Jake Vedder (Pinckney, Mich.) led the way for the U.S. Snowboardcross Team with his first career FIS Snowboard World Cup podium, finishing second in Saturday’s snowboardcross in Cervinia, Italy. In the women’s race, Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) pulled off her 51st World Cup podium performance, finishing second.

“My teammates were really encouraging me all day, and when I got to the bottom everyone just started tackling me,” Vedder laughed. “I couldn’t even believe what happened. I’m ecstatic to be here right now and it was a great day of racing. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Vedder, the 2018 Junior World Champion, came back from fifth position in the big final, taking the inside line late in the race to land on the podium to announced himself as a force on the World Cup stage with his second-place performance. Teammate Nate Holland (Sandpoint, Idaho) got tangled up midway through big final, but rebounded to finish fifth. Italian Emanuel Perathoner topped the podium with Germany’s Martin Noerl in third.

In the women’s race, it looked like Jacobellis would pull off the double victory following her win Friday to add to her all-time record in ladies’ SBX World Cup competition. Jacobellis opened up a huge gap between herself and the pack down the demanding Cervinia track.

However, back in the pack was Sochi 2014 Olympic gold medallist Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic, who kept her sights set on Jacobellis despite the seemingly insurmountable gap through the middle section of the course. Outpumping Jacobellis over the final roller stretch, Samkova edge Jacobellis by a board length at the finish line to claim her 11th career World Cup victory and her second podium in as many days after finishing runner-up to Jacobellis on Friday. Third place on the day went to Italy’s Michela Moioli, the reigning Olympic champion and 2017-18 crystal globe winner who earned her first podium of the young season on home soil.

With the runner-up result, and like Samkova earning a victory and second-place result the past two days, Jacobellis and Samkova are tied atop the FIS snowboardcross World Cup leaderboard through two events.

Both Jacobellis and Vedder achieved their minimum U.S Ski & Snowboard World Championship Team criteria with their respective podium results. Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, Mich.) also fulfilled his minimum 2019 World Championship Team selection criteria, finishing eighth.

U.S. Development Group member Stacy Gaskill (Golden, Colo.) finished in 12th; Anna Miller (Orem, Utah), Livia Molodyh (Hubbard, Ore.) and Danielle Steinhoff (Colfax, Calif.) finished 16th, 28th and 29th respectively.

The 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships snowboardcross program commences Jan. 31-Feb. 3 at Solitude Mountain Resort. Stay tuned for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard World Championships Team announcement to see what U.S. Snowboardcross Team members will compete in the biggest event to hit Utah since the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

RESULTS
Men’s Snowboardcross
Women’s Snowboardcross

Skiing her best is the most important thing to Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.), but numbers, not so much. Saturday’s slalom victory may not have been her best skiing, but it resulted in a huge win - FIS Ski World Cup victory number 50 in Courchevel, France.

“I was trying as hard as I could not to focus on that today because it’s so distracting to think about those numbers for me and it’s always a mental battle just to focus on my skiing,” Shiffrin said. “I’m really happy, and maybe a bit lucky today with the win again. I was watching the first run - Petra (Vlhova, Slovakia) skied better than I did. I don’t know how I snuck away with the lead on the first run, but it was a big battle with Frida (Hansdotter, Sweden) second run, Petra second run, so I’m lucky and I’m grateful.”

And pretty darn fast too! Shiffrin took slim .04-second first-run over lead over Vlhova. In the second run, she dropped .04-seconds behind Vlhova at the second intermediate split. But in her typical fast-finishing fashion, Shiffrin hit the gas and edged-out Vlhova by .29 seconds for the victory. Hansdotter was third, at .37 back.

How big is her 50th career World Cup victory? Huge! Just look at the stats:

• She is the youngest racer to ever win 50 World Cup races
• She tied the great Italian racer Alberto Tomba on the all-time win list with her 50th World Cup victory
• She has 35 World Cup slalom wins, which equals that of her childhood hero Marlies Schild, whom she now shares the record with for the most World Cup slalom victories
• Her 50th World Cup win also launched her to a massive 501-point lead in the overall World Cup standings
• She has won five World Cup races in a row, in four different disciplines (slalom, parallel slalom, giant slalom and super-G) in the last 21 days
• She is tied with Marcel Hirscher for a record 14 wins in a calendar year

But again, these are just numbers that don’t necessarily motivate Shiffrin but do bring a smile to her face.

