PARK CITY, Utah - Hip hop superstar Lupe Fiasco will be the headline musical act at the closing ceremonies of the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, taking place at Utah’s Solitude Mountain Resort, Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Resort February 1 - 10, 2019. The closing ceremonies will start at 4:00 p.m., February 10, on Park City’s Main Street, bringing to a close the largest winter sports event to take place in Utah since the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Joining Lupe Fiasco on the 2019 World Champs musical roster are The Main Squeeze, performing at the event’s opening ceremonies at Canyons Village, Park City on February 2 at 9:00 p.m., and Joe Hertler and The Rainbow Seekers who will be on stage at Canyons Village, Park City February 5, at 5:00 p.m. prior to the snowboard big air final at 7.00 p.m.

Lupe Fiasco is a true hip hop pioneer. A rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and community advocate, the artist rose to fame in 2006, following the success of his debut album Food & Liquor. Since then Lupe has released more than four acclaimed studio albums; his latest being Drogas Wave released in 2018.

Kicking off the 2019 World Champs musical offering are The Main Squeeze. From their origins as a jam/party band in Indiana, The Main Squeeze have been weaving the veins of rock, funk, blues, and R&B into modern song stylings. Now LA-based and with three albums under their belt (last one being 2017’s Without A Sound), festival appearances from KABOO to Bonnaroo, and features from Billboard and Rolling Stone, The Main Squeeze have a rich touring history including opening slots for The Roots, Jane’s Addiction, D.R.A.M., Mac Miller, Aloe Blacc, and Umphrey’s McGee, The Main Squeeze are launching into a new musical orbit with plans for a fourth LP in 2019.

Rounding up the musical roster are Joe Hertler and The Rainbow Seekers who are not to be missed. In their own words, the band “will make a sprightly young groove doctor out of anyone. With spectacular energy pulsating from every member of the band, the Rainbow Seekers could illuminate the very chambers of Heaven. Lead singer Joe Hertler splashes through lyrical puddles of golden rain, leaving his audience wearing flowery crowns and bubbling smiles. A ride on the Rainbow will take you across the mountains of Motown, through the fjords of folk, over the archipelagos of Americana, and-at last-into a funky firth, where only the fiercest of friendships can be found.”

For more information on the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, visit www.2019worldchamps.com

January 20 marks “World Snow Day,” a day to celebrate new snow experiences for children across the world. World Snow Day was created by the International Ski Federation (FIS) as part of their “Bring Children to the Snow” campaign to promote skiing and snowboarding to global youth audiences.

World Snow Day brings together children and families around the world, in over 469 events and actions taking place in 45 countries across five continents.

A key role of FIS is to organise international ski and snowboard competitions up through the highest levels, and the FIS is also committed to the global promotion and development of recreational skiing and snowboarding. As the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s mission is to lead, encourage and support athletes in achieving excellence by empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans.

Atomic, the official ski of World Snow day and partner of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, is giving away a family set of skis to celebrate World Snow Day. Enter to win by:

1. Taking your best family ski photo
2. Post it to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter
3. Add the hashtag #atomicsnowday
4. Then check world-snow-day.com on 20th January 2019 to see if you have won!

Many of the world’s elite ski and snowboard athletes would not be the snowsports heros they are if it were not for their first experience with snow.
“I love the snow, I love skiing. I remember my first day on snow, I was four, and I’ve been hooked ever since.” - 2018 Olympian, moguls, Morgan Schild

U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced a new year-long lip care partnership with Aubío Life Sciences. Aubío will be an associate sponsor of 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, and will be activating at the events as well as at Mammoth Grand Prix, U.S. Alpine Championships and NASTAR Nationals. As the official cold sore treatment gel of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Aubío will provide high quality lip care to some of the world’s greatest athletes.

“Winter sports can be hard on your skin, so we are excited to be partnering with Aubío Life Sciences, making life on the road and competing comfortable for our athletes and staff. Aubío’s Cold Sore Treatment Gel is Labdoor Sports certified, and we are proud to partner with a company as committed to safety as we are,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief Marketing Officer Dan Barnett.

The latest venture for the billionaire philanthropist, serial entrepreneur, and environmental activist John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Paul Mitchell Hair Systems and Patron Spirits, is Aubío Life Sciences. Aubío focuses its vision on helping people to manage troublesome skin conditions. “I have invested in this company to make a tremendous difference, and I hope that people will be very pleased with wonderful results and the high quality behind Aubío,” said DeJoria.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced today that Timberline Lodge and Ski Area will serve as an Official Training Site for American ski and snowboard athletes through January 2023. This agreement will see athletes from U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the United States, training at Timberline Lodge and Ski Area through the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China, and beyond, providing invaluable snow access as athletes train to reach podiums.

As the only North American ski resort to stay open 12 months a year, Timberline will provide consistent, world-class access to snow for elite athletes on the alpine, moguls, halfpipe, slopestyle and snowboardcross teams. Timberline will play an integral role in the training of many future U.S. Ski & Snowboard Olympians.

