Sunshine and grippy snow feel like home for Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.), and so does the top step of the podium. For the 47th time in her career, Shiffrin enjoyed the view from the top step following her second-consecutive FIS Ski World Cup super-G victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday.

Coming out of the 12th starting position, Shiffrin watched three starters in front of her DNF, and that proved a huge advantage as she squeaked-out a 0.28-second victory over Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami in second, with Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein in third.

“I did not expect to win today," Shiffrin said. "I just tried to execute the right plan based on what my coaches said, and my skis were perfect and the feeling was good. So it worked out in the end!"

“Two-tenths, that’s not a lot of time, but I’m on the right side of the green light today, so I can enjoy that,” she added.

While Shiffrin’s back-to-back super-G wins may have surprised a lot of people, it’s been a calculated effort for her and her team following a summer that included super-G and downhill training in Chile. But most importantly, her comfort level has increased with speed events.

“In Lake Louise, I felt good; my skis felt great,” she said. “The inspection in the morning we chose a really great line and then I was just going down the mountain the way that I wanted. I could do what I wanted with my skis. So I came to this race thinking ‘OK, I have this confidence and I know what I’m doing with my skis,’ now we can see if we can do the same tactic. But, it was tricky with some of the sections in this course. If you were off balance, then there was no chance. But with a good position, you were OK.” 

For Saturday's race, Shiffrin was attempting to approach it with the same mentality, "I was trying to forget that I won a race, and forget the expectations and just ski my best with the right line. It was a bit trickier today, there were some spots on the course so I tried to be a bit smarter. My coaches gave me a really good report - I was going bib 12, so that was also lucky...and I'm grateful that I had some time to think about the course and exactly what I wanted to do. When things are going in a good direction and I feel confident, then every race I feel better and better and my skiing can go from slalom to super-G to GS to downhill to city event [she giggles] and it kind of works. It doesn't always stay, and it's a tricky balance, but I'm trying to enjoy it and we'll see what happens."

While World Cup super-G victory No. two came in only her 10th-career super-G start, don’t expect Shiffrin to dive into a full speed schedule. “I’ll pick and choose which ones seem to be appropriate,” she said. 

Laurenne Ross (Bend. Ore.) was 27th and Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) was 39th.

Shiffrin, the two-time defending overall World Cup Champion, extended her World Cup overall lead to 293 points over Michelle Gisin of Switzerland, and 324 points over Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinkel. Shiffrin also leads the World Cup super-G and slalom standings.

Up next, the women compete in a parallel slalom Sunday at St. Moritz.

RESULTS
Women’s super-G

WORLD CUP STANDINGS
Women's overall

AUDIO
Mikaela Shiffrin Victory Press Conference 

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
*Same-day delayed broadcast

Sunday, Dec. 8
12:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV**
3:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 1 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
4:15 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom qualifying, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV
5:00 p.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV*
 

Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.) led a very successful day for the U.S. Freeski Team, winning the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe finals Friday at Copper Mountain, Colorado. Teammates David Wise (Reno, Nev.), and Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) also landed on the podium, each finishing third.

Blunk opened up a bag of tricks to take the first FIS Freeski World Cup halfpipe competition of the 2018-19 season, not only landing double corks in all four directions but landing a brand new trick he had been working on for quite a while. Referring to the right double cork 1440 on the last hit of his run, Blunck said, “It felt so good, I have been working on that trick for a couple years. Last year I wanted to do it at the Olympics, but I tore my obliques right before and realized there was no way I could do it. I was just in too much pain. I came out this year and started working with Peter Olenick in Austria and my goal was to just work this trick and leave. That’s exactly what I did and I’m stoked to see it pay off.”

Sigourney found herself in a situation where she had to battle back to take home any hardware. Fortunately, she had some experience in this position. Resembling her performance at the PyeongChang Olympic Games, Sigourney dropped in a clutch performance to finish on the podium.

“I wasn’t feeling great on my first two runs and ended back in that familiar place of being bumped into fourth right before my last run,” said Sigourney. “I just channeled everything I had and decided I would clean it up and do it how I know how. This is definitely the highest level of skiing at the Copper Grand Prix I have ever seen. Usually, everyone is just figuring out how to ski again, but that was pretty insane to watch the top two girls ski today. (Estonia’s Kelly) Sildaru especially, it’s going to be a battle all year. It’s inspiring to watch her ski and I hope I can step up to what she’s putting out right now.”

