The U.S. Cross Country Team continued progressing in the 2018-19 season. With 10 World Cup podiums, one Junior World Championship podium, and multiple U.S. cross country athletes rankings in the top 10 for World Cup sprinting events. 

Jessie Diggins, a crowd favorite and 2018 Olympic gold medalist, podiumed five times in World Cup competitions this season. “The past season was full of its own unique challenges post-Olympics with increased internal and external pressure, but it was a season full of learning to navigate that pressure and re-calibrate for a new Olympic cycle,” says Diggins. “With multiple podiums and ending the season ranked top 10 in the World, I’m satisfied with my season and already looking ahead to where I can improve for next year.”

Sophie Caldwell also had an impressive season, getting onto the podium three times and finishing the season ranked fourth in the World Cup sprint standings. “This past season ended up being one of the strongest seasons I've ever had and I'm looking forward to gearing up for another season of training and racing,” said Caldwell. “It's been an extremely rewarding experience for me to be on the World Cup with some of our younger athletes and to witness them skiing so strongly at World Juniors and U23s. I'm looking forward to the training season, but first it's time for a little physical and mental break this spring.”

Sadie Bjornsen had a personal best this season, reaching her career-first skate sprint podium. “After taking a different approach on the season and focusing the majority of my attention on World Championships this year, I am happy to have given it my absolute best shot,” Bjornsen says. With Bjornsen, Caldwell, and Diggins all on the podium this year, the ladies team has proven their strength.

The men’s all-star athlete this season was Erik Bjornsen, who qualified for the A Team for his progression throughout the season, including a third place finish in the 15k classic pursuit at the World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway. The men competing in Junior World Championships also did extremely well, with the relay team of Luke Jager, Ben Ogden, Johnny Hagenbuch, and Gus Schumacher winning the gold. “I barely missed the individual podium, but the win in the relay was everything that I could ask for! Such a great feeling to have so many strong boys on that team,” remarked Schumacher. He, along with many of his teammates, overall are very happy with their season.  

Although the team has done better with overall world cup standings in the past, they have each worked hard this year and are expected to bring even more next season. It is also expected that many athletes at the development level will advance onto the national team for the next season. “As a community, we can be very proud of the incredible work being done developmentally at the club level, and the improvements in development programming and coaches’ education which have contributed to this step forward,” says Chris Gover, the head coach for Cross Country.

With promising young athletes, distinguished national members, and a lot of summer training ahead, the future is bright for this Cross Country team.  

The 2018-19 season was full of milestones from U.S. Freeski Team rookies and veterans alike as athletes found success across the board at World Cups, the 2019 FIS World Championships, and elite level events across the world. The U.S. collected 15 podiums at World Cups, four World Championship medals, and 10 podiums at X Games and Dew Tour.

The U.S. Freeski Slopestyle Team’s success was highlighted by the performance of the 17 year-old U.S. Rookie Team member Mac Forehand (Winhall, Vt.). Forehand kicked off his season winning the title of 2018 Big Air Junior World Champion in Cardrona, New Zealand. He then went on to finish second at the Stubai, Austria World Cup event and again at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain, California, where he topped the podium. In addition, Forehand’s strong finished at the World Cup level earned him the coveted FIS Crystal Globe in slopestyle. In one season, the young freeskier earned his first World Cup podium, first World Cup victory, and his first World Cup Championship.

U.S. Pro Team member Alex Hall (Salt Lake CIty, Utah) also strung himself together a solid set of results over the course of the season, collecting four top-three finishes. Hall started the season off in December at Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado, where he earned the silver medal in slopestyle. Continuing to X Games, Hall collected his first ever X Games podium with a gold medal, lacing together one of the most creative and technical rail sections seen at elite level slopestyle competition. Hall also had two World Cup podium finishes including a second-place finish at the Modena, Italy, big air event and a first place finish at the Font Romeu, France slopestyle competition.

The women of the U.S. Freeski Team put together a solid season. U.S. Pro Team member Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.) earned her fourth X Games medal with a bronze and in doing so stomped her left side double cork 1260 in competition. Between Voisin and Julia Krass (Hanover, N.H.) each locking in their double cork rotations this season, the U.S. women remain at the forefront of women’s freeski progression. Also, Krass, a Junior at Dartmouth College, was no stranger to the podium. She won the freeski big air silver medal at the 2019 FIS World Championships in front of a capacity crowd in the Canyons Village at Park City Mountain, Utah, as well as a third-place finish at the Seiser Alm, Italy World Cup.

Just as Forehand had a breakout season, U.S. Rookie Team member Eileen Gu (San Francisco, Calif.) also had quite the year earning her first World Cup podium with a second-place finish in Font Romeu, France slopestyle. In addition, Gu also claimed her first World Cup victory at the Seiser Alm, Italy World Cup in slopestyle.

In freeski halfpipe, there were notable performances from a range of athletes starting with Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado, where Olympic silver medalist Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.), Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.) and double-Olympic gold medalist David Wise (Reno, Nev.) swept the podium, proving that the U.S. Freeski Halfpipe Team is nothing short of a powerhouse. Next, Ferreira continued his success and completed a lifelong dream by winning X Games gold in front of his hometown crowd. Following X Games, Aaron Blunck stepped up to defend his World Championships halfpipe title at Park City Mountain on home soil.