“I have to focus on my skiing and those numbers can be a really big distraction for me. It’s not really motivating, it feels more like pressure,” she said. “But now after the race, I can say it’s really an incredible thing, and I’m happy.”

Regardless of the milestones, Shiffrin admits that her success is not hers alone. It belongs to a solid team of supporters, and especially her coaches.

“Behind every athlete is such a big structure of people who are helping, sponsors, and family and friends, and especially the coaches,” Shiffrin said. “And for me when I’m looking at my coaches...I know that they have a one-thousand-percent belief in me. (Friday) and (Saturday) I believed in myself, but I could look at them and say ‘you did your job, now it’s time for me to do mine.’ It’s just the coolest feeling knowing our team is always working so hard. It’s not just me, it’s everybody...and they do their job so well and I’m really grateful for that.”

Paula Moltzan (Burlington, Vt.) may be racing in the shadow of one of the greatest racers of all time in Shiffrin, but the World Cup leader was pretty stoked to see her put down a career-best World Cup result in 15th place. In fact, Moltzan - who skis for the University of Vermont, in addition to representing America on the global stage - posted the fourth-fastest second run, just .16 behind Shiffrin.

“We saw that her skiing was really good in Killington (Vermont), and she always has this style that’s...really athletic,” Shiffrin said of Moltzan. “And today I was watching her second run and...I was thinking ‘that, was amazing, really nice skiing.’ She was smooth, she was accelerating, she was calm...and that’s super cool to see and I’m excited for her.”

Up next, the women’s World Cup circuit takes a few days off for the Christmas holiday, resuming Dec. 28-29 with giant slalom and slalom event.

RESULTS
Women’s slalom

STANDINGS
Women’s World Cup

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

Saturday, Dec. 22
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom, Courchevel, FRA - NBCSN-TV*

Sunday, Dec. 23
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom and giant slalom, Courchevel, FRA - NBC**

The alpine snowboard season is off and running with two of three Race to the Cup events taken place in December. Steamboat Springs, Colorado hosted the season-opener December 8-9, with Buck Hill, Minnesota, hosting December 14-16

Local Steamboat Springs athletes started off their season strong with Robert Burns (Mount Shasta, Calif.) and Cody Winters (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) taking first and second respectively in the parallel giant slalom (PGS) event on December 9th. On the women’s side, Lynn Ott (Bend, Ore.) just missed the podium in fourth place.

The action continued December 10th with a parallel slalom race (PSL) on the same slope. Local racers again finished strong with Burns scoring another win and Winters rounding out the podium in third. The U.S. women were shut out of the podium but came away with respectable places for Ott, Abby Champagne (Park City, Utah), and Kaiya Kizuka (Sinking Spring, Penn.) in fifth, sixth, and seventh place respectively.

The following weekend of racing in Buck Hill consisted of three days of PSL racing. On the first day of competition December 14th, Champagne was the top American finisher with a second place and her first podium of the season. Kizuka and Ott followed just off the podium in fourth and fifth respectively. Winters had a great day, snagging his first win of the season.

Saturday’s race found Kizuka on the podium in second, and Burns back on top with this season’s second victory.

The event finished up with the third PSL of the weekend on Dec. 16th,  where Champagne took home second place and her second podium of the weekend. Winters brought the heat again and demonstrated consistency and dominance earning his second victory of the season, and his fourth podium of the season.

After these five races, the Americans are looking good in the NorAm standings with Winters leading Burns by 55 points. On the women’s ranking Champagne is sitting in third as the highest American behind Kaylie Buck of Canada and Tsubaki Miki of Japan.

The next Race to the Cup event will be held in Holiday Valley, N.Y., February 28th - March 1st.

Race to the Cup events is the U.S. arm of the greater North American Cup tour which is hosted in partnership with Canada. The NorAm Cup tour gives upcoming athletes a chance to earn a World Cup spot for the following season and is, therefore, an important step in the athletic pipeline.

