Fresh off her mixed-team World Championship victory, Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) claimed her 30th career victory as the FIS Snowboard World Cup returned to action Saturday in Feldberg, Germany.

“I’m really happy with the way my starts are coming together,” said Jacobellis, the winningest snowboardcross athlete of all time, after her historic 30th win in some challenging conditions at Feldberg. “It makes things a lot easier when you don’t have to battle through traffic. I got out front and tried to stay in the smallest tuck possible so that I wasn’t creating a lot of draft for the girls behind me.”

The ladies’ big final was about as talent-loaded as you could hope to see, with Jacobellis lined up alongside 2019 World Championship two-time medallist Michela Moioli from Italy, 2019 World Champion Eva Samkova, and the resurgent Chloe Trespeuch from France.

Fighting from the rider’s left lane, Jacobellis was able to out-pump her competitors through the start section to pull into an early lead that she would not relinquish through the twisty Feldberg course, leaving Moioli and Samkova for battle for second while Trespeuch - who missed the first part of the season due to injury - looked for an opening from the back.

Across the line, it would be Jacobellis with the win, followed by Moioli in seconds, Samkova in third, and Trespeuch forced to settle for fourth. Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City, Utah) was 11th, and Stacey Gaskill (Golden, Colo.) was 20th.

Matched up in a tough final heat against a pair of German athletes in Paul Berg and Konstantin Schad, as well as young Japanese rider Yoshiki Takahara, Australia’s Cameron Bolton took out a page out of Jacobellis’ book, jumping quickly out of the left gate and into the lead before the first corner with the Germans hot on his tail in the men’s final.

With Takahara clipping Schad’s board and nearly crashing on the first corner, Schad and Berg would be free to battle for second while Bolton opened up a comfortable lead, holding on easily through the finish for the win.

“It feels really, really good,” said Bolton of his first World Cup win, “It was a tricky race today and I'm happy I was able to come out here and do it. Three years ago I broke my back on this course, so to come out here and qualify first and then take the win, it feels like I have a little bit of redemption. And to share the podium with a couple of German riders on their home turf is nice, too.”

Berg finished second and Schad in third, while 21-year-old Takahara, competing in just his 10th World Cup event, had the best finish of his career in fourth. Alex Deibold (Salt Lake City, Utah.) won the small final to finish fifth. Senna Leith (Vail, Colo.) was 11th; 2019 individual and mixed-team World Champion Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) was 13th;  Hagen Kearney (Silverthorne, Colo.) was 14th; Jake Vedder (Pinckney, Mich.) finished 17th, Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, Mich.) was 20th.

Action at Feldberg continues on Sunday with what will be the first-ever mixed team snowboard cross World Cup event, after the new format made its debut last weekend at the 2019 World Championships in a highly entertaining affair.

RESULTS
Men’s snowboardcross
Women’s snowboardcross

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST

Sunday, Feb. 10
4:00 a.m. - Men and women’s team snowboardcross - Feldberg, GER - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gol

All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are 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.

Sophie Caldwell (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) skied to an impressive second place Saturday in the FIS Cross Country freestyle sprint in Lahti, Finland.  Caldwell led three U.S. qualifiers in the heats with Ida Sargent (Craftsbury, Vt.) in 26th place, and Kelsey Phinney (Boulder, Co.) in 27th place. Neither Sargent or Phinney advanced past the quarterfinals.

The race was won by Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla with Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist in third.

“I’m really happy with my race today,” said Caldwell. “The conditions were wet and fast and this course is always a fun one with how tactical it can be. I was happy to feel better as the day went on and to finish 2nd in the final was awesome. It was also really cool to watch my SMS T2 club team teammate, Kelsey Phinney, qualify for her first heats and finish in the top 20! Our service team gave us great skis and we’re all looking forward to some team sprinting tomorrow!”

“Sophie skied a technically brilliant race today and showed some uncharacteristically aggressive skiing,” said Coach Matt Whitcomb. “Considering she has just returned from a three-week training trip to the U.S., her second place today shows that she is clearly in good form.”

The U.S. men failed to qualify anyone for the heats. The men’s race was won by Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway, with Federico Pellegrino of Italy in second and Finn Haagen Krogh of Norway completing the podium.

Up next, a classic team sprint event in Lahti.

RESULTS
Men’s freestyle sprint
Women’s freestyle sprint

Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) sustained a concussion and left-knee injury on Thursday morning prior to the downhill training run during her warm-up, sidelining her for the foreseeable future. 