Wise continued to scrape off the early season rust and would settle with his first run score to claim third. “It’s been a bit of a struggle just to put runs down this week,” said Wise. “Today I came out firing and landed what I felt was my best run all week. I went for my switch right double cork 1080 twice, but just couldn’t quite put it together. I’m being pushed by other guys and it’s no longer a gimme if I land my run. I have to land my run and land it well. That’s where I want the sport to be, I want to see it go to the next level. I’m building momentum going into the season and I’m stoked on how today went. I need a little more competition mileage and I’m looking forward to Dew Tour next week with the modified course. It should be interesting.”

For the men, New Zealand’s Miguel Porteous finished second between Blunck and Wise while Sildaru topped the podium followed by Canada’s Cassie Sharpe in second for the women. The entire field put on a show for a great crowd at Copper Mountain.

The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain continues with the men and women’s snowboard halfpipe final on Saturday. Be sure to tune in tot eh networks of NBC to catch all the action.

TRICK LIST
Men’s Freeski

1. Aaron Blunck - Switch Left Double Cork 900 Japan, Switch Right Double 1080 Safety, Left Double Flare 1080 Safety, Right Double 1440 Tail.

2. Miguel Porteous - Left Double 1260 Mute, Right Double 1260 Safety, Left 1080 Tail, Switch Left Alley-Oop, Double Flare 900 Safety, Switch Right Alley-Oop Flare 540 Safety

3. David Wise - Switch Right 720 Japan, Left Double 1260 Tail, Right 1080 Tail, Switch Left 720 Tail, Right Double 1260 Mute.

Women’s Freeski

1. Kelly Sildaru - Left 900 Tail, Right 900 Mute, Left 540 Mute, Left Alley-Oop 540 Tail, Right Alley-Oop Tail, Right 720 Tail, Switch Left 900 Safety.

2. Cassie Sharpe - Right 900 Tail, Left 900 Safety, Right 720 Safety, Switch Left 360 Mute, Straight Air Truck Driver, Left 1080 Tail.

3. Brita Sigourney - Left Alley-Oop Japan, Left 900 Tail, Left Alley-Oop 540 Safety, Left 540 Safety, Right 720 Mute.

RESULTS
Men’s freeski halfpipe final
Women’s freeski halfpipe final

START LISTS
Men’s snowboard halfpipe finals
Women’s snowboard halfpipe finals

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

FREESKI
Saturday, Dec. 8
12:30 p.m. - Men and women’s halfpipe, Copper Mountain, Colo. - NBCSN-TV**

SNOWBOARD
Saturday, Dec. 8
1:00 p.m. - Men and women’s halfpipe, Copper Mountain, Colo. - NBCSports.com & NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Dec. 9
12:30 p.m. - Men and women’s halfpipe, Copper Mountain, Colo. - NBC**

EVENT SCHEDULE
*Subject to change
Dec. 7: 11:00 a.m. - 12:40 p.m. (MST) - Freeski Finals
Dec. 8: 11:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. (MST) - Snowboard Finals
 

We’re sad to see the FIS Ski World Cup Tour shift from North America to Europe, but as they say - the show must go on, right?! Olympic champions Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) and Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) will lead the cast of characters at the first stop in St. Moritz, Switzerland and Val d’Isere, France, respectively. We'll miss our cheeseburgers, but bring on the schnitzel - downhiller Steven Nyman's personal favorite - semmel roll salami and cucumber sandwiches, jet fuel-double espressos, and sauna time in magical Euroland! 

Fresh off her historic 46th career World Cup victory, which was also her first career World Cup super-G win - and podium, for that matter - Sunday at Lake Louise, Alberta, Shiffrin is eager to continue the season with an unlikely pair of events this weekend: super-G and parallel slalom. Never fear...American fans will only have to reach for their mobile device or remote control to watch this weekend’s World Cup events in St. Moritz.

Shiffrin will carry the momentum from her big weekend in Lake Louise in super-G through to this weekend’s super-G, as she looks to score more valuable points towards the overall, which she currently leads with 489 points, by a massive 238-point margin over Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin. On Sunday, Shiffrin became the first-ever athlete - male or female - to win in all six World Cup disciplines currently contested. Since, there has been much discussion about the accomplishment, which Shiffrin addressed on Wednesday in a media call from St. Moritz.

