The Bakuriani 2023 FIS Freestyle Ski, Snowboard, and Freeski World Championships launched into the second week of competition today, and Chris Corning came away with a bronze medal in the men’s slopestyle snowboard competition.

When asked what he was most proud of from the competition today Corning said: “I’m most proud of my course usage today. I did new stuff for me with putting a backside [1800] in my run, I’ve not done that in a slopestyle run before in a competition. I’m super stoked about that, I’ve wanted to do it for years and just have not had the opportunity.”

“The course was good today,” said Corning. “It got really slushy, we haven’t really had a good day of slush at all, and it was my first time riding slush this year, so I was happy to put a run down and ride well today.”

Corning adds to his already impressive collection of World Championships hardware, which also includes a first place slopestyle finish from 2019, in addition to a second place big air medal and third place slopestyle medal from 2017. Fellow American Brock Crouch finished eighth for the day, followed by teammates Jake Canter in 11th, and Sean FitzSimons in 36th.

After battling multiple days of weather delays due to strong winds, the athletes were stoked to get the competition off the ground. By the afternoon, the sun came out just in time for finals. The finish area was full of fans, including the U.S. Snowboardcross Team, who came out to cheer on their teammates after wrapping up board testing for their competitions later this week.

It was a tough day for the women, with Courtney Rummel barely missing the final and ending up as the top American in 14th place. She said of course conditions: “It was really fast today and there was no wind, the rails were a little sticky…so that was a little hard. But there was good speed throughout the course so that was nice.” Ty Schnorrbusch and Jade Thurgood finished 22nd and 27th, respectively, with Rebecca Flynn making the difficult call to pull out of the contest as a DNS.

Rounding out the men’s podium were Marcus Kleveland of Norway in first, and Ryoma Kimata of Japan in second. The women’s podium saw Mia Brookes (GBR) take the gold in her first ever World Championships appearance, followed by Zoi Sydowski Synnott (NZL) and Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN).

The action from Georgia continues with wen’s and women’s snowboard halfpipe qualifications going down on March 1, followed by finals on March 3. Catch finals LIVE on skiandsnowboard.live

Results

Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle

Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle

HOW TO WATCH

Friday, March 3

1:00 a.m. ET - men’s and women’s halfpipe finals - Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

5:30 a.m. ET - men’s and women’s snowboardcross - Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

Saturday, March 4

5:30 a.m. ET - team snowboardcross - Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

Sunday, March 5

5:00 a.m. ET - men’s and women’s big air finals - Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

On day two of the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup, the snow and wind came in hot, making for an exciting, wintery end to the domestic tech series. The U.S.-based crowd again did not disappoint as the world’s best slalom skiers made it down the steep terrain on Red Dog.

Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes River Radamus and Luke Winters raced but did not make second run, landing in 32nd and 35th respectively. Ben Ritchie and Jett Seymour did not finish. However, the athletes were in positive spirits and happy to be home in the United States, ski some powder, and enjoy family and friends at the Palisades venue.

“Racing in Europe we don't ever get a home crowd," said Winters. "This is the first time we have had a slalom in the United States in a long time, so to have 20-plus people of my family and friends here is cool."

The ending of the race caused a dramatic stir with former U.S. athlete and now Greek skier AJ Ginnis in fourth after first run, and coming down to win the race. However, here was a 20-minute delay following the final race to determine if Ginnis straddled, and ultimately, FIS determined that Ginnis was disqualified. The winner of the race then went to the young Norwegian Alexander Steen Olsen, second place went to Norwegian Timon Haugan, and third place ended in a tie between Bulgarian skier Albert Popov, his first World Cup podium, and French skier Clement Noel.

The Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup would not have been possible without the volunteers, course workers and everyone in between helping to pull off the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in snowstorm conditions. Just days prior to the races, the international athletes enjoyed a powder day at the resort with many claiming it to be one of the best powder days they had experienced. 

The World Cup schedule rolls on to Aspen next week for the Stifel America's Downhill March 3-5 for two downhill races and one super-G. 

RESULTS
Men's slalom

Saturday night, under the lights, Dew Tour held the men's ski super streetstyle qualifier and final, where 2x Olympian Colby Stevenson took first, and teammate Alex Hall took third. Oregon's Tucker FitzSimons placed second. 

The super streetstyle event consisted of three separate heats, with four athletes in each heat. Each competitor was allowed three attempts to earn a high enough score to advance into the second round. Two competitors from each heat then battled it off, head to head, to advance to the podium showdown. Stevenson, FitzSimons and Hall took their turns at duking it out on the course.

