Classic Lauberhorn Downhill for Men; 2006 Olympic Venue Reunion in Sestriere for Women

It’s a big weekend for alpine ski racing, with the men heading to the 90th edition of the classic FIS Ski World Cup Lauberhorn in Wengen, Switzerland, and the women returning to the site of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Sestriere, Italy. 

Wengen kicks off with an alpine combined—one run of downhill and one run of slalom—on Friday, but the highlight of the three-day race series in Wengen is undoubtedly Saturday’s classic downhill. At 2.78 miles long (about 2 minutes, 30 seconds), the Lauberhornrennen is the longest track on the World Cup circuit. It’s the fastest track, too. On January 19, 2013, France’s Johan Clarey clocked the fastest time through the Haneggschuss, the fastest section of the Lauberhorn slope, at 161.9 km/100.6 mph—a record that still stands today. 

With two solid downhill training runs under their belts, the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team boys are ready to rock. In the first of two downhill training runs on Tuesday, Ryan Cochran-Siegle led the Americans with the second-fastest time, just one-tenth off the pace, set by Swiss Mauro Caviezel. Bryce Bennett followed in seventh, and Jared Goldberg in 15th. Of course, as Ryan has said before, training runs are nothing more than “fool’s gold”—however, he backed that fast training run up with the fifth-fastest run in Thursday’s second and final downhill training run, followed by Bryce in ninth, Steven in 11th, and Jared in 16th. Training runs don’t count, but they certainly can be a harbinger of what’s to come. Cross your fingers, hold your thumbs, and let’s get ready to rumble! 

The weekend will close with men’s slalom, where Luke Winters—who has scored in three of five World Cup slaloms this season, rife with flashes of brilliance—will lead the Americans Sunday. Luke continues to show that he belongs among the best in the world, in an extremely competitive and stacked men’s slalom field. 

The women will return to Sestriere, Italy—a place filled with fond memories for the Americans, where Julia Mancuso won her giant slalom gold at the 2006 Olympics. A giant slalom on Saturday will be followed by a debut event for the women—a parallel giant slalom, on Sunday. Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin is coming off a rough couple of races but will look forward to changing the tempo and stepping in the giant slalom start gate this weekend. In the last World Cup giant slalom, Mikaela won by an impressive 1.36 seconds in Lienz, Austria, when she swept the tech series at the end of December. Mikaela will head into the weekend with a healthy 273-point lead in the overall World Cup standings, and trails Italy’s Federica Brignone in the giant slalom standings by just 21 points, in second. 

To travel from Flachau to Sestriere, Mikaela brought teammates Keely Cashman, AJ Hurt, Paula Moltzan, and Nina O’Brien along with her on a helicopter ride as a squad. The whole crew will look forward to throwing down some giant slalom turns this weekend! 

You'll be able to watch on the Olympic Channel, NBCSN AND NBC this weekend, so make sure to check out all the details about who and how to watch below. 

MEN’S STARTERS
Bryce Bennett
Tommy Biesemeyer*
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Travis Ganong
Jared Goldberg
Sam Morse
Kyle Negomir
Steven Nyman
River Radamus
Ben Ritchie
Luke Winters

*Injured in the second DH training run and will not start this weekend. 

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Keely Cashman
AJ Hurt
Paula Moltzan
Nina O’Brien
Mikaela Shiffrin

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

START LIST
Men’s Alpine Combined

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Official event hashtags: #lauberhorn, #worldcupsestriere

HOW TO WATCH
All Times EST

Friday, Jan. 17
4:00 a.m. - Men’s combined downhill, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Men’s combined slalom, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Jan. 18
5:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 1, Sestriere, ITA - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
6:25 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com
8:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 2, Sestriere, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBC*
8:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBCSN*

Sunday, Jan. 19
3:45 a.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom qualifying, Sestriere, ITA - NBC Sports Gold
4:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Wengen, SUI - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:00 p.m. - Men’s downhill, Wengen, SUI - NBC**
8:00 p.m. - Women’s parallel giant slalom, Sestriere, ITA - NBCSN*
9:00 p.m. - Men’s slalom, Wengen, SUI - NBCSN*

*Same-day 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.