"Everybody has a different definition of what it means to be 'the greatest,' Shiffrin reflected. "You know, to be the true greatest of all time - that's something that depends on your opinion of what it means to be the greatest. Is it the greatest technique? Is it a record? I don't consider myself a record chaser, because I do feel like there is so much that boils down to your opinion. My opinion is that I want to be considered to be one of the best technical skiers and, essentially, to win - not to win a certain number of races - but to get in the start and know that I have the ability to be the best racer on any given day in any given event. With that comes winning races, and getting closer to records, but I'm not chasing that.

These people who have come before me, that have set these records, I don't think I can compete with that. Marlies Schild, for example. To me, she'll always be the greatest woman slalom skier. It is always an honor and amazing to hold any of those records, but records are meant to be broken...and someone is going to come up and break them, right?!"

Sunday’s parallel slalom event will be the kickoff parallel event of the season, and it will include a qualifier, so will be structured much like the Courchevel, France parallel slalom event last December 20th – which Mikaela won, over Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova. Veteran U.S. Ski Team athlete Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.) will also be starting in Sunday’s parallel slalom event. 

On the men's side, Ligety leads the tech team in the second World Cup giant slalom and slalom events of the season on one of the most challenging tracks of the season: Le Face de Bellevarde in Val d’Isere, France. You could say that Ligety has a bit of a love/hate relationship with Le Face, having won one World Cup race in Val d'Isère, a giant slalom in 2010, while also having battled Le Face and come up short in recent years. In an Instagram post Friday featuring Ligety’s son, 2038 Olympic hopeful Jax, Ligety wrote, “Hoping to dance down Le Face with as good of rhythm as Jax!” Keep an eye out for Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.), Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) and Brian McLaughlin (Waitsfield, Vt.) - who all scored points in last Sunday’s Birds of Prey giant slalom season opener. 

Catch all of the action on NBC Sports Network, NBC Sports Gold, and the Olympic Channel, so make sure to tune in.

See who to watch and where to catch all the action below.

WOMEN’S STARTERS

• Alice Merryweather (SG)
• Laurenne Ross (SG)
• Mikaela Shiffrin (SG, PS)
• Resi Stiegler (PS)

MEN’S STARTERS

• Ryan Cochran-Siegle (GS)
• Tommy Ford (GS)
• Ted Ligety (GS)
• Brian McLaughlin (GS)
• River Radamus (GS, SL)
• Hig Roberts (GS, SL)
• Luke Winters (GS, SL)

START LISTS
Women's super-G
Men's giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change
*Same-day delayed broadcast
**Next-day broadcast

ALPINE

Saturday, Dec. 8
3:45 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 1 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:00 a.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:45 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV

Saturday, Dec. 9
12:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV**
3:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 1 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
4:15 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom qualifying, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV
5:00 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV*

Fans can catch all the action in spectacular high definition via NBC Sports online at NBCSports.com/Live or through the NBC Sports app which is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow

START LISTS
Men's Start List - Giant Slalom
Women's Start List - Super-G 

Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.) took third in Friday’s first FIS Freestyle World Cup moguls event of the 2018-19 season in Ruka, Finland. She shared the podium with France’s Perrine Laffont, who came in first, and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Galysheva in second.

“I’m pretty ecstatic right now!” said Johnson. “It feels really good to end on the podium in the first event of the year. It was super special going into super finals with Jaelin. We were gunning for one and two, but that will come later. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season!”

“Tess qualified in the first round and just carried her momentum right on through into the finals,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. “She was dominating the middle section all day today, being very aggressive, very athletic in her turns. She carried that momentum into her bottom air, charged it with a nice big 360. Tess made a few adjustments in her run for super finals, cleaning up her run to land her in third.”

It was a perfect day for moguls skiing in Ruka, Finland. “The resort always does a great job hosting, they treat everyone well and put on a quality event,” said Gnoza. “It was a perfect course, we had perfect conditions. The jumps allowed athletes to go big and carry big speed. Everything we’ve been working on was there for them to take advantage of, and Tess really stomped it out.”

The event was structured in the Olympic format, with two qualifying rounds and two finals rounds for the men and women. The U.S. had five athletes qualify for finals: Johnson, Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.), Olivia Giaccio (Redding, Conn.) and Alex Jenson (Park City, Utah) for the women and Casey Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) for the men.