The streetstyle course included four different sections of a variety of rails to choose from. The first section had a staircase with two hand rails on either side, as well as a pole jam and barrier to a waterfall down rail. The second section had a flat rail, a down rail, and a pole jam to two separate down rails. The third section had a jersey barrier rail, a flat box or a fence flat rail to a corrugated down tube, as well as a shipping container feature. The last section contained a pole jam to a wall ride, a flat rail transfer to a down kinked rail, and lastly a down flat rail. 

Stevenson earned his top spot with a score of 92.66, with a run including a switch 270 onto the waterfall rail, pretzel 450 out, to a backside 360 switchup on the transfer, 270 out, to a right side 450 onto the jersey barrier and switch out, and ending the run with a switch on, front swap over the transfer, continuing 270 out. FitzSimon's earned his silver with a 89.33, and rounding it out in third was Hall with a 70.00. 

Results 

Men's Super Streetstyle

On a flat light day at Copper Mountain, Colo., Dew Tour held its second day of events, including the men's snowboard halfpipe finals. 2x Olympian, and 2x Copper Mountain Toyota U.S. Grand Prix winner, Taylor Gold, stomped his fourth and final run to secure a second place finish. Japanese rider Ayumu Hirano took home the win, along with teammate Raibu Katayama who placed third. 

Gold earned a silver medal with a score of 91.33 with a run that included a McTwist, into a front 1260 tail grab, into a double chuck 1080 melon grab to indie grab switch up, into an air to fakie melon grab, into a cab 1080 with a roast beef grab. After falling on his first three of four runs, Gold was relieved to finally put one down when it counted most. 

"Conditions out in the pipe today were surprisingly really good," said Gold. "It was forecasted to not be so nice today, so we got super lucky and it ended up being somewhat sunny. The pipe was running good too, so it was ideal." 

Gold reflected on his accomplishments. "I'm really stoked on getting second," said Gold. "It was kind of nice because it just felt a lot more mellow this year, just a little bit more loose and fun. The vibes at the top of the pipe were a lot more enjoyable versus last year where it was really intense. It felt really good to put one down at the end, as I was kind of struggling to land one during my first three runs. I was just happy to land one!"

Following his second place finish in the halfpipe event, Gold strapped back into his board and headed to the top for the superpipe jam cash event. The snow was coming down hard at this point, but the athletes were still catching big airs up to 22 feet high. 

Up next, Gold plans on going on a road trip with his filmer to find deep powder. 

RESULTS
Men's Halfpipe

Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern teamed up for the freestyle team sprint at World Championships and took home the bronze medal. With new snow coating the Julian Alps, both men and women put forward their fastest sprinters for the team sprint. On the same 1.4km course from the classic sprint two days prior, today’s race featured a qualification round and 3x1.4km final round. With over 34 teams in the qualification for the men and 26 for the women, both athletes' qualifying times combined together decided the 15 teams that would move onto the final.

Thorough the qualification round, the women representing the red, white and blue came out on top, qualifying first with their combined time. Diggins and Kern, both feeling strong and ready, put the pieces together and had forward momentum with their number one spot for the afternoon race. For the men, Ben Ogden and JC Schoonmaker teamed up. Earlier in the week, Schoonmaker was top ten in the 1.4km classic sprint, finishing the day in ninth place - teamed up, the young but strong duo skied a fast and technically sound sprint race and ended the qualifications within the top three.

With thousands of fans once again filling the grand stands on all sides of the stadium, the atmosphere was filled with cheers that could be heard miles away. The course was slow at the start but the more athletes skied over the track, the faster it became. When it came to race time, everyone was ready. With qualifications deciding the 15 teams moving onto the final, the U.S. teams were a definite threat. 

Diggins and Kern led the final race until the last lap. With both women skiing three laps of the 1.4km lap, the strategy was to stay out of trouble, ski smart and fast and compete for your team and your relay-mate. “I really truly feel like we earned a medal,” said Diggins. “It’s not like we lost a gold, rather we earned a bronze! We earned the right to be proud of a really hard race and even if there was no medal we went out there and prepared and supported each other and believed and skied a good, hard, honest race and that is what makes me proud!”

For Kern, this was her first-ever World Championships podium.

“It’s really exciting (bringing home a medal to the United States),” said Kern. “I think it is really exciting. I think we are growing the sport the best we can in the U.S. and we hope that this inspires people back home and keeps developing our sport in the U.S. to become bigger and bigger!”

On the 10 year anniversary of the team sprint medal in Val di Fiemme, the U.S. women put the pieces together to bring home another team sprint medal and this time, with Kern and Diggins. 

