American Downhillers Ready To Tackle Birds of Prey

The North American tour rolls on, with the American Downhillers taking on a perfectly prepared Birds of Prey piste and the women up in Lake Louise for a weekend of speed and exhilaration.

Ted Ligety (Park City, UT), who has won an unprecedented six times on this Birds of Prey track, leads the men into battle this weekend, while Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) has yet to decide if he’ll return to action after rehabbing his knee after an injury sustained in Garmisch, Germany last January. Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA), who won a silver medal in the downhill at the 2015 World Championships in Beaver Creek, posted the sixth-fastest time in Wednesday’s training run.

Keep an eye on the American Downhillers - they were itching to get back on this track after unseasonably warm weather forced a cancellation last season. Tom Johnston—a.k.a. “Cowboy”—and the fabulous Talon Crew have worked wonders on this surface once again and the guys are saying it’s hard and fast. That means it’ll hold up for the guys in the back of the back, which is good considering Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY), Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, NY) and Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Burlington, VT) all had blazing fast times in the first of two training runs from the back.

This weekend marks the 10-year anniversary of Weibrecht’s bibbo from 54 to 10th place finish in 2007, and the last time the speed men were in Beaver Creek, Ligety and Weibrecht scored a double podiumed in the super-G and led four into the top 11.  
Up north in Lake Louise, Canada - lovingly referred to by many as “Lake Lindsey” - the women take on a pair of downhill races and a super-G on a track where Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) has 18 career World Cup

wins - that’s 10 more than anyone else in history. In Thursday’s training run, Vonn posted the second-fastest time behind the Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka. Vonn led six American women into the top 12, including Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) who landed in 12th. Keep an eye on Breezy Johnson (Victor, ID) and Jackie Wiles (Portland, OR) - two rising stars that could do something special this weekend.

Dan Hicks will call the Birds of Prey action from Beaver Creek, joined by analysts Bode Miller, the most decorated U.S. Olympic skier in history, U.S. Ski Team alumnus Steve Porino and reporter Carolyn Manno also join the action for NBC Sports.

Steve Schlanger and U.S. Ski Team alumnus AJ Kitt will call the action in Lake Louise. See who to watch and where to catch all the action below.

MEN’S STARTERS – Birds of Prey
Super-G
Bryce Bennett
Tommy Biesemeyer
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Travis Ganong
Jared Goldberg
Ted Ligety
Wiley Maple
Sam Morse**
Andrew Weibrecht

Downhill
Bryce Bennett
Tommy Biesemeyer
Travis Ganong
Jared Goldberg
Wiley Maple
Sam Morse
Steven Nyman***
Andrew Weibrecht

Giant Slalom
David Chodounsky
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Tommy Ford
Tim Jitloff
Ted Ligety
Brian McLaughlin*
River Radamus*

WOMEN’S STARTERS – Lake Louise
Downhill and Super-G
Stacey Cook
Breezy Johnson
Alice McKennis
Alice Merryweather
Laurenne Ross***
Mikaela Shiffrin
Lindsey Vonn
Jackie Wiles

*Denotes first World Cup start
**Denotes first World Cup start in discipline
***TBD on return to competition

HOW TO WATCH (times EST)
Friday, Dec. 1
1:00 p.m. – Birds of Prey Men’s super-G – NBCSN – LIVE
2:30 p.m. – Women’s downhill – NBCSN – LIVE
7:00 p.m. – Birds of Prey Men’s super-G – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)

Saturday, Dec. 2
1:00 p.m. – Birds of Prey Men’s downhill – Olympic Channel TV – LIVE
2:00 p.m. – Women’s downhill – NBCSN – LIVE
4:00 p.m. – Women’s downhill – Olympic Channel TV (same day delay)
5:00 p.m. – Birds of Prey Men’s downhill – NBC (same day delay)

Sunday, Dec. 3
11:45 a.m. – Birds of Prey Men’s giant slalom run 1 – NBC Sports App/nbcsports.com – LIVE
1:00 p.m. – Women’s super-G – Olympic Channel TV – LIVE
2:30 p.m. – Birds of Prey Men’s giant slalom run 2 – Olympic Channel TV – LIVE
5:00 p.m. – Birds of Prey Men’s giant slalom – NBC (same day delay)
6:30 p.m. – Women’s super-G – NBCSN (same day delay)

RESULTS
Men’s Downhill Training 1
Men’s Downhill Training 2
Women’s Downhill Training 1
Women’s Downhill Training 2