The crash came after a violent crash in Tuesday's FIS Alpine World Ski Championships super-G, where Ross went through a panel and slid into the safety net, but was OK and able to ski to the finish.

Ross, who suffered a severe knee injury at U.S. Alpine Championships late in the 2017 season, worked tirelessly to make a comeback in time to qualify for the 2018 Olympic Team. She was a part of the fastest downhill team in the world in 2018. She struggled to find her groove early this season but had made considerable steps forward in the month of January, scoring inside of the points in every single start since the new year - including three top 15 results. 

Ross shared her thoughts in an Instagram post on Saturday: 

On Thursday morning, while warming up for the training run, I crashed and sustained a concussion and left-knee injury. My knee doesn't seem to need surgery, but it is time for some rest for both my body and head. Unfortunately this means I won't be able to race in the World Champs DH tomorrow, and will likely be out for the remainder of the season.

Although this injury is not 'severe,' it is incredibly disheartening. I've had such a good feeling on my skis over the last month, and have felt like things were coming together on and off the hill. It's been almost 2 years since my last knee injury, and I was finally starting to ski like myself again: with drive, hunger, and without an overwhelming amount of fear or doubt. So...this moment is a bit of a reality check. Some would call it a slap in the face 👋 it certainly feels as though I've been slapped, and I suppose, realistically, I have. I mean, I face planted pretty dang hard. Nothing like a good, snowy-mountain slap! 

I don't know what the future holds, but what I do know is that I won't let this injury stop me from standing back up again. From continuing to dream. From helping me grow into the person I was meant to be.

I'll be in the finish tomorrow to cheer on my teammates Alice Merryweather and Lindsey Vonn. Although it won't be in the capacity I'd hoped, I'll be there for Lindsey's last race, and last finish hug. I'm so grateful that I'll be able to be there, and grateful for the journey that got me here.

Thanks for all of the love and support ❤️ I'll keep you all updated as things progress! XOXO

It was a challenging day as Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) and Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.) led the way for the U.S. Ski Team in the men’s downhill at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Saturday in Are, Sweden.

With moderate snowfall and fog, race organizers postponed the start of the race by an hour, but conditions didn’t improve much once the first athlete kicked out of the start house.

“Obviously they made the call because (Sunday’s) conditions aren’t going to be any better,” said Bennett, who was the top-placed American in ninth. “It was safe, but I’ve never skied a downhill like that before. You couldn’t really see the track, it was like an inch or two of powder everywhere…it just wasn’t that fast.”

“Today was, I think for everyone, it was a really challenging day,” added Cochran-Siegle, who finished 12th coming out of the 35th start position. “Tough for the early guys who had that stop-start...to deal with. And I think for us, there was a pretty good amount of snow coming down by the time the later guys ran. We all had tough conditions.”

Norway swept the gold and silver medals with Kjetil Jansrud edging out his teammate Aksel Lund Svindal, who was competing in his final race after announcing his retirement last month, by a mere .02 seconds. Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr came out of the 17th start position to take the bronze.

“It’s pretty cool to see the way it ended with Aksel in the podium with his best bud,” said Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah), who finished 23rd. “That’s a pretty impressive way to end it. That’s cool to watch, but I wish I was up there.”

While it was a challenging day for many, and a triumphant day for a few, there were some positive takeaways for Bennett and Cochran-Siegle.

“It comes down to execution I did some parts well,” Bennett said. “I was having a hard time seeing what I needed to do this week and I spent a decent amount of time last night watching video, and I think it paid off alright. I’m happy with today.”

“I’m really happy with my skiing,” Cochran-Siegle added. “I feel like my plan going the race was trying to nail a couple sections and ski well, and I feel like I really did that, which is cool to do at such a big event.”

Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.), the 2015 World Championship downhill silver medalists, finished 26th.

Up next, the 2019 World Championships continue with Lindsey Vonn’s final race in the women’s downhill Sunday. On Monday, the men will compete in alpine combined.

RESULTS
Men’s World Championships downhill

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day broadcast
**Next-day broadcast

Saturday, Feb. 9
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
6:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

Sunday, Feb. 10
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
10:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

Monday, Feb. 11
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships combined downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships combined downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
8:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships combined slalom - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Tuesday, Feb. 12
9:55 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships team event - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Thursday, Feb. 14
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s giant slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
10:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s giant slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 15
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s giant slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
11:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s giant slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 16
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom - Are, SWE - NBC*

Sunday, Feb. 17
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are 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.
 

