestyle - Olympic Channel-TV and NBC Sports Gold

5:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men’s and women’s freeski slopestyle  - NBCSN*

Saturday, Feb. 9
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men’s and women’s freeski halfpipe NBC-TV and NBC Sports Gold
 

The new Olympic discipline of mixed-team snowboardcross will make its debut Sunday at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, at Solitude Mountain Resort.

The U.S. Snowboardcross Team will be guaranteed a minimum of two teams in Sunday's event, with the possibility of a third. U.S. Team 1 will be represented by the newly crowned 2019 World Champion Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and five-time World Champion Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.). Jacobellis has had previous success in team snowboardcross competitions, earning a bronze medal with U.S. Snowboardcross teammate Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City, Utah) at the 2017 FIS World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain.

Following Dierdorff’s victory on Saturday, he shared his thoughts on the mixed-team snowboardcross competition. “I think it will be me and Lindsey out there,” he said. “I’m going to try to do the same thing I did out there on Friday, this time with Lindsey, and aim to go grab another World Championship medal!”

U.S. Team 2 will be represented by Stacy Gaskill (Golden, Colo.) and Jake Vedder (Pickney, Mich.), who won the small final in Friday’s World Championship snowboardcross competition finishing fifth overall. In addition, if the U.S. is granted a third team, eight-time X Games gold medalist Nate Holland (Sandpoint, Idaho) and Olympian Meghan Tierney (Edwards, Colo.) will compete as U.S. Team 3.

In this event, mixed gender teams of two athletes, one female and one male, compete head-to-head in heats of four. On completion of the course by the first athlete, the start gate opens automatically and the second athlete starts (relay principle). The top two teams from each heat advance to the next round. The first athlete of the second teammates to reach the finish line claims the win for the team. Athletes are eliminated throughout quarterfinals and semifinals, as well as a small final (Fifth through eighth place ) and big final (first through fourth place).

The U.S. claimed three top-five finishes in Friday’s individual snowboardcross race and will be carrying momentum into Sunday’s competition. It’s clear that the course at Solitude Mountain is running well for the team and we can expect the U.S. to put their best foot forward to potentially earn another World Championships medal. Tune in on NBC To catch all the action.

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

SNOWBOARDING
Sunday, Feb. 3
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s team snowboardcross - Solitude, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s team snowboardcross - Solitude, Utah - NBCSN*
 

Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) joined an elite club with her 56th career FIS Ski World Cup victory in Saturday’s slalom in Maribor, Slovenia. She not only took sole position of fifth on the all-time World Cup win list, but she also broke the American record for World Cup victories - 13 - in a single season.

But Saturday’s victory wasn’t an easy one for Shiffrin.

“The first run was a pretty big fight for a lot of reasons,” said Shiffrin, who took a one-second lead over Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova on the first run. “There's just so many things that were happening after yesterday, and today so it was a bit more difficult to be focused. I was feeling quite uncertain if I could ski fast enough.”

Indeed, her second World Cup win of the weekend - Shiffrin and Vlhova tied for the giant slalom victory Friday - came on the heels of teammate Lindsey Vonn’s (Vail, Colo.) retirement announcement Friday, and a peppering from the media about what’s Vonn’s career has meant for the sport and her own career. However, Shiffrin made it clear that while Vonn may have paved the way as the most successful women’s alpine ski racer with 82 World Cup wins, she sets her own goals and objectives.

“What she’s done for the sport is incredible. I would never try to carry that torch,” Shiffrin said. “I’ll carry my own torch.”

The two-time defending World Cup champion has become the most dominant ski racer in the sport the past couple of seasons. And while the accolades continue to pile on, she remains focused on one thing, and one thing only - skiing the best she can.

“The numbers dehumanize what we’re all doing,” she said. “People have said it’s boring when the same person continues to win. For me - and for us as competitors - it’s not boring. Every race is a fight. There’s always a new goal to keep doing better, and the competition is always strong. It’s exciting, it’s nerve-wracking and there’s never any certainty. The numbers are amazing, but summing it all up to a number - it’s not possible for me. Sometimes I’m nervous, sometimes I’m confident. It’s not about winning. It’s about making my best turns.”

Facing a soft track on a warm Saturday afternoon, Shiffrin indeed focused on making her best turns. While not posting the fastest second run -  that honor went to Austria’s Chiara Mair, who came out of the 35th start position to post her second career top-15 World Cup result - Shiffrin held on for the victory after Vlhova struggled in her second run and fell to fifth. Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson finished a career-best second, followed by Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener in third. Paula Moltzan (Burlington, Vt.) posted her fourth top-20 World Cup slalom result of the season, finishing 16th.

With the victory, Shiffrin is now fifth on the all-time World Cup win list. Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark holds the record with 86 victories. Vonn is second with 82. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher has 68, followed by fellow Austria Annemarie Moser-Proll with 62, and Shiffrin with 56. Shiffrin also became the first American to win 13 World Cup races in a single season. The previous record was 12, held by Shiffrin and Vonn. Shiffrin is just one shy of Swiss Vreni Schneider’s record of 14 wins in a single season.

Up next, the 2019 FIS Ski World Championship start next week in Are, Sweden, and Shiffrin looks to carry the momentum.

“(Saturday’s win) is good for the confidence, but I also have to be careful not to take that for granted because every race is a fight and every victory is a fight,” she said. “I have big goals for World Championship, but nothing is guaranteed so just try to do my best to skiing and see what happens.”

RESULTS
Women’s slalom

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

Sunday, Feb. 3
2:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom - Maribor, SLO - NBCSN**
4:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Tuesday, Feb. 5
6:25 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super-G, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Wednesday, Feb. 6
6:25 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s super-G, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 8
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined downhill, Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
9:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined downhill, Are, SWE - NBCSN*
10:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined slalom, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 9
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
6:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

Sunday, Feb. 10
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
10:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are 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.