In addition to these landmark performances, highflying U.S. Pro Team members David Wise (Reno, Nev.) and Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) consistently found themselves in podium contention throughout the winter. In a demanding competition season where athletes were performing week in and week out, these two U.S. Freeski Team veterans earned a total of six combined podiums displaying character, determination, and leadership setting the tone for the entire team. Two young athletes who followed suit included Birk Irving (Winter Park, Colo.) who claimed his first World Cup victory at the last halfpipe event of the season at Mammoth Mountain and Hunter Hess (Bend, Ore.) who earned his first event World Cup podium at Secret Garden, China.

U.S. Freeski Team athletes also found their fair share of success across the 2018 and 2019 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships. As previously mentioned, Forehand earned the title of Junior World Champion in big air in New Zealand, followed by a team effort in 2019 where the U.S Freestyle Junior World Championship Team earned the Marc Hodler Trophy. Freeski athletes collected six medals across the 2018 and 19 Junior World Championship events.

The well rounded results across the U.S. Freeski Team illustrate growth and progression from the young skiers and experience from the seasoned veterans. With strength on both ends of the spectrum, the dynamic within the U.S. Freeski Team could not be better. As one season comes to a close, it’s difficult not to already start looking forward to 2019-20 as athletes get one step closer to making a run at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
 

The U.S. Alpine Ski Team made big strides during the 2018-19 season. With “winning at every level” Alpine Director Jesse Hunt’s mantra, the Team had success at FIS Ski World Championships, World Cup, and Junior World Championship levels.  

With 21 FIS Ski World Cup podiums, four World Championship medals, and four Junior World Championship medals, the alpine team made significant progress. However, there is still work to be done.  “We made headway this season in our focus on development, and - with our success at Junior World Championships - great strides towards our effort to winning at every level,” Hunt remarked. “There is still work to be done at the World Cup level, but our athletes and staff are working together to create a culture where we are all set up for success and committed to achieving our goals. Though we had success at the junior level, we still have a keen focus on development and bringing medal-contending athletes through to the Olympic Winter Games in 2026 and beyond.”

Speaking of development, at Junior World Championships in Val di Fassa, Italy, the U.S. brought home four medals, including two golds by River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.) in super-G and giant slalom, a silver by Ben Ritchie (Waitsfield, Vt.) in slalom, and a silver in the mixed team event that included Radamus, Ritchie, Katie Hensien (Redmond, Wash.) and AJ Hurt (Squaw Valley, Calif.). This was America’s strongest showing at Junior Worlds in years, and the team finished third in the Marc Hodler Trophy standings - awarded for overall team performance throughout the series. The junior athletes were quick to acknowledge that it was a true team effort.

“When I sat down and made my goals last summer, I had 'Gold at World Juniors' at the top of the list,” noted Radamus. “When I was in the gym training or exhausted from skiing, this race is what I’d think about to keep going. My motto all summer was 'remember why'. This race right here was my why. I couldn't have done this without my team. We've been pushing each other's limits all summer and winter. The last few weeks we've been really locked in. Training with a common mission, and supporting each other as we pursued it. I was the one who got to take the top step today, but every one of them helped me get here."  

The greatest accomplishment for the alpine team, and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team as a whole, was Mikaela Shiffrin’s (Avon, Colo.) historic, record-smashing season. At only 24-years-old, Shiffrin broke multiple records, including: the only athlete - male or female - to have won 15 World Cup races, surpassing Vreni Schneider's season win record of 14 from 1988-89 (and would go on to win 17 World Cup races), the first ever athlete - male or female - to win in all six FIS World Cup alpine disciplines, the first athlete to win four successive world titles in a discipline (slalom, in Shiffrin’s case), the first athlete to win four globes in one season in the combination of the following disciplines: overall, super-G, slalom, giant slalom, the slalom World Cup record at 40 wins, tied with Swede great Ingemar Stenmark, and the youngest racer ever to reach more than 50 World Cup victories, which secured her in fifth position in the all-time World Cup win list by the end of the season (60 victories).

With this historic season, Shiffrin has shown domination that not only makes her a household name in ski racing - but transcends the sport and has cemented her as one of the most dominant athletes in the world, across any sport. “To be here now, after this season...this whole season has felt like a dream,” Shiffrin reflected. “It’s really hard to believe that it actually happened,” remarks Shiffrin. “The real goal is always pushing my level of skiing, pushing my limit. Seeing what’s possible...as long as I have motivation and fire, then I’ll be doing this as well as I can. That is kind of the ultimate goal. So in that way, it doesn’t matter how many globes, or wins, or whatever, it’s just go for it because it’s fun.”

Shiffrin isn’t the only alpine athlete with success this season. Olympic champion and winningest female athlete, Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.), finished her final season in a storybook-like ending with a bronze medal at the World Championships in Åre, Sweden, despite having a torn LCL (lateral collateral ligament). With 82 career World Cup victories, the four-time World Cup champion and three-time Olympic medalist has set a high standard for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes to be best in the world. “Lindsey has set the standard which is now the benchmark for all our athletes. Be best in the world. It is that simple,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Athletics Luke Bodensteiner.