RESULTS
Dec. 8
Men’s PGS
Women’s PGS

Dec. 9
Men’s PSL
Women’s PSL

Dec. 14
Men’s PSL
Women’s PSL

Dec. 15
Men’s PSL
Women’s PSL

Dec. 16
Men’s PSL
Women’s PSL

STANDINGS
Men’s NorAm Cup
Women’s NorAm Cup

Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) kicked off the 2018-19 snowboardcross season with a victory at the Cervinia, Italy, FIS Snowboard World Cup in race one of a two-race weekend event. This is the 30th career World Cup win for the defending FIS Snowboardcross World Champion.

The victory comes at a critical time with the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships right around the corner, and with the win, Jacobellis satisfy the minimum U.S. Ski & Snowboard World Championships Team Selection criteria of at least one top-eight World Cup result.

“It’s nice to grab a victory at the first competition, especially because I didn’t do that well last year,” said Jacobellis. “It was an X Games style course as far as the glide, the movement and passing strategies are concerned, which I think worked well with my experience. This kind of course can work with you or against you with drafts and gains, but the knowledge of how they work is critical to manage your position in the race. I learned this early on in the training session when I put myself behind the guys. I was actually ahead in my race, and knew drafting opportunities would make for passing on my left side, so I made sure I stayed left to close out that lane.

“This win is really nice and helps boost the confidence as these days I have a lot more wear and tear on my body,” she continued. “I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing with my starts and not be afraid to get in the mix with the girls.”

American Anna Miller (Orem, Utah) was the next American in the ranks finishing 16th. For the men, it was a strong finish for U.S. Ski & Snowboard Development Group member Senna Leith (Vail, Colo.), who finished sixth overall right in front of U.S. Ski & Snowboard A Team member Nate Holland (Sandpoint, Idaho) in eighth. Leith and Holland would also satisfy the minimum U.S. Ski & Snowboard World Championships Team Selection criteria with top eight results. However, there is still opportunity for other U.S. athletes to shake things up with one more race to go in Cervinia.

Finishing right behind Holland was teammates Hagen Kearney (Norwood, Colo.) in ninth, Alex Deibold (Manchester, Vt.) 11th; Jake Vedder (Pinckney, Mich.) 15th; Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) 17th; and Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, Mich.) 34th.

Strong performances from both the men and the women should create momentum into the second of the two-race event in Cervinia, with both qualifying and final rounds taking place  Saturday.

RESULTS
Men’s snowboardcross
Women’s snowboardcross

HOW TO WATCH
*Subject to change
All times in EST

Saturday, Dec. 22
5:40 a.m. - Men and women’s snowboardcross, Cervinia, ITA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
 

Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) keeps stepping on the gas, and the victories just keep adding up. On Friday in Courchevel, France, she won another FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom - her first of the season and the sixth of her career - to extend her overall World Cup lead to a massive 422 points.

Shiffrin rebounded from a .08-second first-run deficit to take a narrow .14-second win over Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg. Tessa Worley of France finished third at just .33 back. The top eight finishers were separated by just 0.93 seconds.

With heavy, wet, snow falling in the French Alps, Shiffrin had to choose when to step on the gas and when to back off Friday. The first run finish times clocked in at just past the minute mark, but with heavy snow continuing to fall, organizers pushed the start about ten gates down the mountain, effectively setting up a second-run sprint. With a pedal to the medal approach out of the start, Shiffrin separated herself from the rest of the field just three gates into the second run.

“The first run I was pushing really hard out of the start, because it’s so flat that you have to do that, but after the first couple of gates...I was skiing hard, but too much, and I could see that in the video,” Shiffrin said. “So the second run I was thinking, ‘push harder out of the start and go more direct in the first gates and then just let it go from there.’ I was trying to build up speed as quick as I could...I don’t know how fast it was, but I was pushing really hard, and farther than everybody else.”

It seems Courchevel, France has been kind to Shiffrin, as she won her third-straight victory at the venue. "I like it in France. And, it's starting to feel...more familiar for me," Shiffrin said with a giggle at the press conference, referring to her relationship with French giant slalom specialist, Mathieu Faivre. 

In the chase for her third-consecutive overall World Cup title, Shiffrin has won six races this season, including her fourth-straight start (two super-G, a parallel slalom and Friday’s giant slalom), and leads Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel by 422 points in the overall World Cup standings. She also leads the slalom and super-G standings, and is second in giant slalom and ninth in downhill.

