White Circus: European Edition, Commence
We’re sad to see the FIS Ski World Cup Tour shift from North America to Europe, but as they say - the show must go on, right?! Olympic champions Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) and Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) will lead the cast of characters at the first stop in St. Moritz, Switzerland and Val d’Isere, France, respectively. We'll miss our cheeseburgers, but bring on the schnitzel - downhiller Steven Nyman's personal favorite - semmel roll salami and cucumber sandwiches, jet fuel-double espressos, and sauna time in magical Euroland!
Fresh off her historic 46th career World Cup victory, which was also her first career World Cup super-G win - and podium, for that matter - Sunday at Lake Louise, Alberta, Shiffrin is eager to continue the season with an unlikely pair of events this weekend: super-G and parallel slalom. Never fear...American fans will only have to reach for their mobile device or remote control to watch this weekend’s World Cup events in St. Moritz.
Shiffrin will carry the momentum from her big weekend in Lake Louise in super-G through to this weekend’s super-G, as she looks to score more valuable points towards the overall, which she currently leads with 489 points, by a massive 238-point margin over Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin. On Sunday, Shiffrin became the first-ever athlete - male or female - to win in all six World Cup disciplines currently contested. Since, there has been much discussion about the accomplishment, which Shiffrin addressed on Wednesday in a media call from St. Moritz.
"Everybody has a different definition of what it means to be 'the greatest,' Shiffrin reflected. "You know, to be the true greatest of all time - that's something that depends on your opinion of what it means to be the greatest. Is it the greatest technique? Is it a record? I don't consider myself a record chaser, because I do feel like there is so much that boils down to your opinion. My opinion is that I want to be considered to be one of the best technical skiers and, essentially, to win - not to win a certain number of races - but to get in the start and know that I have the ability to be the best racer on any given day in any given event. With that comes winning races, and getting closer to records, but I'm not chasing that.
These people who have come before me, that have set these records, I don't think I can compete with that. Marlies Schild, for example. To me, she'll always be the greatest woman slalom skier. It is always an honor and amazing to hold any of those records, but records are meant to be broken...and someone is going to come up and break them, right?!"
Sunday’s parallel slalom event will be the kickoff parallel event of the season, and it will include a qualifier, so will be structured much like the Courchevel, France parallel slalom event last December 20th – which Mikaela won, over Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova. Veteran U.S. Ski Team athlete Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.) will also be starting in Sunday’s parallel slalom event.
On the men's side, Ligety leads the tech team in the second World Cup giant slalom and slalom events of the season on one of the most challenging tracks of the season: Le Face de Bellevarde in Val d’Isere, France. You could say that Ligety has a bit of a love/hate relationship with Le Face, having won one World Cup race in Val d'Isère, a giant slalom in 2010, while also having battled Le Face and come up short in recent years. In an Instagram post Friday featuring Ligety’s son, 2038 Olympic hopeful Jax, Ligety wrote, “Hoping to dance down Le Face with as good of rhythm as Jax!” Keep an eye out for Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.), Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) and Brian McLaughlin (Waitsfield, Vt.) - who all scored points in last Sunday’s Birds of Prey giant slalom season opener.
Catch all of the action on NBC Sports Network, NBC Sports Gold, and the Olympic Channel, so make sure to tune in.
See who to watch and where to catch all the action below.
WOMEN’S STARTERS
- Alice Merryweather (SG)
- Laurenne Ross (SG)
- Mikaela Shiffrin (SG, PS)
- Resi Stiegler (PS)
MEN’S STARTERS
- Ryan Cochran-Siegle (GS)
- Tommy Ford (GS)
- Ted Ligety (GS)
- Brian McLaughlin (GS)
- River Radamus (GS, SL)
- Hig Roberts (GS, SL)
- Luke Winters (GS, SL)
START LISTS
Women's super-G
Men's giant slalom
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change
*Same-day delayed broadcast
**Next-day broadcast
ALPINE
Saturday, Dec. 8
3:45 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 1 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:00 a.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:45 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV
Saturday, Dec. 9
12:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV**
3:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 1 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
4:15 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom qualifying, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV
5:00 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV*
Fans can catch all the action in spectacular high definition via NBC Sports online at NBCSports.com/Live or through the NBC Sports app which is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow
START LISTS
Men's Start List - Giant Slalom
Women's Start List - Super-G