As for the men’s side, there was significant progression made with multiple athletes making their way into the top 20 in the world. Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.), who was ranked 20th in the world in downhill last year, finished seventh in the world overall in downhill. “My goal was to get top 15 in the world this year, so being able to finish ranked seventh was even a surprise to myself,” Bennett recalled. “I was so close to the podium, and on any given day I’m competitive with downhillers who are winning World Cups. I believe I can do it, too.” He also finished in the top-15 during eight separate races and top-five in three different World Cup races. 

Teammate Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) also had a consistent season and finished in the top-20 in all eight of his World Cup giant slalom starts. He had a career-best fifth-place finish in Alta Badia, Italy, and finished in the top-10 in World Cup giant slalom standings. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.) pushed his limits by competing in four different disciplines this season, scoring points in each discipline, and veterans Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) and Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.) put down top-10 results on multiple occasions.

The alpine crew will look to build on this success in the 2019-20 season, and continue to focus on development in hopes of bringing medal-contending athletes through to the Olympic Winter Games in 2026 and beyond.

Aspen Snowmass, Colo. (April 16, 2019) – U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced that Snowmass will host the 2020 and 2021 Liberty Mutual Insurance NASTAR National Championships. The Championships are scheduled for March 24-28, 2020 and 23-27, 2021.

The first NASTAR National Championship was held in the Spider Sabich race arena on Snowmass in the spring of 1998 and the event has expanded to include all age groups from U6 to 95+. More than 50,000 racers will compete at 100 resorts across the country to qualify for a spot at the National Championships. Recreational racers compete within their age and ability group to earn a National Championship title and place in the final, Race of Champions. Each National Champion carries their handicap into the race to compete for the overall win.

“I’m excited to bring the NASTAR Nation back to Snowmass to show off to my hometown,” said Director of NASTAR Bill Madsen. “All of the race venues are close together, the majority of the lodging is ski-in, ski-out, the newly completed base village has an ice rink and Snowmass is huge and has amazing terrain.”

Aspen Snowmass is a world-class ski destination containing four distinct mountains--Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass with a total of 5,524 acres of ski terrain. Aspen Snowmass boasts a hospitality division that includes the five-star, five-diamond property, The Little Nell and two contemporary Limelight Hotels in Aspen Snowmass, one based in the core of Aspen, and one at the base of Snowmass. The hospitality, coupled with the accessibility of the mountain, makes it a perfect location for this grassroots celebration of ski racing. Aspen Snowmass is accessible by one of the most convenient airports in the mountains - Aspen/Pitkin County Airport.

“Ski racing is a part of our DNA here in Aspen Snowmass and we are always thrilled to continue this heritage into the future. NASTAR celebrates a love of snowsports and true passion for the sport of ski racing and we are honored to play host to this and be a part of it,” says John Rigney, Senior Vice President, Aspen Snowmass.

NASTAR’s integration with the U.S. Ski Team gives participants the opportunity to meet and interact with their favorite racers. Ski racing runs deep in Aspen Snowmass’ history, and the FIS Ski World Cup races have remained a fundamental event throughout the years as the world’s best ski racers have descended upon Aspen Snowmass from all corners of the globe to compete at Aspen Mountain. From 1939 when the first sanctioned races took place at Aspen to years of hosting the Aspen Winternational and playing host to the 2017 World Cup finals, Aspen Snowmass has a strong heritage of supporting up-and-coming ski racing athletes and a long-standing tradition of being a hub for ski racing.

“This being my first time to NASTAR Nationals, I had no idea the level of enthusiasm, fun, and support that the racers had for ski racing,” reflected NASTAR National Pacesetter, U.S. Ski Team athlete and Olympian Ryan Cochran-Siegle. “It was refreshing to see so many competitors and their families sharing a lifelong passion for the sport that I love. I had an all-around wonderful time during the race weekend in Squaw Valley, from sharing stories with the young up-and-comers, all the way up to bumping elbows with ski racing legends such as AJ Kitt, Tamara McKinney, Daron Rahlves, and Marco Sullivan. Having next year’s races in Aspen, another strong presence in ski racing culture, should make for a continuation of such a spectacular event!”

The NASTAR National Championships will come to Snowmass March 24-28, 2020. NASTAR participants qualify for the championships by winning medals on two or more race days within their age, gender and ability group by March 20th. For more information, visit https://www.nastar.com/faq.

The 2018-19 international competition season has come to a close for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes, and what a season it has been. Since elite level competitions began back in August U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes have won a staggering 136 medals in competitions around the world.

There have been a number of standout moments from the season, including Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) setting the standard for the entire U.S. Ski & Snowboard team, and her competitors in all forms of alpine ski racing. Mikaela’s record-breaking season has seen the 24-year-old become the first ski racer, male or female, to win four FIS Alpine Ski Crystal Globes in overall, super-G, giant slalom, and slalom. That in itself is astonishing - it is the equivalent of a track and field athlete winning the 100 and 200 meters, then seamlessly switching disciplines and winning 800 and 1,500-meter titles. The difference in the skills needed to win ski racing’s tech events, slalom, and giant slalom, from the speed events, super-G and downhill, is as acute as the differences between winning sprint events and middle distance races in track and field.

