Goldberg Leads U.S. in Chamonix Combined

CHAMONIX, France, (Feb. 19, 2016) – Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) and Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, CA) patiently waited out Mother Nature’s antics Friday to score World Cup points at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup combined event.

France’s Alexis Pinturault won the event, with Italy’s Dominik Paris in second. Thomas Mermillod Blondin of France was third. Goldberg finished 20th, while Bennett was 21st.

Bryce Bennett grabbed more World Cup points, finishing 21st in the alpine combined. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Alexis Boichard)

Forecasters were calling for 3cm of snow, but when racers woke up Friday morning, the snow was coming down hard, forcing organizers to flip the schedule and run the slalom in the morning and the downhill in the afternoon.

“Mother Nature presented an enormous challenge today,” said U.S. men’s head coach Sasha Rearick. “Thirty centimeters of snowfall, fog. The course workers, the cat drivers, everyone just worked really well to pull it off.”

Bryce Bennett bashed gates in the slalom portion of the alpine combined.

Up next, the men compete in downhill Saturday in Chamonix, 4:30 a.m. EST.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Pinturault moved into the overall alpine combined World Cup lead with his victory Friday.
• Jared Goldberg finished 20th with Bryce Bennett 21st.
• Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) was the only other American starter and did not finish the slalom.
• Next up, the men race downhill Saturday in Chamonix. Watch live on NBC Sports Live Extra at 4:30 a.m. ET

Jared Goldberg skied to the sixth fastest downhill time.

QUOTES

Sasha Rearick – men’s head coach
Mother Nature presented an enormous challenge today. Thirty centimeters of snowfall, fog. The course workers, the cat drivers, everyone just worked really well to pull it off.

For the U.S. Ski Team, and our boys, today the slalom was not the performance we wanted to see. On our side, we have not trained enough slalom … today was a very easy course set and all about skiing with confidence and sending it down the hill.

In the downhill, I thought Jared and Bryce did a favorable job. Jared put down the sixth fastest time in the downhill and that was a good step forward for him.

Broadcast and Live Streaming (times EST)

Saturday, Feb. 20
4:30 a.m. - Men's downhill, Chamonix - LIVE - NBC Sports Live Extra
4:00 p.m. - Men's downhill, Chamonix - Universal HD

RESULTS
Men’s alpine combined