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Third USA Halfpipe Podium Sweep 2024-25 Season

By Erin Doyle - Stifel U.S. Freeski Team
February, 3 2025
Nick Goepper, Alex Ferreira, and Matt Labaugh on the podium at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix
Nick Goepper, Alex Ferreira, and Matt Labaugh on the podium at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Aspen Buttermilk

The Stifel U.S. Freeski Team secured their third men's halfpipe podium sweep of the season at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen. The men's team went one through four: Alex Ferreira, Nick Goepper, Matt Labaugh, and Hunter Hess. Svea Irving led the charge for the women, as the top finisher in fourth. 

In maybe the most exciting halfpipe final ever, Alex Ferreira secured the win with a near-perfect third run, putting it down when it mattered. Ferreira threw both ways double 1620s, clinching the top spot. This was a huge win for Ferreira in his hometown of Aspen, Colorado after finishing second in X Games just last week behind Nick Goepper. Goepper finished second after a beautiful first run that set the tone for the rest of the competition. He was coming in hot after winning X Games in the same Aspen Buttermilk pipe last week.

Matt Labaugh earned his first World Cup podium with a third place on an awesome run that he capped off by leaping into his friends at the bottom of the pipe. Labaugh's previous best finish was fifth at Mammoth last year, but since finals were cancelled it didn't feel quite real enough. Labaugh was so excited for his first podium, and to podium at such a stacked finals, saying "I didn't have any expectations, it was the run I've been dreaming about putting down for months. I landed the run, and just couldn't believe that went into the podium. The run felt so right, I couldn't believe it when I landed, I was kind of in awe at the bottom. It feels like it's been coming for a long time. The best part was jumping into my friends, everyone being down there cheering me on was awesome". 

The American men did not stop there though, Hunter Hess came in fourth after a great third run earning him a 92.50 and Birk Irving in seventh with a 91.00. Finals was tough, with the top seven finishers all in the 90s. Tristan Feinberg finished in 10th.

Svea Irving finished fourth, after a great first run. She cranked up the intensity, trying some harder tricks for her second and third run but not getting it quite smooth enough for a podium spot. Kate Gray finished seventh, after a clean first run. Great Britain's Zoe Atkin came away with the top spot, with China's Fanghui Li in second and Canada's Amy Fraser in third.

The Ferreira-Goepper dynamic is heating up, with Alex winning two events this year, Copper and Apsen, and Nick winning two events this year, X Games and Secret Garden. It will all come down to the Snow Calgary showdown in Calgary from February 

RESULTS
Women
Men

Hall, Harwood and Stevenson on the Podium

By Erin Doyle - Stifel U.S. Freeski Team
February, 3 2025
Alex Hall, Colby Stevenson and Birk Ruud on the men's slopestyle podium
Alex Hall, Colby Stevenson and Birk Ruud on the men's slopestyle podium

Finals at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Aspen kicked off with men's and women's slopestyle early Saturday morning. After a cold and sunny week of training, conditions changed for finals offering warm temperatures and flat light.

Junior Worlds silver medalist, Ella Andrews, dropped first for the American women. This was only Andrew's second World Cup final, but she handled it with ease. Andrews put down a clean first run that earned her sixth for the day. This was Andrew's second highest finish at a World Cup, after a second place finish in Mammoth last season.

X Games gold medalist Rell Harwood was the other American woman in the final. After qualifying second, Rell dropped towards the end of the pack. Harwood put down a clean first run, but it wasn't enough for the podium. On her second go, she cleaned up her rails and her last hit: a left double 1260 safety. The judges rewarded her with third place, earning Harwood her first World Cup podium. Harwood was extremely happy with the outcome and with her skiing, standing on the podium alongside of France's Tess Ledeux in first and Canada's Megan Oldham in second.