On her way to dominating the sport of ski racing, Shiffrin also broke the 30-year-old record for the most World Cup wins in a season (Shiffrin’s 17 wins beat the previous benchmark of 14 set by Vreni Schneider in 1988-89). She won two World Championship titles - super-G and slalom - in Åre, Sweden, and her chances of reaching the podium in any race she contested were a remarkable 83%. Most impressive of all, Shiffrin posted an astonishing 66% win ratio which is practically unheard of in any form of elite level sport today and reinforces the widely held notion that she is the most dominant athlete competing worldwide in any sport.

“Building off the achievements of our team during last season’s Olympic Games, our athletes have carried forward a drive to perform at the highest levels of our sport. Our athletes worked relentlessly to get the most from their talents, and have achieved at levels that put them amongst the best of the best.  Mikaela Shiffrin has been a prime example.  Her achievements have been truly extraordinary, in the fullest sense of that word, and are the result of talent meeting drive and tenacity. Her exploits are already the stuff of legend, and efforts like hers have fueled a strong performance culture across our team.”
     - U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport Luke Bodensteiner

Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.) also reinforced her status as both a dominant competitor and a fan favorite around the world. Kim’s run of wins, which extended back to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the 2018 X Games, was only hindered by injury, but not before she landed her first-ever World Championship snowboard title at Park City Mountain, Utah in February 2019. Kim had already secured yet another X Games, and Dew Tour gold medals and two World Cup wins in the 2018-19 season before adding the title of World Champion to her ever-growing resume with a first run score in the finals of 93.5. Despite a stellar 2018-19 season and an 83% win rate, this is by no means the peak of Kim’s performance. The 18-year-old all-star still has yet to land her frontside double cork 1080 in competition, which will take her to a level of riding which is unheard of in the sport of women’s snowboarding.

“Overall our athletes won 136 elite level medals, and that is an outstanding end to our season,” Bodensteiner added. “From Chloe Kim to Toby Miller, Jessie Diggins and David Wise, Lindsey Jacobellis and young Eileen Gu starting to fulfill her promise, we have had an incredible season. However, we cannot sign it off without saying thank you to Lindsey Vonn. Lindsey had planned to come back this season and attempt to win the outright World Cup victories record from Ingemar Stenmark, but it was not to be. Injuries played their part in preventing that, but not before Lindsey signed off her astonishing career with a final podium in the World Championships in Sweden, and I don’t think anyone but Lindsey could have written the script that way. On behalf of everyone at U.S. Ski & Snowboard I want to say thank you, Lindsey, for your inspiration, your hard work, your successes and your battles back to the top, you have set the standard which is now the benchmark for all our athletes. Be best in the world. It is that simple.”

From Shiffrin to Kim, Vonn and beyond, it was a tremendously successful season for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes, including many notable performances and results, including the following...
 

ALPINE

Veteran and winningest female alpine skier of all time Vonn (Vail, Colo.) capped off a legendary career with a storybook ending, grabbing a gutsy bronze medal at the World Championships in Åre. Then, at FIS Ski World Junior Championships in Val di Fassa, Italy, River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.) won gold in both super-G and giant slalom, while Ben Ritchie (Waitsfield, Vt.) grabbed silver in slalom. In the team event, Radamus, Ritchie, Katie Hensien (Redmond, Wash.) and AJ Hurt (Squaw Valley, Calif.) brought home silver. This was America’s strongest showing at Junior Worlds in years, and the team finished third in the Marc Hodler Trophy standings - awarded for overall team performance throughout the series.

“Mikaela isn’t the only success story we have in our alpine team this year,” Bodensteiner said. “Bryce Bennett deserves special mention, finishing his season in seventh place in the world in downhill is a very good step forward, and now we want him to use that as a springboard to go even bigger and better next season and with one eye on Beijing 2022. Similarly, River Radamus has established himself as one of the great up-and-comers, winning two Junior World Championship titles and scoring his first World Cup points. The pipeline is strong but we are not getting carried away - we still have a clear focus on bringing athletes through to the Olympic Winter Games in 2026 and beyond, but we will rightly celebrate the successes enjoyed by the alpine team this year.”

SNOWBOARD

The success enjoyed by the snowboard team was not limited to Kim. Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), the Colorado-based snowboardcross athlete, had not climbed onto a World Cup level podium before he took to the snow at Solitude Mountain Resort in the snowboardcross World Championships finals in February. That record was quickly rewritten as Dierdorff won the World Championship title on day one of the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota. Just two days later and Dierdorff was back in action, this time with teammate and snowboardcross legend Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) who, together, were competing in the inaugural mixed team snowboardcross World Championship finals ahead of the sport’s Olympic debut in Beijing 2022. Despite a technical glitch holding up Jacobellis’ final run, the duo won the final, making Dierdorff an instant two-time World Champion and Jacobellis a six-time World Champ, rubber-stamping her status as the doyen of the snowboardcross community.

Dierdorff and Jacobellis’ U.S. Snowboard Team compatriot Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) was another U.S. Ski & Snowboard athlete celebrating a stellar season as the 2018-19 competitive calendar came to a close as he secured his fifth and sixth FIS Crystal Globes in March by winning the snowboard slopestyle and overall titles. Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.), 2018 Olympic gold medalist was incredibly excited to win his first-ever Burton US Open title in February, an invitation-only competition that features the best riders from around the world competing in Gerard’s home state of Colorado. Another notable achievement coming out of the Burton US Open was Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.) making history landing the first-ever double cork in women’s snowboard halfpipe competition.