Deer Valley’s Champion ski run lived up to its name at Friday’s FIS Moguls World Championships. With almost four feet of new snow falling on Deer Valley Resort leading up to course preparation and training on Wednesday, the course was absolutely ripping, with soft moguls and huge landings. U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) finished the night’s competition in sixth, the highest position of U.S. athletes on the first night of moguls competition at Deer Valley.

Yulia Galysheva (Kazakhstan) led the women and took the World Championship title, Kazakhstan’s first ever freestyle or snowboard World Championships gold, followed by Jakara Anthony (Australia) in second and Perrine Laffont (France) in third. Mikael Kingsbury (Canada), the winningest moguls athlete of all time, claimed his third World Championship title; Matt Graham (Australia) finished second and Hara Daichi (Japan) came in third.

Six Americans represented the United States in the finals under the lights at Deer Valley Resort: Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.), Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.), Nessa Dziemian (East Hampstead, N.H), Bradley Wilson (Butte, Mont.), Hunter Bailey (Vail, Colo.) and Dylan Walczyk (Rochester, N.Y.). This was Johnson, Dziemian and Bailey’s first World Championships event. “It’s always awesome coming here to Deer Valley with my friends and family coming out and watching, and making finals is the best,” said Dziemian. “This place is the best spot to make finals. It’s under the lights and you’re skiing down to all of your friends and family at the bottom. It’s just so surreal.”

Kauf, the bronze medalist in dual moguls at the 2017 World Championships, was the top American finisher, coming in sixth overall. “Tonight went alright. I got a lot better as the day went on. The final run I made a bobble in the top section, I almost fell up there and so after that, I just figured I had nothing to lose and had to send it in the middle. It cost me a little bit, I had some bobbles, but overall it was a good day,” said Kauf.

Walczyk led the U.S. men, finishing eighth overall, his best World Championships result to date. “That middle section [of the course] was some of the best skiing of my life,” he said.

Wilson, the silver medalist in dual moguls at the 2017 World Championships, also had the run of a lifetime, skiing the fastest time of the finals at 23.14 seconds. “The skiing in the middle felt so good and then there’s one section where the moguls get a little farther apart and my skis just got a little bit out ahead of me. I went to slow down but at the same time I lost a pole plant. I just couldn’t get that edge set and landed a little too far,” Wilson said of his unfortunate bottom-air crash.

The U.S. Moguls Team has one more opportunity for World Championships glory at tomorrow (Saturday)’s dual moguls event. A crowd favorite, there is nothing like skiing on home snow for these athletes. “I’m excited for duals tomorrow. I think it’s going to be awesome and this course is the best for it,” said Kauf.

Results
Women’s moguls
Men’s moguls

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day broadcast

Saturday, Feb. 9
9:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s dual moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Feb. 10
2:00 a.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s dual moguls - Deer Valley Resort, Utah - NBCSN*

Chloe Kim (Torrence, Calif.) took home the halfpipe gold as U.S. Snowboard teammate Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.) grabbed the bronze at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, Friday at Utah’s Park City Mountain.

“I’m pretty stoked,” said Kim, who pulled out a new trick - a front double cork 1080 - for her victory lap after already securing the gold medal with a score of 93.50 “It’s been pretty rough to find a good halfpipe to do it in that’s safe and that’s fun to do it in. And so today, I was like, ‘I have a third run, why not try it?’ I really wish I would have gotten it, but at the same time I kinda knew it wasn’t going to go all right when I took off. But I’m pretty stoked on how it went and hyped to go home in one piece. So, it’s all good!”

Mastro claimed her first World Championships medal after finishing sixth at the 2017 World Champs in Sierra Nevada, Spain.

“I’m pretty stoked. It’s really fun to come out and put down runs and have fun with it,” Mastro said. “That’s what today was about for me. It’s awesome everyone [on team U.S. Ski & Snowboard] is ripping. We really pushed each other this week. It’s inspiring to have such a great group of girls all around you, from slopestyle to halfpipe.”

China’s Xuetong Cai took home the silver medal. 2018 Olympic bronze medalist and 2013 World Champion Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) finished fifth.

In the men’s competition, reigning Junior World Champion Toby Miller (Mammoth Lake, Calif.) just missed the podium, finishing fourth.