On the men's side, the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team was out in full force with five of 16 competitors: Alex Hall, Colby Stevenson, Mac Forehand, Konnor Ralph, and Cody LaPlante. Alex Hall came out swinging, putting down a beautiful first run that earned him first place, and his first World Cup win of the season. Hall was stoked on the victory, saying, "I was so hyped to put one down today! The Aspen Buttermilk course was really fun and everyone in the field killed it today. I was really happy with my run and was able put it down about as smooth as I could." Colby Stevenson finished second, with a great final run to bump Norway's Birk Ruud to third. LaPlante struggled to put down a clean run, finishing the day in 15th, but was proud of his effort to put together a challenging and stylish run. Forehand and Ralph finished the day in ninth and sixth, respectively, putting down good runs, but not enough to crack the podium. 

The Stifel U.S. Freeski Team is wrapping up their Aspen stint, with the Visa Big Air finals going down on Thursday, February 6. After that, they are taking some much needed time off before heading off to the last North American World Cup of the season in Quebec, Canada.

RESULTS
Women
Men

Bon's Big Day: FitzSimons Third in Aspen

By Sadie Texer - Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team
February, 3 2025
Sean FitzSimons Third in Aspen

Snowboard action at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix wrapped up Sunday morning with slopestyle finals and six members of the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team were set to drop. Sean FitzSimons secured his second podium of his career. 

Warmer temperatures and a bit of cloud cover set the scene over Aspen’s Buttermilk Park and the athletes took advantage of the early morning weather window and put on a show for the Colorado crowd.

Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team rookie athletes held it down on the women’s side of competition, with 15 year old Lily Dhawornvej making her first domestic slopestyle finals appearance and Hahna Norman earning her first World Cup career final. Although neither Dhawornvej or Norman were able to land a full pull clean, the two young guns proved they belong on the World Cup stage and are true threats to make the Olympic roster in the upcoming cycle.

The men’s side of competition saw four Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team members in the mix. 2022 Olympian FitzSimons put down two clean runs to qualify into finals and was looking to continue his competition full pull streak in Sunday’s competition. Sitting in third place after a solid first run, FitzSimons, better known as "Bon" by his teammates, looked to best his score of 73.76 and hold his place on the podium. Dropping in for the final time in Aspen, FitzSimons kicked things off with a solid rail section into a switch backside 16 melon, backside triple cork 14 weddle and a frontside triple cork 14 weddle, saluting to the Colorado crowd hyping him up in the stands as he slashed into the finish area. FitzSimons was forced to sit through a grueling 11 more runs from riders who are all threats to the podium before he was able to claim third place on the day and secure the second World Cup podium of his career.

"It felt really good to put four for four down and even better to earn a spot on the podium,” said an emotional FitzSimons after the awards ceremony. “If there was an event to podium at this would be the one so I’m psyched to get it done.”

Two-time Olympian Chris Corning, better known as “Captain America” by his teammates, and Jake Canter, straight off a successful big air stint in Austria, took 10th and 11th respectively. Making his first World Cup finals appearance, North Carolinian Fynn Bullock, who doubles as a professional wakeboarder in the off-season, put down a clutch second run, ending with a massive backside 16 nose grab to secure seventh place overall.

The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Aspen Snowmass was recently added as a pivotal competition towards qualifying for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games, making the achievement even more bittersweet for FitzSimons, a Mt. Hood native who spent the last year battling back from a broken pelvis. 

“It’s been a long road coming back from injury,” FitzSimons added. “It feels great to be on the box again. So unreal.” 

Never forgetting where he came from, FitzSimons added one final remark:

“Shoutout Oregon. I better see that in the article.”

With his third place finish in Aspen, FitzSimons locked up the U.S. national snowboard slopestyle Championship title for the men and rookie Lily Dhawornvej earned the honor for the women.

The Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team has two days of training before Wednesday’s qualifications for the Visa Big Air presented by Toyota. Watch all the action from big air finals live from Buttermilk on Outside TV on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

RESULTS
Women
Men

Elliott Takes Banked Slalom Crystal Globe; Schultz Second in Kühtai

By U.S. Ski & Snowboard
February, 2 2025
Noah Elliott with his Crystal Globe in Kuhtai, Austria
Noah Elliott shows off his Crystal Globe after his banked slalom win in Kühtai, Austria. (invisions.at).