The 2018-19 season offered two different FIS Junior World Championship events: the 2018 Snowboard and Freeski Junior World Championships in Cardona, New Zealand, as well as the 2019 Snowboard and Freeski Junior World Championships, which took place across five European venues. Combined, U.S. Snowboard athletes earned five medals with Jake Vedder (Pickney, Mich.) and Toby Miller (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) claiming the titles of Junior World Champion in their respective disciplines of snowboardcross and halfpipe. Also, The U.S. Junior World Championship Team took home the 2018 Marc Hodler Trophy awarded to the best overall nation.
 

FREESKI

In freeski there were notable performances from a range of halfpipe athletes starting with Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado where Olympic silver medalist Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.), Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.) and double-Olympic gold medalist David Wise (Reno, Nev.) swept the podium, proving that the U.S. Freeski Halfpipe Team is nothing short of a powerhouse. Next, Ferreira continued his success and completed a lifelong dream by winning X Games gold in front of his hometown crowd. Following X Games, Aaron Blunck stepped up to defend is World Championships halfpipe title at Park City Mountain on home soil.

The freeski slopestyle team also had an outstanding season including Alex Hall (Salt Lake City, Utah) earning his first ever X Games medal by topping the podium with one of the most creative and technical rail sections seen at elite level slopestyle competition. Another notable moment coming out of the 2019 X Games includes Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.) earning her fourth X Games medal with a bronze, but also stomping her left side double cork 1260 in competition. Between Voisin and Julia Krass (Hanover, N.H.) each locking in their double cork rotations this season, the U.S. women remain at the forefront of women’s freeski progression.

U.S. Rookie Team member Mac Forehand (Winhall, Vt.) completed a breakthrough season including numerous milestones starting with earning the title of 2018 Big Air Junior World Champion in Cardrona New Zealand back in August. Forehand continued his impressive performance into November where he earned his first-ever World Cup podium with a second-place finish in Stubai, Austria. Furthermore, only a few weeks ago, he earned his first-ever World Cup victory at Mammoth Mountain, California. His long list of impressive results allowed Forehand to lock in the coveted title of 2019 FIS World Cup Slopestyle Champion.

U.S. freeski athletes also found their fair share of success across the 2018 and 2019 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships. As previously mentioned, Forehand earned the title of Junior World Champion in big air in New Zealand, followed by a team effort in 2019 where the U.S Freestyle Junior World Championship Team earned the Marc Hodler Trophy. Freestyle and Freeski athletes collected eight medals across the 2018 and 19 Junior World Championship events.

CROSS COUNTRY

Moving on to cross country, a sport which was still enjoying the feelgood factor of the U.S. Team securing their first-ever Olympic Gold in PyeongChang, there was another strong season across the whole U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. In particular, Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.), Sophie Caldwell (Peru, Vt.), Erik Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.) and Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.) had some notable successes throughout their season, collectively stepping up to the podium 10 times, and the whole team were celebrating the return of cross country World Cup action to the USA with the announcement that Minneapolis would hold a round of the 2020 FIS Cross Country World Cup Calendar in March 2020.

At the Cross Country Junior Worlds, the men’s relay team of Luke Jager (APU/Anchorage, Alaska), Ben Ogden (UVM/Landgrove, Vt.), Johnny Hagenbuch (Sun Valley SEF/Sun Valley, Idaho) and Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars/Anchorage, Alaska) claimed gold, an historical moment for the U.S. Team.

FREESTYLE

The U.S. Freestyle team, comprised of both moguls and aerials athletes, had another terrific winter, especially for Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) who finished second overall in women’s World Cup moguls standings. Teammate Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.), still recovering from major shoulder surgery in summer, 2018, finished her season in style with two trips to the podium in her final events of the season. Arguably, the real highlight of the team’s year was the four nights at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, during the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in February 2019. Tens of thousands of fans braved the cold weather to watch the U.S. athletes take on the rest of the world, and it all culminated with three medals for the home team in front of one of, if not the, most passionate crowd worldwide in the freestyle calendar.

NORDIC COMBINED

Also noteworthy was the outstanding season-long performance by USA Nordic athlete Tara Geraghty-Moats (West Fairlee, Vt.) whose domination of the women’s Nordic Combined Continental Cup saw the American win 10 of the season’s 11 events. That incredible run resulted in Geraghty-Moats becoming the first-ever American women’s Continental Cup overall champion in only the second year of international competition for the young women’s sport.
 

Two-time Olympic medalist Andrew Weibrecht and Six-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller were inducted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 6 in Salt Lake City, Utah, in front of hundreds of attendees. 

Tom Kelly, who served as Vice President of Communications for U.S. Ski & Snowboard for 32 years, was also inducted. A total of eight skiing and snowboarding pioneers, athletes and sport builders were among those inducted.

Though Miller was unable to attend, the most successful male alpine ski racer in American history's presence was palpable as Hall of Famer Dan Egan was the emcee as stories were shared on the big screen about Miller's unorthodox style and the legacy he left. New Hampshire's Miller, captured the attention of the world with his incredible athletic balance and ability to produce jaw-dropping performances on skis, including skiing up on the fence on a left footer at the famed Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria in 2008. Raised in an electricity-free home, the two-time World Cup overall champion, four-time World Champion and six-time Olympic medalist is one of the most prolific international athletes in winter sports history.