Kauf, the fastest female moguls skier in the world, moved on to the super final, finishing in fifth. Giaccio, who currently performs the hardest run on the World Cup circuit for women, pushed it really hard to the end and finished 12th. Jenson, who skis with Park City Ski and Snowboard Club, returned to the World Cup due to injuries on the U.S. Team, really took advantage of the opportunity she had and finished 13th.

Andringa, the top male finisher for the men, landed in ninth but will be a force to watch this season. The rookie men - Jesse Andringa, Hunter Bailey, Jack Kariotis, Dylan Walczyk and Emerson Smith - made a lot of good steps in their learning process today in competing at the World Cup level. These athletes will only continue to improve and we should expect them to climb higher as the season progresses.

“There is a lot to build on from here,” said Gnoza. “We’ll take a look at everything from today, continue to set a game plan moving forward and build on the momentum we’ve started. We’re not far away from three women in the top six, I’m excited about that coming up.”

The U.S. Moguls Team heads to Thaiwoo, China, where they will compete in moguls and dual moguls on December 15-16.

RESULTS
Women’s moguls finals
Men’s moguls finals

The U.S. Snowboard Team qualified six athletes to Saturday’s halfpipe finals at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colorado, including Olympic Gold medalist Chloe Kim (Torrence, Calif.), Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo). For the men, Toby Miller (Mammoth, Calif.), along with Olympians Chase Josey (Hailey, Idaho) and Jake Pates (Eagle, Colo.) qualified.

“I couldn’t feel any better, the level of riding is absolutely through the roof,” said Miller, who finished third in the second qualifying heat. “I even heard some of the older riders at the top talking about how this is one of the highest levels of riding they’ve seen at a Copper Grand Prix in a long time. It honestly means the world to me to put down my run and get into the final. I actually learned that last trick, the frontside double cork 1260, this spring, so I’m fired up. Being on the U.S. Snowboard Team and working with the best coaches like Rick Bower, Rick Shimpeno and JJ Thomas has been truly amazing.”

Pates echoed Miller’s comments on the incredibly high level of riding on display. “The boys are riding so well. It’s tough because a lot my teammates should be in finals, but they only take five.”

Kim, who won Thursday's qualifying round, was a bit skeptical coming into competition after not having the best practice. “The competition went a lot better than I expected because I didn’t have the greatest practice. We had to break the pipe in this morning with all of the fresh snow, so it was a bit slow, but when the sun started coming out it made the second run a lot more fun. Copper is amazing and I love coming out here.”

Mastro and Gold finished second and third respectively in Thursday’s qualifying. “I’m super happy,” said Mastro. “I came here with the mindset of just landing a run and it’s just icing on the cake that it put me into finals. Saas Fee training was huge for me, it’s always a big preparation camp. I stayed a bit longer and rode at Kitzsteinhorn by myself and I think those two things combined is why I am feeling really good about my riding right now. Not to mention, the sled laps early in the week that Copper provided was also really helpful.”

While many of the riders are focusing exclusively on competition, Gold had a lot more on her mind this week. “I have been going back and forth to school, which has made this week infinitely busier,” said the University of Colorado student. “Fortunately, the training and competition schedule allowed me to shoot back up to Boulder for class which I will do again tomorrow. With all that going on, I still feel like I accomplished what I wanted to today. We have a nice long practice before finals and I think I will feel a lot better after that and maybe add couple more tricks I have on my mind.”

Although Josey is still working way back to prime form, he decided to keep things fresh and change up his usual run. “It’s the first event of the season, so I’m still working all the tricks back to where I feel comfortable implementing them into my run. Also, I’m mixing things up a little bit doing a front side alley oop on the first hit. I’m trying to be creative and throw some different tricks in there.”

Overall, it was clear that the 2018 Toyota Copper Grand Prix is going to continue to offer some of the world’s best riding. The event continues Friday with the freeski halfpipe finals.

RESULTS
Men’s halfpipe qualifications
Women’s halfpipe qualifications

START LISTS
Men’s halfpipe final
Women’s halfpipe final

HOW TO WATCH
*Subject to change
*All times EST

FREESKI
December 7, 2018
1:00 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC Sports & NBC Sports Gold

December 8
4:30 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC - Next-day broadcast

SNOWBOARD
December 8, 2018
1:00 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC Sports & NBC Sports Gold

December 9
12:30 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC - Next-day broadcast

EVENT SCHEDULE
*Subject to change
Dec. 7: 11:00 a.m. - 12:40 p.m. (MST) - Freeski Finals
Dec. 8: 11:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. (MST) - Snowboard Finals

After a very productive pre-season prep period, the moguls skiers of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team begin their FIS World Cup season in Ruka, Finland, with men and women’s qualifications and finals on Friday, Dec. 7.