Through the first six weeks of the season, Shiffrin has racked up some impressive results, in addition to a significant amount of travel and training time. Following her back-to-back victories in Saint Moritz, Switzerland, on Dec. 8-9, she took some time away from competition to rest and recharge her body, mind and soul as she heads into another solid stretch of races - seven over a 19-day stretch - which kicked off with a victory Friday. She was also able to dial in her giant slalom set-up and got a bit of slalom training in, up in Trysil, Norway. Up next, she’ll race the slalom Saturday in Courchevel ahead of a six-day holiday break before the White Circus resumes Dec. 28-29 in Semmering, Austria.

“Today was a great way to start this weekend...but I didn’t get a lot of slalom training the (past few days), so I’m just going to move my feet quick and see what happens (Saturday),” she giggled.

AJ Hurt (Squaw Valley, Calif.) and Tricia Mangan (Derby, N.Y.) joined Shiffrin in the first run and each showed promise with solid skiing, but couldn't hang on in the chatter and both DNFed. Paula Moltzan (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Nina O’Brien (San Francisco, Calif.) - who both scored points in the last World Cup slalom at Killington, Vermont - will also be starting in Saturday’s slalom.

RESULTS
Women’s giant slalom

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

Friday, Dec. 21
12:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom, Courchevel, FRA - NBCSN-TV*

Saturday, Dec. 22
4:30 a.m. - Women’s slalom run 1, Courchevel, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
9:45 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Madonna di Campiglio, ITA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
12:30 p.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Madonna di Campiglio, ITA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom, Courchevel, FRA - NBCSN-TV*

Sunday, Dec. 23
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom and giant slalom, Courchevel, FRA - NBC**

Please note that U.S. Ski & Snowboard offices will be closed on Monday, December 24th and Tuesday, December 25th for the Christmas Holiday. Our offices will also be closed on Monday, December 31st and Tuesday, January 1st for the New Year's Holiday.

 Normal business hours will resume on Wednesday, December 26th and Wednesday, January 2nd  8:00 AM - 5:00 PM MST.  U.S. Ski & Snowboard's website will not be affected by this closure.

Season’s Greetings!

Hunter Hess (Bend, Ore.) put down two solid runs in the finals at the FIS Freeski Word Cup halfpipe at Secret Garden, China, to finish third and earn his first World Cup podium. Canadian Simon D’Artois was first and Olympic bronze medalist Nico Porteous from New Zealand finished second.

"I’m beyond stoked to be up on the podium at a World Cup," said Hess. "I’ve been working towards this for a while now. It was nice to get a taste. This definitely fuels the fire for me to work for more. I was honored to be standing up there with Nico and Simon. They killed it and were riding well all week. Hope to keep this momentum moving forward."

American Cassidy Jarrell (Aspen, Colo.) finished in seventh, while U.S Freeski Rookie Team member Jaxin Hoerter (Breckenridge, Colo.) finished in ninth, landing all three of his runs top to bottom. 

Hess has been slowly climbing the freeski competition ladder over the past few seasons. Over the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Hess earned a handful of FIS level podiums. In 2017, Hess continued the progression claiming three Nor Am podiums. Finally, Hess will close out 2018 with two Nor Am podiums and his first ever World Cup podium. Safe to say Hess is on an upward trajectory.

For the women, U.S. Freeski Rookie Team member Abigale Hansen (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) finished fourth. Kexin Zhang of China finished first, Canadian Rachael Karker finished second earning her second and Fanghui Li from China finished third.

The FIS Freeski World Cup circuit continues Jan. 10-12 in Font Romeu, France with men and women's slopestyle.

RESULTS
Men's halfpipe
Women's halfpipe
 

Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) likes to keep things simple. But Wednesday’s FIS World Cup giant slalom in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austra, was anything but simple as Ford had to fight for his 14th-place finish on a long and challenging track. Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) was right behind in 15th.

“I felt like I was skiing well, moving well,” Ford said following his second run. “But halfway down, I really just ran out of gas and had to scrap it together.”

Ford’s simple approach to the start of the season has resulted in consistent results lately, including career-best back-to-back results coming into Wednesday’s race - fifth Sunday in Alta Badia, Italy, and sixth in Val d’Isere, France, on Dec. 12. In fact, Ford has finished in the top 16 in every World Cup giant slalom contested so far this season. But the training and racing load caught up with him Wednesday.