“I always tried to ski in a way that inspired myself and ski racing fans and I appreciate this support from the industry.” - Bode Miller

Weibrecht took up skiing after he begged his parents to let him join older brother Jonathan at the 1980 Olympic mountain of Whiteface, New York. From a kid swinging on his parents’ chandeliers at their luxury Mirror Lake Inn and Resort to becoming a two-time Olympic super-G medalist, Weibrecht became one of the most exhilarating ski racers to watch kick out of the start gate.

“I am thrilled to be a part of the Ski Hall of Fame. It’s a tremendous honor and I’m very excited that the voting commission felt my accomplishments worthy of recognition, especially within such an amazing group of ski industry powerhouses. I was always lucky enough to be joined by Bode on my Olympic podiums, so it almost seems fitting that we will be inducted together. I am truly honored to be a part of such a prestigious induction class, across the board.” - Andrew Weibrecht

Weibrecht was present at the induction, surrounded by his brother Jon, wife Denja, and friends who had an impact on his career. In his speech, he thanked U.S. Ski & Snowboard for the 16 years of support provided, and noted the importance of the Team as a "family on the road" and one in Park City, Utah, where he spent a lot of time training at the Center of Excellence. Weibrecht received a standing ovation after his speech. 

As VP of communications for U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Kelly worked tirelessly to promote the athletes and their sports to the mass media. Throughout his career, he was active within the USOC and International Ski Federation, including 14 years as chairman of the FIS PR and Mass Media Committee.

Kelly was the final speaker of the evening, and delivered an emotional and passion-filled acceptance speech recounting Olympic, World Championship and World Cup memories from his 32 years with the organization, culminating with the most poignant memory of his career - Olympic gold by Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) and Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) - who teamed up to win the first gold medal for the United States in cross country skiing at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

"I've been fortunate in my career to work with some remarkable athletes and to engage others by telling their story,” Kelly said. “Skiing has been a passion of mine since I was seven years old and it is an honor to be included in the Hall of Fame."

The annual U.S. Ski & Snowboard induction honors not only athletes but industry icons, innovators and inventors with lifelong national and international achievements in all facets of snowsport. With the legacy of the 2002 Winter Games and the long lineage of celebrated athletes, Park City Mountain provided a spectacular backdrop for Snowsport History Celebration events culminating with the induction ceremony.

Among the eight inductees were the late Tom Sims, inventor of the “skiboard”, William Jensen nationally renowned resort operator, and the late Don Henderson, a pioneer of ski racing, Kristen Ulmer, known as the first female extreme skier and Hilary Engisch-Klein a world-dominating freestyle skier.

The 2019 FIS Junior World Snowboard and Freeski Championships in Klappen, Sweden came to a close on Saturday and brothers Kiernan Fagan (Brownfield, Maine) and Deven Fagan (Brownfield, Maine) led the way for the Americans earning the freeski big air silver and bronze medal. Also, a strong performance from the entire U.S. Freestyle Junior World Championships Team secured the Marc Hodler Trophy, awarded to the best overall nation.

“The Junior Worlds went really well for me,” said silver medalist Kiernan Fagan. “Getting second-place in both slopestye and big air here is a great feeling. It was amazing to see the whole U.S. Team here skiing so well and it’s great to see the U.S. take home the prize for the best overall nation, winning the Marc Hodler Trophy!”

Fagan will add his Junior World Championship accolades to an already successful year. Fagan went two for three earning podiums in the first two slopestyle World Cups he competed in this season. He then earned a third-place finish at the Seiser Alm, Italy World Cup and another third-place at the Mammoth Grand Prix.

Other notable U.S. finishes include 14 year-old Troy Podmilsak (Park City, Utah) finishing sixth and also earning the Next Gen Award. In addition, Zane Zeverson (Park City, Utah) and Hunter Henderson (Madbury, N.H.) finished in ninth and tenth respectively. Ulrik Samnoey of Norway won the event. 

For the women, U.S. Rookie Team members Rell Harwood (Park City, Utah) and Grace Henderson (Madbury, N.H.) finished in fourth and fifth respectively. Estonian prodigy Kelly Sildaru won the event, Megan Oldham of Canada took second-place, and Kirsty Muir of Great Britain finished in third.

For the snowboarders, U.S. Rookie Team member Jake Canter (Evergreen, Colo.) took to the big air jump and was the leading American finishing in tenth-place. Ryoma Kimata and Aoto Kawakami of Japan finished in first and second respectively, followed by Canada’s Buffey William in third-place.

For the women, U.S. Rookie Team member Courtney Rummel (West Bend, Wisc.) finished just off the podium in fifth-place and American Addison Gardner (Riegelsville, Penn.) finished 10th. Sommer Gendron of Canada added another 2019 Junior World Championship gold medal to her collection topping the podium as she did earlier in the week in slopestyle. Annika Morgan of Germany finished second and Poppe Evy of Belgium finished in third.

The U.S. freestyle athletes dominated the race for the Marc Hodler Trophy, finishing with 142 points ahead of Canada with 89 points. The U.S Junior World Championship snowboard team finished fifth overall. It was a hugely successful Junior World Championships with Americans taking home seven medals in addition to solid overall results from the entire U.S. field. The proving ground that is the FIS Junior World Championships tends to unearth future superstars, so keep an eye out down the road as the athletes progress and compete at the highest level of their sport.