“I'm super excited,” said Miller. “The level of riding out there today was through the roof. Coming here and ending up fourth, I couldn’t be happier.”

Two-time defending World Champion and 2018 Olympic bronze medalist Scotty James of Australia pulled the three-peat with another dazzling halfpipe performance. Japan’s Yuto Totsuka was second, followed by Switzerland’s Patrick Burgener taking his third career World Championship halfpipe bronze.

RESULTS
Men’s halfpipe
Women’s halfpipe
 

The U.S. Freeski Team has a stacked roster of athletes headed into the FIS Freeski World Championship halfpipe finals Saturday, including 2018 PyeongChang bronze medalist Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.).

“The pipe is sick,” said Sigourney. “Park City did a great job. It’s been rough with the weather we’ve had the last few days, but today is the best day we have had so far. It’s really nice we were able to have great weather for the qualifiers. I’m stoked, the sun is out and it was a good day. Having my family here definitely puts the pressure on, especially when they couldn’t make it for qualifiers. My parents are flying in this afternoon and boyfriend’s entire family is here as well. I’m happy I get to ski for them and hopefully, it will be just as good of a day on Saturday.”

Also, 2014 Sochi gold medalist Maddie Bowman (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.) will be representing the U.S. women in finals.

“I feel I did as much as I could with what we were given in practice,” said Bowman. “I’m very thankful I made it through to finals. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen today. I’m looking forward to competing in front of the Park City crowd on Saturday. The girls are skiing super well, so it should be a lot of fun.”

For the men, 2018 PyeongChang Olympic gold medalist David Wise (Reno, Nev.) qualified first and will be leading the charge.

“I had an amazing practice,” said Wise. “Coming off a couple of bad weather days of practice, waking up this morning having the sun pop out, the riding as good as it is, it just made me excited about skiing. I rolled through practice and landed some of my best runs of the year. I managed to land my first run when the competition got started and tried to do a little more on my second run to build steam for finals. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s so cool to be able to compete here in Park City for the World Championships. The Utah, Salt Lake, Park City areas are so excited about winter sports, so I think people are going to come out and support.”

2018 PyeongChang Olympic silver medalist Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.) will also be representing the U.S. in finals.

“This is my first World Championships,” said Ferreira. “I didn’t do so well on my first run so to land my second run and make into finals makes me feel super grateful. My whole plan for the season was to do Dew Tour, X Games, and World Championships. I ended up competing at the Copper Grand Prix as well, but I wanted to focus on just the big events this year. I am happy to be a part of this event, in the finals and everything looks like it’s coming together.”

Joining Wise and Ferreira is X Games gold medalist Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.) as well as U.S. Freeski Pro Team member Taylor Seaton (Avon, Colo.).

The vibe is right heading into the final days of the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships. Tune into NBC to catch all the action.

START LISTS
Men’s freeski halfpipe
Women’s freeski halfpipe

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 9
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC

U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) for ski and snowboard sports in the USA, has announced a four-year partnership with Charles Schwab in the category of brokerage, investment and financial services. The 2018-19 competition season will mark U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s 21st year partnering with the financial institution.

“This is an exciting time for us to be entering a new multi-year deal with Charles Schwab that will see us through the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in Park City, Utah, as well as the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing,” said Dan Barnett, U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief Marketing Officer. “We are delighted to provide a platform for Charles Schwab to leverage the unrivalled B2B and client entertainment opportunities that our sport provides. We are proud to have Charles Schwab on board as a partner for the next four years. Their investment in us enables our athletes to fulfil their dreams of representing the U.S. and standing on podiums at World Cups, World Championships and, ultimately, the Olympic Winter Games.”

Charles Schwab’s partnership will focus on hospitality activations, providing premier experiences for key clients at domestic U.S. Ski & Snowboard events.

“As a proud sponsor of U.S. Ski & Snowboard for more than two decades, Schwab is committed to actively supporting athletes who are pursuing their dreams on the slopes, ramps, half-pipes and cross-country tracks,” said Derek Benbow, Schwab’s Managing Director of Corporate Sponsorships and Strategic Partnerships. “Just as U.S. Ski & Snowboard is focused on providing the right resources for winter athletes who are inspired to be the best, our purpose at Schwab is to champion every client’s goals with passion and integrity. Continuing this important partnership for the next four years demonstrates our passion for the sport and these amazing athletes.”                                                      

For more information about Charles Schwab’s partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard, contact U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Marketing & Communications Director, Tom Webb, at tom.webb@usskiandsnowboard.org

Team Aerials made its FIS Freestyle World Championships debut under the lights at Deer Valley Resort on Thursday night, day seven of the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota. 2017 World Champions Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.), Jon Lillis (Pittsford, N.Y.), and brother Chris Lillis (Pittsford, N.Y.) represented the United States and finished sixth overall.