“I am so excited to kick the season off and finally get back in the gate, feels like it’s been forever,” said Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) after training on the opening World Cup course. “I love the big bottom air and the speed you can carry in this course!” 

With an uncharacteristically slow start to the snow year in the Arctic Circle, Ruka has been making snow round-the-clock to produce a quality course. The U.S. Moguls Team has been on-site training since November 20, and after six days of flatwork was “chomping at the bit to get on the full-length course,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. “Once on the course the team quickly got up to speed skiing top to bottom runs. The staff felt good about how the team looked on the full course and everyone was skiing at a high-intensity level as they prepared for this week’s first World Cup event.”

The course at Ruka, with a fast mid-section and huge bottom air (the second of two jumps in the course where athletes perform aerial maneuvers), is sure to keep athletes on their toes and provide for an exhilarating competition. 

“Athletes need to push their speed but also maintain position and control so they can hit a quality bottom air,” explains Gnoza. “The Ruka bottom air is a showtime jump. Athletes can take the jump as big as they want, it gives them plenty of air to perform even the most difficult tricks. With the location of the judges stand here in Ruka being equal eye level to the bottom air, an athlete that goes big really makes an impression on the judges.”

The U.S. has 13 athletes competing for the first podiums of the 2018-19 season and the team is looking strong. Kauf leads the charge for the women as the current fastest female moguls skier in the world. Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.) is skiing strong technical runs that are sure to impress the judges, and Olivia Giaccio (Redding, Conn.) is taking huge jumps. On the men’s side, Bradley Wilson (Butte, Mont.) has been fast and aggressive in training and Casey Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) has been dominating the middle section of the course and stomping out the landing on both of his jumps. Rookies Hunter Bailey (Vail, Colo.) and Jesse Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) are both skiing confidently and will be looking to make a statement in their first international World Cup starts. 

Starters
Women 
Jaelin Kauf
Tess Johnson
Olivia Giaccio
Ali Kariotis
Nessa Dziemian
Alex Jenson
 
Men 
Dylan Walczyk 
Brad Wilson
Casey Andringa
Emerson Smith
Jesse Andringa
Hunter Bailey
Jack Kariotis

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change
*Same-day broadcast

Friday, Dec. 7
9:20 a.m. - Men and women’s moguls, Ruka, FIN - Olympic Channel & NBC Sports Gold
3:00 p.m. - Men and women’s moguls, Ruka, FIN - Olympic Channel*

The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix FIS World Cup halfpipe competition season kicked off at Copper Mountain in great fashion with stellar performances from U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes. U.S. Pro Team member Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) qualified in third-place. For the men, Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.) and PyeongChang Olympic silver medalist Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.) led the way in heat one, finishing first and second respectively.

Sigourney was pleasantly surprised by her performance. “I felt surprisingly better than I expected after two short training sessions,” she said. “I didn’t have the highest expectations, but I am just happy to have landed my runs. The pipe was running a bit faster than it has been so I was able to carry my amplitude and accomplish what I wanted to. Moving into finals I plan on removing the straight air from my run and continuing to go big and keep it stylish.”

“It’s been a fun offseason just hanging, so I’m happy to be back on snow and shredding with the boys,” said Blunck, who was extremely happy to be back on snow following the long 2017-18 Olympic season. “After the Olympics, I took a step back and realized I wanted to ski for myself and have some fun and I feel like I did that today.”

Ferreira was also trying to have fun during Wednesday’s competition but had his eyes set on the finals. “My goal today was simply to just make it to finals,” said Ferreira. “It’s the first contest of the year, so I’m just trying to enjoy my time here with the other athletes and ski well.”

U.S Pro Team member Devin Logan (West Dover, Vt.) finished fifth, followed by her teammates Annalisa Drew (Andover, Mass.) in sixth and Sochi Gold medalist Maddie Bowman (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.) in eighth. Sigourney, Logan, Drew and Bowman will all move on to Friday’s finals competition.

For the men, Taylor Seaton (Avon, Colo.) closed off heat one in fifth place to make it into the final. In heat two, U.S. Pro team member Birk Irving (Winter Park, Colo.) finished third, U.S. Rookie Team member Hunter Hess (Bend, Ore.) finished fourth and double-Olympic gold medalist David Wise (Reno, Nev.) finished fifth, just squeaking his way into the finals start list.