On the second day of competition in Kühtai, Austria, Noah Elliott completed his perfect banked slalom season, winning all four events to take home the 2025 FIS Banked Slalom Crystal Globe. 

The beautiful conditions from day one continued into the second day of competition, a great contrast to the past two World Cup stops where weather played a role in the results. Darian Haynes, Mike Schultz and Elliott advanced to the finals for the U.S. after finishing in the top four in their respective classifications in qualifying. In the women’s LL1/LL2 class, Kate Delson led the way in fifth, followed by Brenna Huckaby in ninth, Rebecca Johnston in 11th and Dennae Russell in 13th. In the men’s LL2 classification, Zach Miller finished fifth, securing a third-place finish in the overall banked slalom standings. Joe Pleban followed in 11th and Aleks Godowski ended the day 14th. Colby Fields finished 13th in men’s UL. 

In the finals, Haynes was once again head-to-head with Anna Drobna (POL). Haynes put up a great fight but fell behind and finished the day fourth. Elliott and Schultz went head to head in the big final, fighting for first and second place. Elliott triumphed, earning his fourth banked slalom win of the season, which allowed him to earn the Overall Banked Slalom Crystal Globe. Schultz finished second, earning his fourth podium of the season.

The team is returning to the States for a training block before heading to Steamboat Springs for the first domestic World Cup since 2017. 

RESULTS
Women
Men

Diggins Dominates 10k Skate, Wins 26th Individual World Cup

By Leann Bentley - Stifel U.S. Ski Team
February, 2 2025
jessie diggins
Jessie Diggins celebrates with champagne after her win in the 10k skate in Cogne, Italy. (NordicFocus).

At the first interval of Sunday's 10k skate, it was clear that Jessie Diggins was here to do one thing - win. And she did just that, taking home her 26th individual World Cup victory and her fifth of the 2024-25 season. Adding onto a successful day for the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, Gus Schumacher had a strong day with a 10th-place result, alongside teammates Kendall Kramer and Kate Oldham, who notched their career-best World Cup results. 

The men kicked things off today for the final day of racing in sunny Cogne, Italy. The U.S. team has six men at the start: Walker Hall, Zak Ketterson, Zanden McMullen, Ben Ogden, Schumacher, and Hunter Wonders. With the interval start format, it was an athlete against the clock. But, at the 4.5k mark, it was clear that Schumacher was having a strong race. The young U.S. skier, who captured his first World Cup win a year ago at the Stifel Loppet Cup in Minneapolis, MN, looked determined to make every second count. Through the intervals, Schumacher maintained his position within the top 10. Into the finishing stretch, Schumacher of Anchorage, AK, crossed the line in tenth, collapsing at the finish after a hard day's work. After spending the last few weeks back home in Alaska, Schumacher traveled several time zones and thousands of miles away from home to a quick turnaround to racing. This weekend, his focus was to find his speed. Today, he did just that.

"Today felt really good!" said Schumacher, post-race. I could tell in the warmup that things were kinda in a good place. I still didn’t feel adjusted for altitude racing, but it felt good to ski smoothly and powerfully the whole time. It's nice to have some good feelings going into this camp next week, which finishes off the time at altitude. I'll be able to chill out and hits some races in Falun!"

However, Norway’s Harald Østberg Amundsen stole the spotlight today. Skiing the 10k in an astonishing 19 minutes and 39 seconds, Amundsen made a clear statement about his continued dominance this season. Teammates Iver Tildheim Andersen was second and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget third. Ogden was the second fastest American man today in 24th, Ketterson just outside top 30 in 32nd, McMullen 43rd, Wonders 46th and Hall 48th.  

In the women's 10k skate, Diggins was unstoppable from the start. She controlled the race from the get-go, with her lead growing at every interval. Her performance was remarkable; she clocked a sub-24-minute time— the only woman to ski sub-24 on the day— to claim her 26th individual World Cup victory.

