Radamus Top 15 in Stifel Aspen Winternational Day One

On Friday, March 1 in the first of two giant slaloms at the Stifel Aspen Winternational presented by United, River Radamus skied to an 11th place position. 

“I felt like I executed well today,” said Radamus. “Second run the approach was much better with a better touch on the snow.” 

The weather could not be more perfect with beautiful sunny skies and a fired-up Colorado crowd, but it was a bit of an unusual giant slalom on the results sheet with more than 25 skiers not making it to the bottom of the course. The hill was more aggressive and icy than many expected, coupled with a very tricky course set. Radamus was cooking the top splits on his first run until he got extremely late before the flat section, losing all his speed. He made another large mistake toward the middle, bumping him to a 15th place first run. 

“Today was a learning curve for everyone. It was icy up top and on those crucial turns they got pretty polished,” said Radamus. “I made some more mistakes in the second run but I was pushing really hard so I am happy with the second run for sure.” 

On the second run, the snow was still very aggressive and Radamus chose to switch up his equipment. He skied well the whole run, with the exception of a few mistakes, ultimately moving up four places to 11th overall for the day. 

Stifel U.S. Ski Team athletes George Steffey, Brian McLaughlin, Tommy Ford and Isaiah Nelson were all in top 30 contention on the first run but, like many of their competitors, got late and low, blowing out in the middle of the run. Patrick Kenney finished the first run in 37th, not good enough for a second run. 

“Our whole team has the speed right now. I think they wanted to put something down special and laid everything on the line and sometimes you go out. But they can do it,” said Radamus. 

The winner of the race was none other than Swiss phenom Marco Odermatt. He has won every single giant slalom of the season, with the Stifel Aspen Winternational presented by United being his eighth win in a row. Just last week Odermatt also clinched the overall Crystal Globe. Second place went to Swiss teammate Loic Meillard and third place was Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath. 

The men have another chance at the Aspen giant slalom Saturday followed up with a slalom on Sunday. 

RESULTS
Men's giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH (all times in ET)
March 2
12:00 p.m. - run 1, men's giant slalom - LIVE: CNBC, Peacock, Outside
2:00 p.m. - (delayed coverage) men’s slalom, Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup - NBC
3:00 p.m. - run 2, men's giant slalom - LIVE: NBC, Peacock, Outside

March 3
11:00 a.m. - run 1, men's giant slalom - LIVE: CNBC, Peacock, Outside
2:00 p.m. - (delayed coverage) men’s slalom, Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup - NBC
1:30 p.m. - run 2, men’s slalom - NBC coverage begins
2:00 p.m. - run 2, men's giant slalom - LIVE: NBC, Peacock, Outside