The Swiss team of Carol Bouvard, Nicolas Gygax and Noe Roth were crowned the first FIS Team Aerials World Champions. The Chinese team of Xu Mengtao, Sun Jiaxu, and Wang Xindi came in second, and the Russian team of Liubov Nikitina, Stanislav Nikitin and Maxim Burov placed third.

Eight nations competed at Deer Valley Resort with teams consisting of three athletes (one man and two women or two men and one woman). Every athlete jumped once during the qualification round, and the combined scores of all three determined those who moved on to the final round of four teams. In finals, each athlete jumped once again, and those combined jump scores determined the medal winners. The Team Aerials format transforms aerials squads from a number of individual athletes to a unified competitive force battling it out against other nations.

The night’s result wasn’t what the U.S. team was hoping for, but the opportunity for two medal events on the World Championship level will have them pushing for the next go-around in 2021. “I really like the team event. You know we always have the camaraderie there going out and going big and watching our teammates have success,” said Ashley Caldwell. “But when you’re on the same exact team and you’re fighting against other nations there’s a different level of pull for your teammates and you really want everyone to do well. The U.S. team has the capability to be at the top of this team podium. Tonight wasn’t our night but we’ve got in the future for sure.”  

For U.S. teammates and brothers Jon and Chris Lillis, Thursday’s event was an experience unlikely matched by many. “It was absolutely amazing [to be up there with Chris] and I think that it’s not a thing that a lot of people can say, being at the highest level of sport with a family member, and such a close family member like a brother. It just kind of builds the pressure and builds the intensity,” said Jon Lillis.

The U.S. Aerials Team looks forward to the rest of the competitive season ahead and they travel to Moscow next. “Moving on, we just have to come back and do the stuff that we’re capable of,” said Jon Lillis. “We have so many athletes who are top of the podium potential on this team. It’s been a little bit of a rocky start for me this season and I think that I just need to do what I’m capable of doing. There’s not a World Champion anywhere who likes being in fifth place, so I need to get back in the swing of things and back to my prior confidence levels, and keep the support from the fanbase so we can keep pushing.”

Results
Team Aerials results

Four U.S. Snowboard Team athletes will compete in the 2019 FIS Snowboard World Championship halfpipe finals on Friday at Park City Mountain, Utah.

Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.) will by vying for her first-ever World Championships medal. In addition, Olympians Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) are also set to compete for the women.

“The pipe’s been riding well,” said Gold. “I think it’s been a bit challenging to get a solid cut because of the amount of snow that has been falling, but it’s supposed to dissipate throughout today and into tomorrow, so I think that’ll help a lot. We unfortunately haven’t gotten much practice because of all of the snow, but it helps that we’re mid-season, so hopefully the tricks will come back easy regardless. I’m excited to get back in there tomorrow, just looking to put down some runs that I’m happy with and have a great time doing it!”

For the men, 2019 Junior World Champion Toby Miller (Mammoth Lakes) will be representing the United States.

“The halfpipe here in Park City is world class,” said Miller. “When I heard World Championships were being held at Park City I knew the halfpipe was going to be amazing! World championships is such an amazing event because you get riders from all over the world coming to compete for their country on a non-Olympic year. I could not be happier to make finals here on home soil. The level of riding yesterday was through the roof. Friday is going to be a good show.”

The U.S. riders competing in the World Championship finals have collected a combined nine top-three finishes in halfpipe competition this season including the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colo., World Cup; Dew Tour modified superpipe; Laax, Switzerland, World Cup and X Games last month in Aspen, Colo.. All eyes are on the U.S. Snowboard Team as they come into the final round of competition with momentum in search for the coveted title of World Champion.

Tune into NBC to catch all the action!

START LIST
Men’s halfpipe finals
Women’s halfpipe finals

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day broadcast

SNOWBOARD
Friday, Feb. 8
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 9
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Championships men and women’s halfpipe - Park City Mountain, Utah - NBC*