River Radamus led the way for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, finishing in a FIS Ski World Cup career-best 14th—and fourth-fastest second run—in Saturday’s giant slalom at Bansko, Bulgaria. 

It was another fight for the podium in this deep men’s giant slalom field, with Croatia’s Filip Zubcic grabbing the victory, the recently crowned GS world champion France’s Mathieu Faivre in second, four-tenths of a second back, and Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner in third, .93 seconds off the pace, to earn his career-first podium. 

Radamus, who is missing his teammates after Tommy Ford and Ryan Cochran-Siegle each had season-ending injuries, and two-time Olympic champion Ted Ligety recently retired, recently finished 11th as the lone American in the World Championships giant slalom at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Radamus has shown a purposeful progression throughout the season. The 23-year-old, who has a decorated past as a two-time World Juniors champion and three-time Youth Olympic Games gold medal winner, has had a solid 2020-21 season, nailing top-20 and points-scoring results throughout the year, including an eighth place in the parallel and sixth place in team parallel at World Championships. This is his fifth points-scoring result in World Cup competition. 

“I had a great time battling in Bansko today,” Radamus commented. “The hill is steep and technical, and they did a great job with the hill prep. I felt I didn’t quite execute on run 1, so I was hungry to make a move on the second. I really pushed the line and took some chances on run 2 and I'm proud of the effort. I'm still looking to put together two runs as well as I can, but I'm enjoying the progression, and psyched with another top 15.”

Bridger Gile and Andrew Miller—who was making his World Cup debut and also represents Dartmouth College—also started for the Americans, but did not qualify for the second run. Gile finished just outside the flip, in 36th, the first run. Even still, teammate Radamus feels there were some good takeaways from Saturday’s giant slalom. 

“I think Bridger and Andrew did really well today too,” he added. “Bridge being 36th stings, but I think he had some great skiing today and can take confidence in being so close. He's knocking on the door and due for a breakout. Andrew handled his WC debut with a lot of composure and has the right headspace to put it all together. I’m psyched to get another go at it tomorrow with the boys!”

Radamus is currently ranked 26th in the giant slalom standings, with two giant slaloms left to move into the top-25 and qualify for World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. 

The men will wrap their weekend in Bansko, Bulgaria with another giant slalom on Sunday. 

STANDINGS
Overall
Giant Slalom 

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 27
6:30 p.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women’s Downhill - same-day broadcast, Val di Fassa, ITA, Broadcast NBCSN

Sunday, Feb. 28
4:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Men’s Giant Slalom, run 1 - LIVE, Bansko, BUL, Streaming Peacock
5:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women’s Super-G - LIVE, Val di Fassa, ITA, Streaming Peacock
5:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women’s Super-G - LIVE, Val di Fassa, ITA, Broadcast Olympic Channel
7:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Men’s Giant Slalom, run 2 - LIVE, Bansko, BUL, Broadcast Olympic Channel
7:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Men’s Giant Slalom, run 2 - LIVE, Bansko, BUL, Streaming Peacock
2:30 p.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women’s Super-G - same-day broadcast, Val di Fassa, ITA, Broadcast NBCSN