Diggins has been in impressive form this season despite battling an injury earlier in the year, which started during the Tour de Ski, and claims her 21st distance World Cup win across 351 World Cup starts.

“The crowd was amazing — I was so thankful for the cheering,” said Diggins after the race. “It was a beautiful day and I just wanted to go really hard, and I did! It’s nice to know that the hard work in training is paying off. Now, I’m excited for a fun and beautiful training camp before the World Championships.”

For the U.S. women, Oldham was 16th and Kramer was 18th - both career-best results for the young Americans and a confidence boost before the two athletes headed to Italy for the Under-23 World Championships. Kramer, who just wrapped up her collegiate running career, thrives in technical distance races and today's result is a testament to her fitness this season. For Oldham, the Montana State University athlete, the last couple weeks on the World Cup have been nothing short of impressive. 

"I’m still here to learn and focus on process goals, but today’s result is icing on the cake of an amazing first experience at World Cup," said Oldham. "It’s a testament to my support system of coaches, techs, teammates, friends and family. “Career best result” is something we’re always chasing as athletes. It may become more elusive as I accumulate more World Cup starts, but for now it’s just adding to the fun of the racing."

Second place, after Diggins, went to Astrid Oeyre Slind of Norway and Kerttu Niskanen of Finland. 

As the season heats up and the World Championships loom, there is one more weekend of racing at the site of last year's World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. 

RESULTS
Women
Men

Kauf Wins, Page Third in Val St. Cöme Dual Moguls

By Ryan Odeja - Stifel U.S. Ski Team
February, 2 2025
Team photo in Val St. Come

The Stifel U.S. Ski Team moguls athletes are on a roll as Jaelin Kauf grabbed another victory and Nick Page landed on the podium in third at Saturday's FIS Freestyle World Cup dual moguls in Canada. 

It was a frigid night in Val St. Côme, Quebec, with temperatures hovering around -3 degrees Fahrenheit. Quebec and Val St. Cöme are known for their freestyle culture, and this World Cup is a favorite to many athletes. The Alexandre Bilodeau course is a perfect mix of fun and challenge, creating exciting events for all involved. 

Eight U.S. athletes advanced from the qualification round, including Kylie Kariotis, who made her first-ever World Cup finals by defeating Japan’s Haruka Nakao, who was ranked seventh in the world coming into Saturday's event, in the round of 32. Kai Owens finished 17th, followed by Dylan Marcellini in 27th, Alli Macuga in 28th and Nash Lucas in 29th. 

Of the eight who continued on to the round of 16, Page, Kariotis, Olivia Giaccio and Kauf moved on to the quarter-finals. Charlie Mickel finished ninth, Tess Johnson 10th, Kasey Hogg in 11th, and Asher Michel 15th. Kauf took on Hinako Tomitaka (JPN), Giaccio was paired with Rino Yanagimoto (JPN), Kariotis with Perrine Laffont (FRA) and Nick Page alongside Matt Graham (AUS). Kariotis ran into some trouble against Laffont but finished the day eighth, a new personal best. Giaccio and Kauf advanced and went head to head in the semi-finals, the round determining placement for the big and small finals. Kauf won the semi-final 18-17 against Giaccio, the closest a dual can get, sending Kauf to the big final and Giaccio to the small final. Page took on the king, Mikael Kingsbury, who was coming off of another win last night in the moguls event. Kingsbury won 21 to 14; meaning Page was headed to the small final. 

In the women’s big final, Kauf was matched against Anastassiya Gorodko (KAZ), who is having quite the season so far. At only 19 years old, this big final would secure her first career World Cup podium. Kauf, known for her speed, continued to push the limits in the bumps, and it was too much for Gorodko to contain, causing her to ski out and DNF. With tonight's result, Kauf earned her 10th World Cup win and continued her podium streak to six in a row. Giaccio took on the current World Cup moguls leader, Laffont, in the small final. Giaccio lost the dual but still finished the day fourth, her best duals result of the season. In the men’s small final, Page battled Filip Gravenfors (SWE). It was an incredible dual with both athletes evenly matched across the board, but in the end, it was Page who took the final spot on the podium, finishing third. This is Page’s best dual moguls result of the season and his eighth career podium. The men’s podium was completed by Kingsbury in first and Ben Cavet (FRA) in second. 