RESULTS
Men’s freeski big air
Women’s freeski big air
Men’s snowboard big air
Women’s snowboard big air

MARC HODLER TROPHY STANDINGS
Freestyle
Snowboard
 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, and its Athlete Advisory Council (AAC) have lent their voices to calls to government officials from across the U.S. NGB community to support the passage of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (H.R. 835 in the House).

The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act addresses one of the key issues with the global fight against doping, criminalizing doping conspiracies. This will mean that doping fraud perpetrators will finally be able to be indicted and pursued by law enforcement. Additionally, the act also provides for restitution to athletes and others who may have been defrauded by these individuals. Similar acts are already in place in a number of countries, in particular in the European Union, so the successful implementation of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act will see the U.S. mirror policies already in place, taking the fight to those engaged in doping.

Importantly, criminalizing this behavior will also afford doping fraud whistleblowers the same obstruction protections that are provided to witnesses of other crimes. Given the importance of whistleblowers, including Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, to the global sports community’s awareness and understanding of doping conspiracies, these protections are vital and cannot come soon enough.

“As we saw most recently in Seefeld, Austria, doping continues to be rife in sport around the world and everyone involved in sport at all levels should be doing whatever they can to rid sport of the scourge of doping, as quickly as possible,” said President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard Tiger Shaw. “Securing the passage of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act is a key step forward in the fight against doping here in the US and we are urging all those in government who have a role in this process to see this as a huge opportunity to take the fight to the dopers, with the full weight of the law and law enforcement community behind us.”

“As an athlete myself, and speaking on behalf of all the athletes represented by the AAC, I can say that the fight against doping is one of the most important topics for NGBs, governments and the entire sports community worldwide today,” added U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Advisory Council Chair Heather McPhie Watanabe.

“What athletes are asking for is simple - to compete against other athletes on a level playing field, knowing they are going into competition where they can showcase the hard work they have put into training and preparation for competition, instead of competing against athletes and scientists who are conspiring to cheat,” McPhie Watanabe added. “If and when the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act comes into force it will not only help clean athletes know that the US government has their back in the fight against doping, but it will also mean that those involved in cheating will know that the penalties for their actions are severe.”

Echoing McPhie Watanabe’s comments was U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief of Sport Luke Bodensteiner. “Our athletes want sport to be something that’s safe, fair and fun. Doping does not square up with those values, and our athletes support the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act as a means to reinforce those values and create a strong deterrent to anyone engaged in doping now or considering doping in future. The current anti-doping system is unreliable due to built-in conflicts of interest, and inconsistencies in the application of standards worldwide.  Criminalizing doping fraud will reduce the political aspects that impact today’s anti-doping system and concern our athletes so deeply, and will reinforce sport as something that is aligned with our shared values.”

About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders in 2019, competing in seven teams; alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, nordic combined and ski jumping. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org.

U.S Ski Team aerials athlete Madison Varmette (Stafford, Va.) is nothing short of extraordinary. She continues to flip, twist and progress in the aerials discipline, all while rehabilitating from a disorder that could have potentially ended her active lifestyle.  

In 2012 Madison was training at a gymnastics center in Stafford, Virginia, as a talented, competitive cheerleader. Her longtime tumbling and tramp coach, Jadi Jaroslav Novak, noticed her progression in flips and invited her to attend an Elite Aerial Development Program's (EADP) Talent ID Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., for aerials skiing. Varmette was excited about the opportunity, but before she received her official invitation for the Talent ID Camp, she experienced something that she thought would end her athletic career.

In early May of 2012, four days after Varmette turned 16 years old, she felt her leg fall asleep while sitting on her bed. “First I tried to walk it off, and then it started to get hot and then it kind of started to burn,” recalls Varmette, “All of a sudden I felt intense burning pain and I dropped to the floor in tears. I couldn’t get words out, it hurt so bad.” After calling her mother into her room and experiencing another surge of burning pain, Varmette was carried to the car and rushed to the emergency room.   

The confusion of diagnosing Madison quickly set in. The doctors admitted they did not know what was going on or how to handle it, and multiple diagnoses were declared, including a spinal cord stroke. After spending time in the Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C., Madison was placed in an in-patient rehab center next to the hospital. “I was getting better extremely fast,” she says. After a few days, she was transitioned to out-patient physical therapy and a few weeks later returned to school.

Despite not having a formal diagnosis, Madison's mother, Pamela, encouraged her to still attend the Talent ID Camp that August. Both mother and daughter made the trek to Lake Placid, with little to no expectations on what would happen.

“I had no intention of doing any physical activity while I was there, I was just going to watch. But once I got there, I couldn’t resist.”
 - Madison Varmette 

Madison hopped onto the trampoline and did a backflip, landing it perfectly and experiencing no pain. From that point on, Varmette slowly worked into her flips and was soon training alongside the other athletes who were trying out.

The Talent ID Camp tryouts are set up to resemble what it would be like to actually be on the aerials development team. The athletes’ day consists of workouts in the morning, followed by trampoline training and water ramp practice. During water ramps, the camp directors like to see how well and how fast athletes can master the water ramps by making them do straight airs off of the ramps, then progressing to front flips and backflips. “It is way harder than it looks,” regarded Varmette, “The first time I was going for my first front flip, I was going down and my right leg ran into my left leg, took me out sideways, and I just tumbled and then dangled off the edge of the ramp.” Despite her numb legs, Varmette did extremely well.