“Today did not go according to plan, but that’s a good thing for the first competition of the season,” said Wise. “When you get too confident, you sort of check out and that’s not what I want to do. I want to stay lit, stay feisty, and what I noticed in the qualifier is there are a bunch of young guys that are gunning for me. I have to keep progressing and that’s why I love this sport in the first place.”

On the other hand, Irving set out to meet a goal and did so in style. “I finally got to put a new trick into my run that I worked on at Saas Fee Training camp this fall, which is a switch left double cork 1080 on the first hit," he said. "I worked with Coach Andrew Woods and Mike Jankowski to get that dialed.”

There were great performances all around for the first FIS Freeski World Cup halfpipe competition of the season. U.S. Snowboard Team members including Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim (Torrence, Calif.) will face off against an impressive international field in Thursday’s snowboard halfpipe qualifications.

RESULTS
Men’s halfpipe qualifications
Women’s halfpipe qualifications

HOW TO WATCH
*Subject to change
*All times EST

FREESKI
December 7, 2018
1:00 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC Sports & NBC Sports Gold

December 8
4:30 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC - Next-day broadcast

SNOWBOARD
December 8, 2018
1:00 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC Sports & NBC Sports Gold

December 9
12:30 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC - Next-day broadcast

EVENT SCHEDULE
*Subject to change
Dec. 6: 8:30 a.m - 3:30 p.m (MST) - Snowboard Qualifications
Dec. 7: 11:00 a.m. - 12:40 p.m. (MST) - Freeski Finals
Dec. 8: 11:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. (MST) - Snowboard Finals
 

The Super Tour, the preeminent six-event North American race series kicked off its first race weekend on Dec. 2-3 at the Rendezvous Ski Trails in West Yellowstone, Mont.

Saturday, Dec. 1 – Sprint freestyle
On Saturday, Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) and U.S. Ski Team Member Julia Kern (Waltham, Mass.) each won the qualifier and the A Final. Both skied with power and confidence from the qualification straight through to win their respective A Finals.

On the men’s side, a strong combination of juniors including Noel Keeffe (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and Luke Jager (Anchorage, Alaska) mixed it up with the seasoned veterans such as Newell and Ben Lustgarten (Craftsbury, Vt.). Six junior boys made it into the top 30.

For the women, it was encouraging to see the strength of the U23 field in the women’s race with Kern and Hannah Halvorsen (Truckee, Calif.) finishing first and third respectively, as well as Hailey Swirbul (Anchorage, Alaska) and Leah Lange (Park City, Utah) finishing in the top 10.

Sunday, Dec 2 – Women’s 10k freestyle/men’s 15k freestyle
On Sunday, the course conditions were firm and quite slow, making the ski conditions a physically demanding test. Veteran favorites Lustgarten and Rosie Frankowski (Minneapolis, Minn.) showed their early season fitness each taking the lead from the first couple kilometers and never relinquishing their leads.

Frankowski displayed dominance winning the 10k women’s freestyle race by more than 45 seconds over University of Utah’s Guro Jordheim. Kyle Bratrud (Eden Praire, Minn.) surged in the second half of the men's 15k race to closing to 6.5 seconds at 12k and ending only 3 seconds back of Lustgarten.

Race winner, Frankowski started 60 seconds behind Sydney Palmer-Leger (Park City, Utah)  and caught her within the first lap. The gritty Palmer-Leger held onto Rosie for more than a full lap skiing her way to fifth overall. Sydney’s Sun Valley teammate Johnny Hagenbuch (Sun Valley, Idaho) was the top junior male, also finishing fifth overall.

Special thanks to the Yellowstone Ski Festival for a well-orchestrated event.  It was exciting to see CXC in action live streaming the races. The opportunity to expose and engage the cross country community by providing them the opportunity to watch the best domestic cross country racers is incredible.

RESULTS
West Yellowstone Results
Super Tour Standings

What happens when you bring together Vermont’s favorite ski racing legacy child with Oregon’s prized speed racing sweetheart? You get the ultimate NASTAR Pacesetting dream team.

This season, NASTAR is proud to announce current U.S. Ski Team members, Laurenne Ross and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, to the esteemed team of NASTAR National Pacesetters.