“This was super fun tonight,” said Kauf. “She [Gorodko] definitely had me on my toes in there.”

Next up, the best moguls and aerials athletes in the world are heading to Deer Valley for the Super Bowl of Freestyle Skiing - the Intermountain Health Freestyle International presented by Stifel, Feb. 6-8. 

RESULTS
Women
Men

Kim on Top; Another Mastro Never-Before-Done

By Sadie Texer - Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team
February, 1 2025
Chloe Kim on the Podium in Aspen
Chloe Kim on top of the podium in Aspen

Chloe Kim came away with another World Cup victory, with teammate Maddie Mastro doing what she does best - another never-before-done trick as the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team was back in Aspen Snowmass, Colorado for the first time since 2021, at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix.

In Saturday's halfpipe final, the pipe was crowded with fans to cheer on a field full of heavy hitters for the penultimate halfpipe World Cup of the season. The Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team saw three women in finals, including two-time Olympic Gold medalist Kim, two-time Olympian Mastro and 18-year-old Sonora Alba, who was making her first World Cup final of the 2024-25 season.

Alba was first to drop for the American women and sent her huge signature backside indy to start off what would be a near-perfect run, before just missing the landing on her final hit, an alley oop mctwist. With a chip on her shoulder, Alba dropped into the Aspen halfpipe for a second time and laced her full run clean, earning a score of 66.74 to put her in fifth place, tying her personal best World Cup result.

Wearing the coveted yellow bib to signify her place as first overall in the FIS halfpipe World Cup standings, Mastro had an uncharacteristic fall on the first hit of her first run, just slipping out on her signature double crippler. The seasoned veteran didn’t let the mistake shake her and brought a focused determination to her second attempt to land one clean and earn her a score the judges deemed worthy of fourth place. In her final attempt to sneak onto the podium, Mastro put down a newly designed run and became the first woman to land a switch ally oop backside rodeo in the contest. The judges awarded Mastro a score of 84.00, maintaining her fourth-place spot.

Straight off of her historic X Games gold medal just last week, Kim dropped into finals as the top qualifier and sent shockwaves through the field of competitors with a massive score of 91.75 on her first attempt of the day. Kim was unable to put down her final two runs, but her three-point margin on the rest of the field held strong throughout the contest and earned her the first-place spot on the podium. Korea’s Gaon Choi’s first run score of 88.75 landed her in the second place spot and Japan’s Sara Shimizu took third, continuing her breakout rookie season.

Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team veterans Chase Josey and Lucas Foster held it down for the American’s on the men’s side of competition and the olympians put on a show in front of a home crowd. Josey put down a nail biter of a first run and was unable to clean it up on his second attempt. With one attempt left, Josey dropped in regular, switching it up from his normal switch drop in and put down a heater of a run and his best of the season, catapulting him up to third place. Following up his teammate, Foster dropped into the pipe for the final time after failing to land both of his first two attempts. With his home Colorado crowd cheering him on, Foster put on a show, stomping all five of his hits including his signature double ally oop mctwist, earning him a score of 80.25 to bump out teammate Foster on the podium. Despite massive performances, the Amwericans were eventually knocked off of the podium by the Japanese, continuing their dominance in the halfpipe. 

The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix continues Sunday with the men’s and women’s snowboard slopestyle finals, the first run dropping at 11:30 a.m. ET live on Outside Watch. The Hydro Flak U.S. Snowboard halfpipe Team turns to the Calgary Snow Rodeo for the final halfpipe competition of the season before World Championships.

 

Elliott Wins, Huckaby Third in Kühtai

By U.S. Ski & Snowboard
February, 1 2025
Noah Elliott on the podium
Noah Elliott smiles on the podium in Kühtai, Austria after winning the banked slalom. (invisions.at).