At the end of the Talent ID Camp, Varmette didn’t make the team; however, she regained both her courage and athleticism, saying that “overall, that camp was a huge confidence booster.” She joined her high school cheer team when school was back in session, she continued flipping and twisting, but craved to be back in Lake Placid.

After many hours of research, Pamela found Dr. Daniel Becker at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Dr. Becker officially determined that Varmette had Transverse Myelitis (TM), a neurological disorder which disrupts the messages the spinal cord nerves send to different parts of the body, ultimately causing pain, muscle weakness, and other sensory problems.

Once school was back in full swing, Madison's uncle invited her to New York to visit. She knew she needed to return to Lake Placid and missed required cheer practices to make the trip. Once Varmette arrived with her uncle, she was asked to test out the trampolines again. Varmette was soon back on the tramp and tumbling floor, showing her skills off to staff. She was recorded by the program director in hopes that Todd Ossian, the U.S. Ski Team Head Aerials Coach, would be impressed and offer her a spot on the development team.  

A week after returning home from Lake Placid, Madison received a call that she made it into the EADP and that she would need to be back to Lake Placid in a week. With a quick turnaround time, Varmette packed her bags, said goodbye to her cheer friends, and embarked on a new adventure that would officially start her aerials career.

The EADP is an intense training program to help prepare aspiring athletes for the national team. “We would train all morning and afternoon, and then do online school from 6 to 9 p.m.,” recalls Varmette. After three years in the EADP, Varmette was able to the jump to the U.S. Ski Team for the 2017-18 season.

Madison's story is just as special as she is. She was able to defy all odds by progressing from barely walking to becoming a national team aerial skier in the span of six years. The 2018-19 season was Varmette’s best to date: she competed at the 2019 World Championships and finished the FIS Freestyle World Cup season ranked sixth overall. With the one-in-a-million chance of getting TM, paired with the one-in-a-million chance of having the opportunity to become an Olympian, Madison Varmette is one extraordinary athlete.
 

Eleven jam-packed days of snowboard and freeski action came to a snowy conclusion on Wednesday at Colorado’s Copper Mountain Resort, as a hugely-successful 2019 USASA National Championships closed out with the final freeski halfpipe, slopestyle, and ski cross competitions despite a deep low pressure system bringing a heavy dose of April snow to the Rockies.

In its 30th year, the Nationals is the largest competition of its kind in the world and is part of a robust pipeline that carries athletes from the USASA Regional events all the way to Olympic level competition. The performances witnessed over the last two weeks provide a sense of confidence that the future of freeskiing and snowboarding competition is a bright one. 

While the top-level Open class competitions saw some of the best young riders in the country pushing boundaries and egging on progression, there were magical moments to be found in every venue, age group, and category. The images of four Ruggies going head-to-head through the twists of the ski cross course, or a grizzled Methuselah OG grabbing method over a tabletop, or a Breaker class rider stomping a halfpipe run that might have earned her a shot at the podium were she competing in the Open class, showed that the best of the sport was truly on display through the duration of these two weeks at Copper Mountain.

Making this season’s USASA National Championships extra special was that it marked the 30th anniversary of Chuck Allen founding what has now become the biggest snowsports event in the world.

It all began back on March 30th with the opening ceremonies for snowboard week, which kicked off five days of slalom, giant slalom, halfpipe, slopestyle, snowboard cross, and rail jam action that saw over 1300 riders testing their mettle on the prime Copper Mountain venues.

There are far too many notable snowboard performances to catalog here, but whether it was the likes of 7-year-old Ruggie Patty Zhou of China winning gold medals in halfpipe, slopestyle, and the rail jam, Breaker boys rider Connor Cavanagh (Bondville, Vt.) earning the overall title by putting down strong scores and times in all six Nationals competitions, or double Utah 2019 world champion snowboard cross racer Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) finishing in 24th place in the Open category after riding switch from qualies through to his finals heat, there was something awesome happening wherever you turned your attention throughout those first five days of fun and competition.

Freeski events began on April 6th, and the moments kept coming there, whether from Axl Bonenberger (Breckenridge, Colo.) claiming the overall title in the highly-competitive Breaker boys category with a selection of top performances in halfpipe, slopestyle and ski cross, to Ruggie Isa Loge (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.) winning halfpipe and ski cross gold while throwing in a slopestyle bronze for good measure, to top Open class girls like Riley Jacobs (Oak Creek, Colo.), Hanna Faulhaber (Carbondale, Colo.), and Connie Brogden of Great Britain trading positions on and around the podium through all of their events. For these an innumerable other USASA athletes the future is looking bright indeed.

And, of course, none of it would have been possible without the unyielding support of all the families behind the riders, the tutelage of the coaches and series directors, the dedication of every competition organizer, and the sense of community fostered by all 32 of the series’ that come together to make the USASA what it is.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and as the snow fell and the last medals and awards were handed out at the closing ceremonies on Wednesday afternoon, another USASA National Champions was entered into the books. And us, we’re already looking forward to next year.