Stifel U.S. Freeski Team rookie Henry Townshend and Killington Mountain School's Eleanor Andrews took home silver medals in slopestyle competition at the 2024 FIS Slopestyle and Big Air Junior World Championships.

Due to weather concerns, officials were forced to hold finals in a double-up format and leave out scoring the final jump due to gusty winds making the course unsafe for competitors.

Townshend showed composure in the difficult weather conditions and immediately set himself up for a podium position with a first run score of 89.00. Norway’s Frank Wahlstroem was the only competitor to top the young American's score, securing Townshend a second place finish and cementing the young American as one to watch on the freeski World Cup circuit over the next few years.

After landing on the podium in her first World Cup appearance in February’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Mammoth Mountain, Andrews continued her successful season with a second place performance in the women’s slopestyle. Stifel U.S. Freeski Team rookie Kate Gray finished just off the podium in fourth.

Qualifications for the Junior Worlds big air are set to drop Friday, March 29. 

RESULTS
Women's slopestyle
Men's slopestyle 

Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team’s Brooklyn DePriest won the gold medal and Rebecca Flynn bronze at the 2024 FIS Slopestyle and Big Air Junior World Championships in Livigno/Mottolino, Italy.

Officials were forced to run the second two heats of men’s slopestyle qualifications immediately before finals due to gusty winds on Monday. It was a busy day for DePriest, who had to first qualify to join Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s Caleb Dhawornvej in the slopestyle final. Dhawornvej qualified from heat one on Monday before the event was postponed.

DePriest sat in fourth overall after an impressive qualifying performance, but kicked into another gear in the round of finals, putting up a massive score of 91.00 on his first run that ultimately won him the slopestyle title at the 2026 Olympic venue. DePriest was the only competitor of the day to crack into the 90s. Dhawornvej finished 15th overall.

Traveling straight from Silvaplana after qualifying for her first World Cup final, Flynn continued to show her young potential, finishing third overall on the women’s side of slopestyle competition to clinch the bronze medal. Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s Lily Dhawornvej put down an impressive performance of her own, finishing fifth overall.

The squad shifts its focus to big air competition at Junior Worlds, with both men’s and women’s qualifications slated for Thursday, March 28.

RESULTS
Women's slopestyle
Men's slopestyle 

Duluth, Minnesota welcomed the top cross country athletes to a five-day, four-race series for the 2023-24 SuperTour finals and U.S. National Championships. Today, March 26th, the athletes skied the season's final race, with a challenging 40k skate, which saw Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete John Steel Hagenbuch take home another National Championship title for the men and Novie McCabe for the women. 

After a season that started nearly six months ago in November of 2023, U.S. athletes traveled around the world, taking part in World Cups, Junior World Championships, U23 World Championships, Youth Olympic Games, National Championships, SuperTours. With a historic season in the World Cup, top results at U23s and Junior World Champs, first-ever medals at Youth Olympic Games, and more, the U.S. cross country ski community put on quite a show. 

For the races in Duluth, the spring series wrapped up with four races, including a 10k classic, classic sprint, team sprint and 40k mass start skate race. The 10k classic was a SuperTour race, with the last three races categorized under the National Championship banner. 

McCabe Wins 10k Classic SuperTour Final, Hagenbuch Second

For the first race of the series, a 10k individual classic race was on the agenda. Duluth's Grand Avenue Nordic Center pulled it off despite warm weather and limited snow. With women racing first, McCabe, who just returned from the World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden just a day earlier, won the race, with freshly-minted NCAA Champion Sydney Palmer-Leger in second. Erin Bianco of Bridger Ski Foundation was third. 

For the men, Canada's Antoine Cyr took home the victory but it was NCAA Champion and Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete Steel Hagenbuch of Dartmouth University who took the first American spot, placing second. Zanden McMullen was ultimately third. 

McCabe, Schoonmaker National Champions in Classic Sprint

On Saturday, March 23, the classic sprint showcased a 1.4k course, wrapping around two technical climbs into a steep descent into the stadium testing even the best skiers with the amount of doublepoling. From qualifiers to heats to finals, McCabe was the ultimate winner, taking home her second victory of the week, now with a sprint title, followed by Bridger Ski Foundation's Bianco in second and Alaska Pacific University's (APU) Renae Anderson in third. 

For the men, JC Schoonmaker, one of the World Cup's best sprinters, was victorious, with teammate and Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete McMullen in second. Cyr of the Canadian National Team was third.