The Toyota U.S. Para Snowboard Team athletes are back in the banks for the first time since November, and the wait did not disappoint, with Noah Elliott and Brenna Huckaby taking the top and third steps of the podium, respectively. 

The conditions were picture-perfect in Kühtai, Austria, for the first of two banked slalom races. After two great days of training and a few days of joyriding, the team was ready to be back in competition mode. In qualifying, Huckaby, Elliott, and Darian Haynes were the three U.S. athletes to advance to finals, as only the top four finishers in each classification move on to finals in banked slalom. Mike Schultz finished fifth in the men’s LL1 class. Zach Miller led the LL2 category in seventh, followed by Joe Pleban in 13th and Aleks Godowski in 14th. Colby Fields finished 13th in men’s UL. On the women’s side, Peggy Martin finished fifth in women’s UL. Kate Delson ended the day eighth in the LL1/LL2 classification, Dennae Russell in 12th and Rebecca Johnston in 13th. 

In the finals, Huckaby was paired against Yanhong Geng (CHN) and prevailed, winning the small final by over 10 seconds. Huckaby admitted that she was surprised she finished on the podium today after struggling with a few of the turns on the course, so the third place was a major win in her book. Haynes finished the day fourth after her battle with Anna Drobna (POL). After qualifying in the top spot, Elliott continued his dominance by winning by almost two seconds over his opponent Zhongwei Wu (CHN) in the big final, earning his third win and fifth podium of the season. 

Tomorrow, the team takes on the second banked slalom event in Austria starting at 3:35 am ET. Follow along on FIS Live Timing

RESULTS
Women
Men

Kauf, Giaccio Go Two-Three in Val St. Côme Moguls

By Ryan Odeja - Stifel U.S. Ski Team
January, 31 2025
Jaelin Kauf and Olivia Giaccio on the podium in Canada
Jaelin Kauf and Olivia Giaccio smile on the podium in Val St. Côme, CAN. (FIS Freestyle).

Jaelin Kauf and Olivia Giaccio continued their hot streak Friday night in Val St. Côme, Quebec, Canada, where they finished second and third once again in FIS Freestyle World Cup moguls. 

Quebec is one of the most significant freestyle development hotspots in the world, with Jean-Luc Brassard, Mikael Kingsbury, and many more freestyle athletes hailing from the area - including many from Val St. Côme. The freestyle spirit could be felt throughout the day as the best moguls athletes flocked to the renowned Bilodeau course, considered one of the most difficult on the circuit at almost 800 ft long and a gradient of 28 degrees. 

The light was flat and chilled during qualifications, where eight Stifel U.S. Ski Team athletes advanced to the final rounds. Kasey Hogg finished 23rd, followed by Charlie Mickel in 24th, Dylan Walczyk 25th and Kylie Kariotis 27th. Tess Johnson, Alli Macuga, Kai Owens, Giaccio, Kauf, Asher Michel, Dylan Marcellini, and Nick Page advanced to finals, where they continued putting on a show, allowing three to move on to the super finals round. Michel was firing all day and came extremely close to a new personal best, finishing the day eighth overall, tying his personal best World Cup result. Marcellini rounded out the top 10, and Page finished 11th. Macuga landed in 12th and Johnson in 13th. 

In the super finals round, Owens, Giaccio and Kauf advanced to the top six, which turned into an extremely tight battle. Owens ran into a bit of trouble on the top and finished sixth overall, tying her season's best result. Giaccio put down a stunning super finals run, finishing third to complete her incredibly successful day, earning the top three women’s air scores, peaking at 17.54 in qualifying. Kauf lived up to her name as the fastest woman on the World Cup circuit, earning the fastest times of the day to finish second overall. The podium was completed by Maia Schwinghammer (CAN), who earned her first career win in front of her hometown crowd. 