“I’ve been psyched with my consistency the past couple weeks...and these races packed together, I wasn’t quite recovered and fast enough on this long course,” he said.

Wednesday’s course was arguably the most difficult course the athletes have faced on the World Cup circuit so far this season. Overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria struggled on the Schneekristall-Zwölfer Course and finished sixth, his worst giant slalom result in more than two years. However, Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec aggressive style certainly suited him well as he took his first World Cup victory. Switzerland’s Loic Meillard posted his first career World Cup podium in second; followed by Mathieu Faivre of France in third.

There’s no rest for the weary as the World Cup circuit continues with a pair of slalom events before the Christmas break. The men will compete in slalom Thursday in Saalbach, then travel to Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, for slalom Saturday.

In the meantime, it’s back to “trusting what we have been doing in training and not over-complicating things on race days,” Ford said. “Just trusting that the skiing is good and what we have been doing in training works.”

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom

STANDINGS
Men’s overall World Cup

Merryweather, Ross Struggle in Val Gardena Super-G

Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) and Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) struggled in Wednesday’s FIS Ski World Cup super-G in Val Gardena, Italy, which was a rescheduled event from Val d’Isere, France.

Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec won for the second-straight day, proving she is fully recovered from a knee injury that sidelined her all of the 2017-18 season. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was second, followed by Austria’s Nicole Schmidhofer in third. Merryweather was 37th and Ross was 39th.

Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.), who did not compete Wednesday, still holds the lead in the World Cup super-G standings by 25 points over Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel, who finished fifth Wednesday. Shiffrin also leads the World Cup slalom standings and has a massive 330 point lead in her quest for a third-straight overall World Cup title.

Shiffrin will be back in action when the women’s World Cup circuit continues Friday and Saturday with giant slalom and slalom events in Courchevel, France. Last year she swept the Courchevel series, with wins in both giant slalom and parallel slalom.

RESULTS
Women’s super-G

STANDINGS
Women’s overall World Cup

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

Thursday, Dec. 20
4:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1 - Saalbach-Hinterglemm, AUT - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 2 - Saalbach-Hinterglemm, AUT - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Dec. 21
4:30 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 1, Courchevel, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
12:00 p.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - NBCSN-TV*

Saturday, Dec. 22
4:30 a.m. - Women’s slalom run 1, Courchevel, FRA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Women’s slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
9:45 a.m. - Men’s slalom run 1, Madonna di Campiglio, ITA - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
12:30 p.m. - Men’s slalom run 2, Madonna di Campiglio, ITA - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom run 2, Courchevel, FRA - NBCSN-TV*

Sunday, Dec. 23
2:30 p.m. - Women’s slalom and giant slalom, Courchevel, FRA - NBC**

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Dec. 18, 2018) – U.S. Ski & Snowboard and PROBAR announced their global partnership today, making PROBAR the official Protein Bar, Nutrition Bar, Energy Bars, Energy Chews and Nut Butters of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. As the creator of delicious, convenient, organic plant-based foods that power active lifestyles, PROBAR’s robust lineup of blended nutrition bars and energy chews will fuel some of the world’s top athletes.

As part of a long-term partnership, U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes will be energized on the mountain, during race day and throughout their training with PROBAR’s portfolio of nutritionally dense bars, including Meal, Base, Bite, live and Bolt energy chews. The Utah based brand will also provide sampling on and off the slopes for fans during the 2018-19 season and beyond.

“We originally created PROBAR to deliver convenient whole-food nutrition to athletes who need fuel for peak performance,” said Jeff Coleman, co-founder and CEO of PROBAR. “With Park City and the Wasatch Range in our backyard, we are proud to partner with U.S. Ski and Snowboard to fuel our country’s most elite skiers and snowboarders on and off the slopes.”

PROBAR will debut its partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard during the 2019 International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, taking place in both organizations’ own backyards at Solitude Mountain Resort, Park City Mountain Resort, and Deer Valley, Utah, February 1-10, 2019.