National Champ Team Sprint Debuts in Duluth

A race format not typically seen on the domestic race circuit made a surprise appearance in Duluth, with a team sprint for both men and women. In the men's field, 15 teams of two athletes each took to the start line. On a long-working, technical course, athletes had to come together and compete not individually, but as a team. In the end, U.S. national team athletes Schoonmaker and McMullen teamed up to bring home a victory for APU with the other Alaskan duo, Michael Earnhart and Luke Jager coming across the line just two seconds behind for second place. Thunder Bay's team, including Cyr and Julian Smith, rounded out the podium in third. 

For the women, strategy was key. From the gun, it was all between staying relaxed but attacking the hills and saving enough for the finish. It was a clear contest between APU and Stratton Mountain School (SMS) club teams. The SMS duo of Alayna Sonnesyn and Lauren Jortberg were the ultimate winners, crossing the line ten seconds ahead of Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete and APU athletes McCabe and Anderson in second. Craftbury's ski club with Alex Lawson and Margie Freed were third. 

National Champs Wraps With 40k Skate; Steel-Hagenbuch, McCabe Claim Another National Title 

Conditions were not ideal for the final race of the season. With heavy snow, cold temperatures, strong wind, and 10 laps of a course in front of them, it was anyone's game for the 40k skate mass start. 

Winning by over two minutes McCabe just wrapped up one of her most successful seasons. With top results on the World Cup circuit, including her best result outside of the Tour de Ski with an 11th place in Falun, Sweden just a week ago, the Alaskan racer claimed her fourth National Championship title and second of the week. This is McCabe's third victory and second National Championship title of the week. In the women's field, Palmer-Leger rounded out the Stifel U.S. Ski Team with second place. Mariah Bredal of Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation took the final podium position in third. 

For Steel Hagenbuch, the sentiment is similar. With a season that included five wins, through SuperTours, National Championships, and a marquee win at the 2024 NCAA Championships, the Dartmouth skier is capping off an impressive season, including winning the final race of the season, the 40k skate. Jake Brown of Craftsbury and Ariens Nordic Center was second and Cyr rounded out a successful series in Duluth in third. 

With the culmination of the 40k, the cross country season has officially wrapped and the athletes deserve some well-deserved rest. 

RESULTS
Men's Races

• 10k classic
• Classic sprint 
• Team Sprint
• 40k Skate

Women's Races

• 10k classic
• Classic sprint 
• Team Sprint
• 40k Skate

The sun came back out for the final day of national championship racing at Sun Valley for the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships presented by Stifel. Lila Lapanja and Madison Hoffman tied for the slalom win for the women and Luke Winters won the men's race. Winters and Lapanja took home the titles of slalom national champions, as Hoffman races for Australia.

Sun Valley crowds gathered throughout the day to watch both the men and women race the slalom. The hill was firm and the set was tricky, tripping up many on the first run, including World Cup slalom aces Paula Moltzan and Jett Seymour, who did not finish. 

Lapanja led the first run and held onto the lead, but University of Utah’s Madison Hoffman had a fast second run to share the top podium spot with her in a tie. Stifel U.S. Ski Team’s Zoe Zimmermann rounded out the podium in third. It is Lapanja’s second slalom title in a row.

Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete Luke Winters unsurprisingly scored the win—his third slalom title in his career—with his young teammate Camden Palmquist in third. Croatian skier Matej Vidovic was second.

On the juniors side, Elisabeth Bocock snagged her third juniors victory of the weekend, having also won the super-G overall and juniors, and finishing second overall and first in juniors in the giant slalom. Palmquist led the juniors, with Stanley Buzek in second and local boy Ryder Sarchett in third.

The Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships presented by Stifel has officially wrapped, with juniors heading to NorAms in Panorama and many of the World Cup athletes taking a much-needed break.

RESULTS
Women’s slalom
Men’s slalom

Another day, another slew of podiums for the unstoppable U.S. Para Snowboard Team, including Brenna Huckaby’s fifth win of the season.  

The conditions could not have been better for racing in Big White, British Columbia, Canada. The snow was crisp and clean, the sky was clear, and the temperature hovered around 26 degrees Fahrenheit, a stark contrast from yesterday’s snowy weather.  

Brenna Huckaby faced a tough final but came out victorious for the fifth time this season, her second podium in two days. Courtney Godfrey improved on her result from yesterday, finishing sixth followed by Dennae Russell in seventh in the women’s LL-1/LL-2 classification. 

On the men’s side, Noah Elliott led the way for the U.S. once again, finishing second in the LL-1 event. This is his fifth podium of the season. Colby Fields of Adaptive Action Sports finished sixth in the men’s UL class, moving up from his 10th place finish yesterday. 

Keith Gabel went two for two on the weekend, finishing third again in the men’s LL-2 event, his 61st career World Cup podium. Evan Strong won the small final to finish fifth overall, followed by Zach Miller in seventh and Joe Pleban in ninth. 

RESULTS
Women
Men

After a disappointing first round of finals on Saturday, the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Cross Team took to the Mt. St. Anne course looking for redemption in the final World Cup of the season. With perfect conditions, a well-designed course and an impressive showing of American fans, the squad was primed and ready to leave their mark on the 2023-24 season. Jake Vedder came away with a fourth place finish. 

It was an exciting first round of racing for the men, with Nick Baumgartner advancing through his 1/8 heat to join teammates Connor Schlegel and Vedder for the first quarterfinal. The three Americans were joined by Canada’s own Eliot Grondin, who had already clinched the 2023-24 FIS World Cup snowboard cross Crystal Globe after a dominant season. The hometown hero led the way throughout most of the course until Vedder made an impressive push at the finish to steal the lead from Grondin and secure his place in the round of semifinals.

The start of the course proved costly yet again in the semifinals, with Italian Omar Visintin making an uncharacteristic mistake following the opening roller section, speaking to the technical difficulty of the course and making the first of two semifinals a three-man race. Vedder avoided the chaos and continued his impressive day of racing with a crafty pass on France’s Merlin Surget to finish close behind Grondin and guarantee himself a top-four finish to close out the season in front of a rowdy crowd cheering “USA” at the finish.

In the final race of the final World Cup of the season, the four fastest men of the day lined up in the start gate to take on the pristine Mt. St. Anne course for the final time. Despite a clean start and holding on to third throughout the first half of the race, Vedder fell to fourth to finish just off the podium behind German Leon Ulbricht in third, Australia’s Cameron Bolton in second and Grondin in first, who finished his dominant season with back-to-back victories on home soil.

On the women’s side of competition, American Stacy Gaskill and Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Jacobellis, who earned her 60th career podium with a second place finish in Montafon just a week prior, were both knocked out of competition in the quarterfinal round, taking 10th and 12th place overall, respectively.

After finishing the season in Mt. St. Anne following a grueling few months of back-to-back European races, the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team snowboard cross racers return stateside for some well deserved time off before setting their focus on summer training heading  into the 2024-25 season.

RESULTS
Women
Men

Jaelin Kauf and Charlie Mickel took home the dual moguls National Championship titles at the Toyota U.S. Freestyle Moguls Championships at New Hampshire’s Waterville Valley Resort. 

After receiving upwards of 30 inches of snow in the last 24 hours, putting on a dual moguls event seemed daunting. However, with only an hour's delay, the incredible Waterville staff and volunteers were able to clear the powder and run the event. 

Kauf, the queen of Lower Bobbies run at Waterville Valley Resort, secured her seventh National Championship title, sweeping the podium alongside Stifel U.S. Freestyle Ski Team members Elizabeth Lemley and Alli Macuga. Lemley finished just behind Kauf in second, followed by Macuga in third. This is Lemley’s second and Macuga’s first national championship podium.  

Mickel earned his second national championship title, but first in dual moguls. Gavin Tobey of Wasatch Freestyle joined Mickel on the podium in second and Jackson Crockett of Park City Ski and Snowboard in third. 

Four U.S. Para Alpine Ski Team members brought home new season’s bests in today’s giant slalom World Cup Finals in Sella Nevea, Italy. Laurie Stephens led the team, finishing in second place. 

Conditions today in Italy have been described as the “most interesting conditions” skiers have experienced all year. It was warm, sunny, mushy and everything in between, leading to an extremely high number of DNFs and DSQs. 

On the women’s side, Stephens stayed on course, which was all she needed to earn her best giant slalom finish of the season, second place in the women’s sitting classification. Allie Johnson did not finish run two. 

The day's theme was earning new personal bests, and the men took that idea and ran with it. Jesse Keefe, Patrick Halgren and Spencer Wood all earned new season’s bests, finishing sixth, eighth and 13th, respectively, in the men’s standing event. Ravi Drugan was disqualified in the second run of the men’s sitting class, and Matthew Brewer did not start. 