... Read the Full Story at NASTAR.com

U.S. Snowboard and Freeski Team halfpipe athletes return to the friendly confines of the Copper Mountain’s 22-foot superpipe for the opening Toyota U.S. Grand Prix this week at the Colorado resort, and the networks of NBC will be there broadcast all the action. In fact, NBC is scheduled to stream and broadcast more than 50 hours of Olympic winter sports from Colorado, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Norway Dec. 7-10.

The finals of both Grand Prix events will be streamed and broadcast live on the networks of NBC, including NBC Sports Network and NBC Sports Gold for Friday’s freeski finals and Saturday’s snowboard finals. This weekend’s Grand Prix events also serve as the opening FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Cup halfpipe events for the 2018-19 season and NBC will broadcast a pair of one-hour Grand Prix recap shows Saturday (freeski) and Sunday (snowboard) afternoons.

Fresh off her historic 46th career FIS Ski World Cup victory, which was also her first career World Cup super-G win, Sunday at Lake Louise, Alberta, Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) and teammates return to Europe for the remainder of the competition season. But American fans will only have to reach for their mobile device or remote control to watch this weekend’s super-G and parallel women’s World Cup events in St. Moritz, Switzerland. On the men's side, Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) leads the tech team in the second World Cup giant slalom and slalom events of the season in Val d’Isere, France. All alpine events this weekend will be streamed and broadcast on NBC Sports Network, the Olympic Channel and NBC Sports Gold.

Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.), Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.), Casey Andringa (Vail, Colo.) and Bradley Wilson (Park City, Utah) lead the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team moguls athletes as they kick off their World Cup season in Ruka, Finland, this weekend. Both the Olympic Channel and NBC Sports Gold will carry live coverage on Friday, starting at 9:20 a.m. EST.

Fresh of a string of three top-10 World Cup results, including a third-place sprint finish in Lillehammer, Norway, last weekend, Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.) joins her U.S. Cross Country Ski Team teammate Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) to compete in a 15k freestyle Saturday and a 4x5k team relay in Beitostølen, Norway, Sunday. Erik Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) are scheduled to participate in the men’s 30k freestyle and a 4x7.5k team relay. All events will be streamed/broadcast live on the Olympic Channel and NBC Sports Gold.

USA Nordic/U.S. Ski Team ski jumpers, unfortunately, will have to wait another week before the next FIS Ski Jumping World Cup event as this weekend's large hill competition in Titisee-Neustadt, Germany has been canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions.

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change
*Same-day delayed broadcast
**Next-day broadcast

ALPINE
Saturday, Dec. 8
3:45 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 1 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
5:00 a.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:45 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV

Sunday, Dec. 9
12:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV**
3:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 1 - Val d’Isere, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
4:15 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom qualifying, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:15 a.m. - Men’s slalom, run 2 - Val d’Isere, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - Olympic Channel-TV
5:00 a.m. - Women’s parallel slalom, St. Moritz, SUI - NBCSN-TV*

FREESKI
Friday, Dec. 7
1:00 p.m. - Men and women’s halfpipe, Copper Mountain, Colo. - NBCSN-TV, NBCSports.com & NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Dec. 8
4:30 p.m. - Men and women’s halfpipe, Copper Mountain, Colo. - NBC**

FREESTYLE
Friday, Dec. 7
9:20 a.m. - Men and women’s moguls, Ruka, FIN - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:00 p.m. - Men and women’s moguls, Ruka, FIN - Olympic Channel-TV*

CROSS COUNTRY
Saturday, Dec. 8
3:20 a.m. - Women’s 15k interval, Beitostølen, NOR - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
6:05 a.m. - Men’s 30k interval, Beitostølen, NOR - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
8:30 a.m. - Women’s 15k interval, Beitostølen, NOR - Olympic Channel-TV*

Sunday, Dec. 9
4:20 a.m. - Women’s team relay, Beitostølen, NOR - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:20 a.m. - Men’s team relay, Beitostølen, NOR - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
4:00 p.m. - Women’s team relay, Beitostølen, NOR - Olympic Channel-TV*

SNOWBOARD
Saturday, Dec. 8
1:00 p.m. - Men and women’s halfpipe, Copper Mountain, Colo. - NBCSN-TV, NBCSports.com & NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Dec. 9
12:30 p.m. - Men and women’s halfpipe, Copper Mountain, Colo. - NBC**

Fans can catch all the action in spectacular high definition via NBC Sports online at NBCSports.com/Live or through the NBC Sports app which is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow