Alpine World Cup Travels Onward to Italy, Austria
The FIS Ski World Cup tour moves onward for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, despite challenging variables in both Hinterstoder, Austria for the men, and La Thuile, Italy for the women.
Weather threatens both the men’s series in Hinterstoder—which features a super-G, alpine combined and giant slalom—as well as the women’s alpine super-G and alpine combined in La Thuile.
On the men’s side, strong winds and heavy snowfall forced a cancellation of Friday’s originally scheduled alpine combined. The organizing committee, together with FIS, worked hard to ensure that the men will ski a full weekend program, meaning they will now ski a super-G race on Saturday, followed by an alpine combined on Sunday, and a giant slalom on Monday.
Travis Ganong, who was recently seventh in the Saalbach, Austria super-G to lead the Americans, will look to lead the charge on Saturday in the super-G, while Bryce Bennett and Ryan Cochran-Siegle will headline Sunday’s alpine combined, followed by Tommy Ford—who just podiumed in the Yuzawa Naeba giant slalom and is ranked fifth in the giant slalom standings—will lead the Americans on Monday in giant slalom.
For the women, Alice Merryweather, who is currently ranked 24th in the super-G standings, will lead the women’s speed team into battle in La Thuile, hoping to stamp her ticket to World Cup Finals and secure a spot in the top-25 ranked skiers in the world coming out of this weekend. Teammates Breezy Johnson, Alice McKennis, and Jackie Wiles will also start for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team.
Many of the globes are still up for grabs, making it an exciting time of the season. With her win in the last alpine combined, Italy’s Federica Brignone became the overall leader with 1,298 points—73 points ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin, and 159 points ahead of Petra. At this point, the current overall leader Mikaela's return to Europe and return to competition is unknown.
Looking ahead, FIS shared earlier on Friday that "due to the present situation on the race hill and unfavorable weather forecast, the women's FIS World Cup races in Ofterschwang scheduled for March 7-8 have been canceled. Despite all efforts it was not possible to find a replacement for the races."
Check out how and who to watch below.
MEN’S STARTERS
Bryce Bennett
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Sam Dupratt
Tommy Ford
Travis Ganong
Ted Ligety
Kyle Negomir
Steven Nyman
River Radamus
George Steffey
WOMEN’S STARTERS
Breezy Johnson
Alice McKennis
Alice Merryweather
Jackie Wiles
START LISTS
Women’s Super-G
Men’s Super-G
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
Saturday, Feb. 29
4:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, La Thuile, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
6:30 a.m. - Men’s super-G, Hinterstoder, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
Sunday, March 1
1:00 a.m. - Women’s super-G, La Thuile, ITA - NBCSN**
3:45 a.m. - Men’s combined super-G, Hinterstoder, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
5:00 a.m. - Women’s alpine combined super-G, La Thuile, ITA - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
6:45 a.m. - Men’s combined slalom, Hinterstoder, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
8:00 a.m. - Women’s alpine combined slalom, La Thuile, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
Monday, March 2
3:15 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Hinterstoder, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
6:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2, Hinterstoder, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
*Same-day delay broadcast
**Next-day broadcast
Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app.
Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow.