Along with today's second place, Laurie Stephens also finished third in the overall season giant slalom standings alongside Anna-Lena Forster of Germany in first and Barbara Van Bergen from The Netherlands in second. 

Next, on March 25, the U.S. will take on the final race of the season, super-G finals in Sella Nevea. The race will begin at 5:00 a.m. ET and can be streamed on FIS TV. 

RESULTS
Women
Men

Due to gusty winds and worsening weather conditions, the highly anticipated 2023-24 freeski slopestyle season finale in Silvaplana was canceled Sunday morning. With results from qualifications standing as final, Jay Riccomini (he/him) was the top finisher for the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team, taking home third overall for the women. Teammate Hunter Henderson earned fourth overall on the men’s side of competition.

Despite a season plagued with cancelations and rescheduled competitions, the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team still managed to put on a show all season, capturing the 2023-24 FIS Freeski Nations Cup and sweeping the overall men’s park and pipe standings. 

After an impressive showing all season, Mac Forehand secured the 2023-24 FIS World Cup slopestyle Crystal Globe with teammate and 2023-24 FIS World Cup big air Crystal Globe winner Alex Hall close behind in second. The two join 2023-24 FIS World Cup halfpipe Crystal Globe winner Alex Ferriera to complete the American sweep of the men’s overall podium, with Ferreira taking the top spot after a perfect five-for-five wins World Cup season. Hall landed in second and Forehand was just five points behind in third.

With podiums in Laax, Copper and Silvaplana, Riccomini finished the season third overall in the 2023-24 FIS World Cup women’s slopestyle standings.

“This season has been one for the books,” said Stifel U.S. Freeski Team sport director Skogan Sprang. “I can’t express how proud I am of all the athletes on both the slopestyle and halfpipe teams for supporting each other and creating a positive environment that breeds success.”

“We’ve had the most podiums ever, by the most variety of athletes ever and the most first time podium athletes ever,” Sprang continued. “The coaches have done an amazing job of fostering this environment while the athletes are pushing innovation and creativity and still having fun and enjoying every moment.” 

The Stifel U.S. Freeski Team heads back to the states (with extra luggage in tow) for a well-deserved break before they carry this season’s momentum into summer training.

RESULTS
Women’s slopestyle 
Men’s slopestyle

OVERALL RANKINGS 
Women
Men

On Sunday, March 24, the final downhill of the season was canceled due to weather and safety. Despite the disappointing end, Stifel U.S. Ski Team athletes Bryce Bennett and Ryan Cochran-Siegle officially ended the season in their top downhill ranks ever. Bennett was fifth and Cochran-Siegle eighth.  

The racers arrived to the Saalbach venue ready to roll Sunday morning, but the conditions were the opposite of what had transpired the last 10 days with snow and wind—creating a difficult job for the course workers. The race was initially delayed by a few hours, but after salting, hosing and slipping, the organizing committee made the difficult decision to cancel the final downhill race. 

“Well, winter came back to Austria at the exact wrong time,” joked Bennett. “The organizing committee here in Saalbach did everything possible to make it happen but the weather conditions did not allow.” 

This decision also ended the fight for the downhill Crystal Globe. It was a tight race between Swiss star Marco Odermatt and Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin, with a gap of 42 points between the two racers. Odermatt came out on top for his third discipline globe. He also claimed the giant slalom, super-G, downhill and overall titles this season — four globes in total. 

The Stifel U.S. Ski Team also had a lot to be proud of this season. Bennett and Cochran-Siegle showed strength and consistency to become a solid force on the downhill circuit. Bennett opened the season with a win and a podium, sporting the red leader's bib for the next races. Cochran-Siegle was a mere hundredth from a podium in Kitzbühel and had multiple top 10 results. The two skiers are more fired up than ever to continue the momentum into the next season along with the rest of the speed team. The team took the fifth spot of the downhill Nations Cup as well; they were just shy of overtaking the Austrians in fourth. 

“It was a good season, highs and lows. We are ready to move forward. I think our entire team has been pushing really hard,” said Bennett. “In Kvitfjell we had six guys in the top 20 which has not happened in over a decade, so I think we have a strong team moving forward and we are excited to keep pushing.”

The grind is not over for the downhillers, who will now stay in Austria for a few more days to test skis and prep for the next season. 

CUP STANDINGS
Men's downhill