“We always seek partnerships where our brand values align to help us reach our vision of being ‘Best in the World’ in ski and snowboard sports,” said Dan Barnett, U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Our athletes need quick and convenient nutrition when training and competing, and PROBAR’s line will provide them with easy access to organic, whole-food products. This partnership is perfect, as both U.S. Ski & Snowboard and PROBAR share a vision of helping to fuel athletes to perform at their best.”

The 2018-19 Toyota U.S. Revolution Tour kicked off at Copper Mountain, Colorado Dec. 10, but things have changed since last season. A core focus of U.S. Ski & Snowboard has always been the athlete development pipeline for all disciplines. Through U.S. Ski & Snowboard events, programs and partnerships with organizations like the United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA), the opportunities for young freeski and snowboard athletes have dramatically increased over the years. Recently, U.S. Ski & Snowboard made an important decision to improve the pipeline once again by dividing the Revolution Tour into two different levels, a FIS sanctioned Rev Tour, and a FIS NorAm Sanctioned Rev Tour Elite.

“As the Revolution Tour has grown in popularity over the last several years we recognized a demand to split the tour in order to provide appropriate competitive opportunities for athletes looking to progress through the development pipeline,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard  Halfpipe, Slopestyle, and Big Air Sport Development Manager Ashley Deibold. “With this new split in the Revolution Tour, the development pipeline for athletes starts with regional USASA events, moving to the Revolution Tour, then the Revolution Tour Elite, from which athletes can qualify into World Cups and other Major competitions.”

The change was a result of an ongoing conversation between the community as whole including U.S. Ski and Snowboard Congress, coaches, event officials, industry constituents as well internally by the U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletics and events departments. The division of the Revolution Tour was a result of the breadth of talent that was competing at the Revolution Tour throughout the years. The goal was to create a step between the Rev Tour and Toyota U.S. Grand Prix events at the World Cup level.

“Young athletes were getting to the Rev Tour and getting stuck there for four, five and even six years,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Event Manager Sarah Welliver. “We are now creating more stepping stones and ongoing opportunity for athletes.”

U.S. Ski and Snowboard set forth an initiative and received funding to add another Rev Tour series. U.S. Ski & Snowboard was the driver but leans on their partnership with USASA with the goal of developing athletes. Athletes can participate in a USASA competition days before the Rev Tour event to qualify on the same course the Rev will be held on. This provides more opportunity as an in-season qualifier and will ensure the best athletes enter the Rev Tour event. Rev Tour qualifiers are open to the Breaker, Youth, Junior and Open class for both freeski and snowboard. At age 12 you can compete in the qualifier but are ineligible to compete in the Rev Tour due to the minimum FIS age is 13 (this is an age change for freeski bringing the minimum age down from 14 to 13).

As previously mentioned, there are clear stepping stones from USASA Rev Tour qualifiers through the Rev Tour Elite and to the Grand Prix. .The Rev tour looks at overall Rev Tour standings. Therefore, if an athlete performs well at Rev Tour, they get invited back. In addition, the FIS level Rev Tour takes top performers from the USASA Nationals Junior, Youth, and Breaker division. These events are designed for athletes looking to take the next step after USASA. They will assist athletes as they continue to push their skills, learn to compete on a national scale, and within a slightly different format. This process will make for a better transition from regionally-based to nationally-based events for upcoming athletes.

The Revolution Tour Elite events are sanctioned as NorAm events, making them part of a larger North American tour, which includes events in Canada. As the next step in the pipeline, these events will feature larger slope courses and 22-foot halfpipes. Athletes attending these events will be competing to secure start positions for the 2019/2020 FIS World Cup and Grand Prix events.

The goal is to provide a competitive development pipeline that encourages participation, creates opportunity, and helps athletes progress in a less intimidating, but competitive and fun environment. Organizers invite the top tier athletes from the FIS Rev Tour standings, the NorAm Cup standings, and the Open division at USASA Nationals. Lastly, the Rev Tour Elite also invites the winner at each FIS level event in season. From the Rev Tour Elite, the overall tour winners for men and women are invited to participate in the U.S. Grand Prix the following season.

This year there will be two FIS-level events. These are events are called the Rev Tour and held in conjunction with USASA Rev Tour qualifiers. Moving forward, the qualifier events will be held prior to the Rev Tour event and will qualify athletes directly into the Rev Tour event taking place the following weekend. This adds more competition opportunities for athletes as well as creates an added convenience for families traveling with young athletes.

