Steffey Top American in Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup Giant Slalom

An enormous crowd showed up to the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup to watch the best men tech racers in the world race the first Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup at Palisades Tahoe since 2017. George Steffey was the top U.S. man in the giant slalom, scoring his first career World Cup points in 21st place.

Marco Schwarz of Austria won the race in a thrilling fashion, with 2022 overall World Cup winner and first run winner Marco Odermatt just missing a victory by .03 seconds and finishing second. Rasmus Windingstad of Norway was third.

An enormous storm dropped two feet of fresh powder on Palisades Tahoe Friday, and while it made for a fantastic powder day, it made racing questionable for Saturday. But the course workers labored throughout the night to get the famed Red Dog hill ready for a giant slalom. The California crowd arrived in droves to sunshine and warm temperatures, and the race went off without a hitch.

Steffey, a native of Lyme, New Hampshire and Stratton Mountain School graduate, was 26th after first run and battled a cranker of a second run to take 21st overall. It was his first World Cup points score, having bounced between World Cups and Europa Cups for the last few years. “That’s a huge weight of my shoulders,” said Steffey. “I’ve been trying to crack into the top 30 for a long time—several years now. I’m really psyched to have finally done it and super grateful that the first time was at home. So much energy—I could hear the crowd coming down that last pitch. It was really just an incredible experience.”

Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete River Radamus put down a fast first run, leading the first few splits, but got his arm caught in a panel, which set him down to 18th place. On his second run, he went all out, but took a gate too tight over the pitch and did not finish. “My mentality was to push myself to the limits and see what I get away with,” said Radamus. “The course set and the snow necessitated charging to succeed today. I was happy with my mentality first run—I laid it all there; I wasn’t skiing conservatively. I felt like I was doing the same second run. Obviously the results aren’t what I want, but I have to understand that’s the risk of pushing it as hard as I can.”

The U.S. men were thrilled to be in front of the home crowd and racing on home snow in front of friends and family, even if second runs didn’t happen for everyone. Patrick Kenney and Brian McLaughlin did not qualify for second run. Tommy Ford went down hard on his first run and did not finish. He is OK.

The race also marked the first public Stifel Bibbo Award, an award given to the racer that moved up most in the ranks. Belgian skier Sam Maes took home the win and a monetary award after moving up from bib 37 to 14th place.

The men gear up for slalom on Sunday to wrap up the tech weekend at home. Watch the race LIVE on Outside for free starting at 12:30 p.m. ET. 

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
(all times ET)

February 26, 2023
12:30 p.m. - men's slalom, run 1 - LIVE on Outside+
1:00 p.m. - men's giant slalom - NBC*
4:15 p.m. - men's slalom, run 2 - LIVE on Outside+

March 4, 2023
10:00 a.m. - men's slalom - CNBC*

*delayed broadcast