“I love team sprinting,” said Diggins. “Any time you race for the team as a whole, you really bring your best and that is what we did today. It was really special.”

RESULTS

Women's 

Men's

Breezy Johnson led the way for the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team in the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup downhill in Crans Montana, Switzerland. The event was scheduled to go off the day before, but was canceled due to weather and pushed to Sunday.

“Conditions were tough running early,” said Johnson. “We kept having start stops, which is a lot of hurry up and wait.”

Johnson has been recovering this season, after injuring her knee prior to the 2022 Olympics, and was excited to have scored a solid result. 

“I'm happy that I kept the focus going. I feel like I didn't ski my best today but I'm really happy to still be in the top 15 and feel like I'm still pushing forward,” said Johnson.

Italian skier Sofia Goggia snagged her fifth downhill win for the season. Second place went to fellow Italian Federica Brignone, and third place went to first time podium finisher Laura Gauche of France, who started bib 26.

Tricia Mangan, Lauren Macuga and Keely Cashman raced, finishing in 30th, 36th and 40th place, respectively. Bella Wright did not finish.

The next series for women’s speed will be in Kvitfjell, Norway, March 1-5.

RESULTS
Women's downhill

Jaelin Kauf is silver again at the Freestyle World Ski Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia, after taking the second spot in dual moguls. Kauf left nothing on the snow and gave it her all in the big final, battling France’s Perrine Laffont until the end. 

“That last run against Perrine was [the most fun] I’ve had in such a long time,” she said. “I could just tell we were neck-and-neck the whole way down. That’s exactly what you want for one and two.

“To be on the podium two days back to back made for a really fun World Champs and event here in Bakuriani. I was definitely going for the gold both days but I’ll settle for second. I wanted to just go out and ski my run all day and leave nothing out there, and I didn’t.”

Sunday’s medal makes four career World Championships medals for the 26 year old. It was a podium repeat of Saturday with Laffont taking gold and Austria’s Avital Carroll with the bronze. 

Hannah Soar had a grueling bracket, dueling every other American woman to make it to the small final. She met Olivia Giaccio in the round of 16 and Elizabeth Lemley in the quarterfinals. 

“We qualified 2, 3, 4, 5 yesterday so arguably some of the hardest people to duel in the event, regardless of it being team versus team,” Soar commented. “I was excited to lay down those first two duels with Olivia and Liz and have them lay down their great runs too. Definitely nail-biters.”

Soar went against Carroll in the small final for the battle of the bronze but didn’t have the speed to ski over the line first, and ended the day in fourth - her career-best World Championships result. 

“Versus Avital, I gave it my all but was just a little too slow to pull off that bronze today,” said Soar. “But it was exciting to be out there and I definitely gave it my best. And I had a whole cheering squad here from Vermont, and it was awesome to make the final four with them here.”

Lemley ended the day in fifth in her dual moguls World Championships debut and Giaccio placed ninth - topping her best World Champs finish from Saturday. 

Nick Page was the top American man, ending the day in seventh - his career best World Championships finish. Page bested Finland’s Simi Salonen in the round of 16 but met Australia’s Matt Graham in the quarterfinals. It was a tight duel but Graham advanced, and eventually went on to earn bronze. Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury won, making history with his sixth consecutive World Championships gold, remaining undefeated in World Championship competition since 2019. Sweden’s Walter Wallberg took silver. 

Dylan Marcellini finished 12th in his dual moguls World Championships debut. Dylan Walczyk finished 18th and Cole McDonald finished 21st in his first dual moguls World Championships.

Moguls now breaks until World Cup Finals in Kazakhstan in March. 

RESULTS
Women’s Dual Moguls
Men’s Dual Moguls

At the first day of Dew Tour, U.S. Snowboard Team rookie team member Bea Kim secured her first ever pro-level podium at her first time competing in the Dew Tour halfpipe, landing in third place.

"This event means a lot to me because it's Dew Tour and it's just something in the snowboarding industry that I have looked up to since I was a little girl," said Kim. "It is insane to be here for my first time and to land on the podium. I just tried to put down a run and have fun, and it worked out!"

It was a beautiful day at Copper Mountain with a little breeze, and athletes lauded the pipe. Gaon Choi of South Korea was first and Patti Zhou, at only 11 years old, was second. U.S. Snowboard Team's Sonny Alba was fourth and Summer Fenton was fifth.

"Last year I was injured during the Dew Tour, so I was happy to land my run," said Alba. "The pipe was perfect!"

RESULTS
Women's halfpipe

On a bluebird, pristine day, Dew Tour held its first event: the men's freeski halfpipe finals, where 2x Olympic gold medalist David Wise took second and teammate Aaron Blunck was third. Canadian Brendan Mackay took the win.