Tomorrow, the team will take on dual moguls in Val St. Côme. Qualification begins at 4:45 p.m. ET, followed by finals at 7:30 p.m. ET live on skiandsnowboard.live

RESULTS
Women
Men

Team Sprint Day in Cogne; Three Advance to Finals with Schumacher, Schoonmaker Tenth

By Leann Bentley - Stifel U.S. Ski Team
January, 31 2025
gus schumacher
Gus Schumacher before the team sprint in Cogne, Italy. (NordicFocus).

The Stifel U.S. Ski Team has once again arrived in a new country, this time for three more races before the 2025 FIS Ski World Championships, which kick off at the end of February. Today was the team sprint, where two athletes teamed up together. Gus Schumacher and JC Schoonmaker take home the top result of the day, crossing the line together in tenth. 

The athletes were ready to get things going with the sun shining bright and Italian fans packing into the sprint course atmosphere. With the team sprint format, the top 15 teams advance to the team sprint finals in a qualification round, similar to a standard sprint race. Though you have a teammate, you qualify individually and to advance, your combined times must be within the top 15.

The women kicked things off. For the USA team, Montana's Bridger Ski Foundation athletes Erin Bianco and Emma Albrecht qualified 14th to clinch a spot in the final. Bianco and Albrecht had their first World Cup debuts last season and are excited to be back racing at the sport's highest level.

For Albrecht, this weekend in Cogne is a chance to feel more comfortable on the World Cup. “I hope to leave with the confidence that I have what it takes to be competitive at the World Cup,” she said before the races. For Bianco, it’s all about gaining more World Cup experience. “I’m excited to hopefully treat this race as any other and stick to what I know how to do,” said Bianco. “It’s important to know you don’t have to do anything special and just ski your race.” 

In the women’s team sprint classic final, the pack was together for the first couple of laps, then it began to break up lightly, with USA trailing off the back. The pace from the leaders was fast - Norway, Switzerland and Sweden each taking turns with the lead, with the Finnish team not letting go of that podium potential.

With quick bumps, steep and short uphills and long straightaways, this course favored those with a strong double pole and fast transitions. In the finish, the podium ultimately went to Finland in first, Sweden in second, and Germany in third. USA finished 15th. 

Now, the men's turn at the course. Two USA teams were on the start list, with USA One represented by Gus Schumacher and JC Schoonmaker and Team Two by Zak Ketterson and Luke Jager. In the qualifier, Schumacher showed his speed - qualifying in fourth place. All men were in the top 30, putting up fast enough times to qualify USA teams one and two to the team sprint finals. 

In the first lap of six, Jager put the foot on the pedal and went for it. Into the first exchange, Schumacher and Jager gave their teammates—Schoonmaker to Schumacher and Ketterson to Jager—a perfect chance at maintaining their position in the front pack. 

Going into today’s race, Schumacher focused on feeling good and finding the speed he knew he had. For Schoonmaker, his focus was to “race my best and walk away feeling like I executed the races well.”

Into the race's second half, the Americans were falling back into the tight pack, with Norway, Finland and France expanding the gap ever so slightly. The pace began to accelerate, but the Americans could not hold on. At the end of the race, the Norwegians took home their fourth team sprint victory of the 2024-25 season, outsprinting France, who took second and Sweden in third. 

"It was fun to get to do a team event and team up with one of my best friends and a great guy, Zak!" said Jager. "I'm proud of and very thankful for all the hard work our team did to give us really good skis today, too."

"I am really proud of how Luke and I asserted ourselves and skied where we felt we belong," said Ketterson. "We had a really unfortunate crash that took us out of the fight, but prior to that I felt like it was some of the best skiing Luke or myself had ever done. Taking a lot of positives away from the experience into the next days."

The USA’s first team, including Schumacher and Schoonmaker, was 10th, and the USA team two, with Jager and Ketterson, was 14th. 

Tomorrow, the team is back to racing in another classic sprint. Watch live and on-demand on skiandsnowboard.live with heats taking off at 7:00 a.m. ET. 

RESULTS
Women
Men