Crowley, O'Brien Third in Courchevel
On the first day of racing in Courchevel, the final stop of the French Tour, Stifel U.S. Para Alpine Ski Team athletes Audrey Crowley and Saylor O’Brien battled the fog, rain and snow to finish on the podium, each in third place. This is Crowley’s first career podium in only her seventh World Cup start.
The stage was set at the famed Emile Allais Stadium in Courchevel, and run one began in a thick cloud of fog. The technical course set by the French coach proved challenging for many, with DNFs plaguing run 1. Throughout the day, the conditions deteriorated, and with an extremely turny run two course set, run two times were roughly 10-20 seconds longer than run one.
The weather and turns were no match for the women. Crowley, the youngest on the team in only her third World Cup event, delivered a career-best performance, landing on her first World Cup podium. The women’s standing podium was completed by Ebba Aarsjoe (SWE) and Anna-Maria Rieder (GER). Allie Johnson of the U.S. finished sixth.
“[This] podium means everything to me; competing against the best women in the world is truly special,” said Crowley. “This podium not only reflects my skiing today but the hard work throughout the season and over the summer. This past season, I’ve been working on becoming more consistent, trying to have good runs more often, and using the strength I’ve gained over the summer to be able to recover when mistakes do happen. Congratulations to Ebba [Aarsjoe] and Anna-Maria [Rieder]; they skied great. And to my teammate/roommate, Saylor O’Brien, I am so proud of you.”
O’Brien, who is back skiing on the World Cup circuit for the first time in over a year, landed on her first podium since 2022 in the women’s sitting classification. Anna-Lena Forster (GER) and Momoka Muraoka (JPN) ended the day first and second overall. Laurie Stephens did not finish run two.
On the men’s standing side, Patrick Halgren led the way finishing 10th, closely followed by Jesse Keefe in 11th and Tyler McKenzie in 17th. Zach Williams was the only U.S. sitting man to finish both runs, ending the day 13th.
Tomorrow, the team wraps up the French Tour with a second giant slalom race. Tune in to run one at 3:30 am ET on FIS TV and run two at 7:00 am ET on FIS TV.
Audrey Crowley
Audrey was born in small town Wisconsin and grew up skiing on a 196 vertical foot hill with her family. Crowley was born without a fully developed right arm, but that hasn’t stopped her from being competitive both in adaptive and able-bodied races across the country. She was named the Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy Athlete of the Year in 2019. Her proudest accomplishments include her perfect U10 season, winning U.S. Para National Championships in 2021, and winning super-G Nationals in 2023.