Wise earned his silver medal with a score of an 87.00 with a run that included a switch right 900 tail grab, into a switch double 1080 Japan grab, into right 900 tail grab, into a left double 1260 mute grab, and ending it off with a right double 1260 mute grab. After landing his first of four runs, Wise said, "I have three more runs to go; I don't know what to do next." Thankfully for him, this run secured him into that second place for the entirety of the event. 

Wise now flies to the Bakuriani World Championships tonight. "I like when the competition schedule is tight like this, because it gives me a little less time to overthink things," said Wise. "It's like, alright, we're going to show up and there is one day of practice, there's the finals, then we're going to get on an airplane to go to Georgia. Then there is one day of practice in Georgia, then there's qualifiers, and then were going to take a day off, and then there's finals. It just goes boom, boom, boom.

"I kind of excel in that chaotic environment, maybe because I'm a parent and I have raised children. So, I am stoked. I really was just happy that the sun was out and that the pipe was nice today. So to put down some solid runs felt good!"

Blunck claimed his third place with a score of an 84.00 with a run that included a right 1080 tail grab, into a switch down the pipe double cork 900, into a switch right 700, into a left double cork 900, and ending the run off with a right double cork 1260 tail grab. 

"Conditions out here today in Copper were all time," said Blunck. "It was a beautiful, bluebird day. It has been a busy week up here at Copper, so we're stoked. To finish my season off with a podium is huge for me. It's been a really rough season battling injuries, so it is nice to have one finish on top and now go finish the season skiing in deep snow and build some jumps."

Alex Ferreira just finished off the podium in fourth with a score of an 82.33. Hunter Hess placed sixth with a 70.66 and rookie team member Matt Labaugh placed seventh in his first ever Dew Tour appearance. 

RESULTS
Men's halfpipe

An enormous crowd showed up to the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup to watch the best men tech racers in the world race the first Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup at Palisades Tahoe since 2017. George Steffey was the top U.S. man in the giant slalom, scoring his first career World Cup points in 21st place.

Marco Schwarz of Austria won the race in a thrilling fashion, with 2022 overall World Cup winner and first run winner Marco Odermatt just missing a victory by .03 seconds and finishing second. Rasmus Windingstad of Norway was third.

An enormous storm dropped two feet of fresh powder on Palisades Tahoe Friday, and while it made for a fantastic powder day, it made racing questionable for Saturday. But the course workers labored throughout the night to get the famed Red Dog hill ready for a giant slalom. The California crowd arrived in droves to sunshine and warm temperatures, and the race went off without a hitch.

Steffey, a native of Lyme, New Hampshire and Stratton Mountain School graduate, was 26th after first run and battled a cranker of a second run to take 21st overall. It was his first World Cup points score, having bounced between World Cups and Europa Cups for the last few years. “That’s a huge weight of my shoulders,” said Steffey. “I’ve been trying to crack into the top 30 for a long time—several years now. I’m really psyched to have finally done it and super grateful that the first time was at home. So much energy—I could hear the crowd coming down that last pitch. It was really just an incredible experience.”

Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete River Radamus put down a fast first run, leading the first few splits, but got his arm caught in a panel, which set him down to 18th place. On his second run, he went all out, but took a gate too tight over the pitch and did not finish. “My mentality was to push myself to the limits and see what I get away with,” said Radamus. “The course set and the snow necessitated charging to succeed today. I was happy with my mentality first run—I laid it all there; I wasn’t skiing conservatively. I felt like I was doing the same second run. Obviously the results aren’t what I want, but I have to understand that’s the risk of pushing it as hard as I can.”

The U.S. men were thrilled to be in front of the home crowd and racing on home snow in front of friends and family, even if second runs didn’t happen for everyone. Patrick Kenney and Brian McLaughlin did not qualify for second run. Tommy Ford went down hard on his first run and did not finish. He is OK.

The race also marked the first public Stifel Bibbo Award, an award given to the racer that moved up most in the ranks. Belgian skier Sam Maes took home the win and a monetary award after moving up from bib 37 to 14th place.

The men gear up for slalom on Sunday to wrap up the tech weekend at home. Watch the race LIVE on Outside for free starting at 12:30 p.m. ET. 

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
(all times ET)

February 26, 2023
12:30 p.m. - men's slalom, run 1 - LIVE on Outside+
1:00 p.m. - men's giant slalom - NBC*
4:15 p.m. - men's slalom, run 2 - LIVE on Outside+

March 4, 2023
10:00 a.m. - men's slalom - CNBC*

*delayed broadcast