The first FIS-level event will be the Toyota U.S. Revolution Tour at Copper Mountain, Colorado Feb.10-14, and will consist of a freeski and snowboard slopestyle and halfpipe competition. The second event will be at Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, Feb 25-Mar. 1 and will also serve as a freeski and snowboard slopestyle and halfpipe competition.

The upcoming NorAM Revolution Tour Elite competition will continue with the second event of the Elite series at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, Jan. 13-18 with two slopestyle competitions for both freeski and snowboard. The third and final Rev Tour Elite event will be held at Mammoth Mountain, California, Mar.12-17 with a snowboard and freeski slopestyle, halfpipe and big air competition.

The first Rev Tour Elite event of the season at Copper Mountain, Colorado hosted two halfpipe competitions for both freeski and snowboard. An incredibly diverse international field kicked things off in the same superpipe that the world’s best skiers and riders were competing in only a week prior at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix FIS World Cup. Athlete’s arriving early have the chance to witness the World Cup level competition and then follow it up a week later with their own competition in the same venue.

U.S. Snowboard Pro Team member Chase Blackwell (Longmont, Colo.) kicked things off with a third-place finish in the first of two competitions. Following suit was U.S. Snowboard Rookie Team member Tessa Maud (Carlsbad, Calif.) with a second-place finish in the final competition for the women. On the freeski side, it was America’s Cassidy Jarrell (Aspen, Colo.) and Cameron Brodrick (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) claiming first and third respectively in the first competition. Also, Jeanee Crane-Mauzy (Park City, Utah) earned second for the women. Moving into the final competition for freeskiers, it was U.S. Freeski Rookie Team member Dylan Ladd (Lakewood, Colo.) finishing third as well as teammate and fellow rookie team member Svea Irving (Winter Park, Colo.) earning second for the women.

Designed to serve as a stepping stone for athletes to make the transition from competing at a grassroots level to the elite level, the Rev Tour has already proven to be a progressive venue for today’s top junior skiers and riders to take the competitive stage in multiple disciplines. The 2018-19 Rev Tour series will continue to be another step in the right direction for the freeski snowboard athlete pipeline.

Click here for more information on the Revolution Tour schedule, locations, and qualification criteria.

RESULTS
SNOWBOARD
Tuesday, Dec. 11
Men
1. Yuto Totsuka (Japan)
2. IkkoAnnai (Japan)
3. Chase Blackwell (Longmont, Colo.; U.S Pro Snowboard Team Member; USASA Rocky Mountain Series)

Women
1. Kurumi, Imai (Japan)
2. Hikaru Oe (Japan)
3. Elizabeth Hosking (Canada)

Men’s snowboard halfpipe day one
Women’s snowboard halfpipe day one

Wednesday, Dec. 12
Men
1. Yuto, Totsuka (Japan)
2. Jan Scherrer (Switzerland)
3. Ikko Anai (Japan)

Women
1. Hikaru Oe (Japan)
2. Tessa Maud (Carlsbad, Calif.; U.S. Snowboard Rookie Team; USASA The Unbound Series)
3. Kurumi Imai (Japan)

Men’s snowboard halfpipe day two
Women’s snowboard halfpipe day two

FREESKI
Friday, Dec. 14.
Men
1. Cassidy Jarrell (Aspen, Colo.; USASA Aspen Snowmass Series)
2. Evan Marineau (Canada)
3. Cameron Brodrick (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.; USASA The Unbound Series)

Women
1. Zoe Atkin (Great Britain)
2. Jeanee Crane-Mauzy (Park City, Utah; USASA Big Mountain West Series)
3. Yujin Jang (Korea)

Men’s freeski halfpipe day one
Women’s freeski halfpipe day one

Saturday, Dec. 15.
Men
1. Sam Mckeown (Canada)
2. Sascha Pedenko (Canada)
3. Dylan Ladd (Lakewood, Colo.; U.S. Freeski Rookie Team; USASA Rocky Mountain Series)

Women
1. Zoe Atkin (Great Britain)
2. Svea Irving (Winter Park, Colo.; U.S. Freeski Rookie Team; USASA Rocky Mountain Series)
3. Yujin Jang (Korea)

Men’s freeski halfpipe day two
Women’s freeski halfpipe day two