“This partnership with Timberline provides our teams with the benefit of easy access to world-class on-snow training throughout the summer. Timberline is well-known for its great conditions throughout the year, and is so accessible for our teams, allowing them to gain critical on-snow training time at multiple points throughout the summer. Training at Timberline is a mainstay for our athletes, supporting the summer training they need, and is a critical component of our drive to be Best in the World,” commented U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief of Sport, Luke Bodensteiner.

The partnership with Timberline will give U.S. Ski & Snowboard a solid basis to work from in laying down training strategy for the next four-year cycle in preparation of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Access to a domestic, year-round snow surface is invaluable for athletes competing in seasonal sports including ski and snowboard disciplines.

As an official U.S. Ski & Snowboard training site, Timberline will host an estimated 160 U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes and personnel across 45 days each year. Because Timberline has extensive terrain and year-round snow coverage, the resort is ideal for setting up the many courses necessary for training multiple sports disciplines. The alpine team will have access to two lanes, primarily slalom with some terrain build as conditions allow. The moguls team will have access to flats, a bumps lane and a jump. The freeski and snowboard team will have access to the halfpipe as constructed, an airbag, park jumpline and rails, one 55-65 foot jump as constructed (with the option for more as space and snow allows) and access to three variations of down rails and six other rail features – side and straight on entrance as constructed.

In addition to providing training for national team athletes, Timberline is also instrumental in supporting U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s talent development pipeline. Each year the U.S. Snowboard Team’s Project Gold program brings together the top junior athletes in the country in snowboarding and snowboardcross for an annual progressive talent development camp. The top juniors in the country, selected from Hole Shot and USASA Nationals, get the opportunity to train with the U.S. Snowboard Team’s national team coaching staff. Three development camps for Alpine are held at Timberline each year: Women’s Development Team, Men’s Development Team and U16 National Development. These camps focus on skills development in slalom and giant slalom.

“Timberline has a long and storied history as a summer training site for U.S. Ski & Snowboard. From Tony Sailer, Billy Kidd, Steve and Phil Mahre to Ted Ligety; from Cindy Nelson and Picabo Street to Julia Mancuso, Mikaela Shiffrin, Red Gerard, Shaun White and Maddie Bowman - all have trained at Timberline in the summer, as well as virtually all other U.S. Olympic Alpine athletes," commends Timberline's president, Jeff Kohnstamm, "We are very proud of this tradition and have worked with U.S. Ski & Snowboard to formalize our relationship. This will further meet the needs of U.S. athletes and promote the world-class summer ski and snowboard training that is Timberline’s Palmer Snowfield."

U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, and Orig3n, Inc., the leader in lifestyle genetic testing, are excited to announce Orig3n as the Official Genetics Partner of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team. A pioneer in genetics and regenerative medicine research, Orig3n arms individuals with knowledge of their minds and bodies at a genetic level. As the Official Genetics Partner of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Orig3n will help some of the world’s top athletes understand how to harness the power of their genetics in their journeys to podiums at the Olympics, World Championships and other events.

As part of the new agreement, Orig3n will work with the experts at U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s sports science lab at the U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Center of Excellence headquarters in Park City, Utah, helping U.S. Ski & Snowboard develop specialized programs tailored to each team member’s biology, in order to improve each athlete’s training and performance.

Fans of U.S. Ski & Snowboard will also have the opportunity to engage with Orig3n through domestic event activations. 

The partnership will officially kick off at the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, to be held in Utah Feb. 1-10, 2019.

“We are excited to welcome Orig3n into our family of partners,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Dan Barnett. “Orig3n’s mission - to create a healthier future by helping us understand our bodies and minds on a genetic level - falls directly in line with U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s mission of creating the greatest snow sports athletes in the world. With the integration of Orig3n’s genetic tests into our sport science lab, we will be able to give athletes an edge in their training and performance, allowing them to better understand their bodies’ potential strengths and areas for development. Athletes, trainers and coaches will be able to make more proactive nutrition and fitness choices, helping us continue to push the boundary of performance in our sports,”

“We couldn’t be more excited or proud to be working with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team to enhance the training and development of U.S. Olympic athletes,” said Robin Y. Smith, CEO of Orig3n. “This partnership is a great example of how genetic science can be used by everyone to enhance aspects of their health and wellness. In this case specifically, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is adopting cutting edge technology and innovative approaches in partnership with Orig3n to build the best training and development plan tailored to the athlete’s inherent abilities.” 

For the 38th year, the world’s best elite freestyle skiers will descend on New York state for the 2019 FIS Lake Placid Freestyle Cup, January 17-19, 2019. Catch all of the high-flying action with moguls at Whiteface on Thursday and Friday and aerials under the lights at the Olympic Jumping Complex on Saturday.

“Lake Placid is one of the most exciting events of the season-long World Cup, showcasing moguls and aerials at one of the tour’s highest-quality competition arenas, and with some of the greatest spectators on the tour. Lake Placid has been the site of many breakout performances from U.S. athletes, who’ve gone on to establish themselves at the top of the sport, and on many occasions has helped the U.S. Team to generate the momentum to go on to win medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games. This year’s event will be no different, with the World Championships beginning just two weeks later in Utah. The events in Lake Placid will determine the World Championship team in aerials and will be a key selection event in moguls. Our team has its sights set on best in the world performances at the World Championships in Utah, and their performance at the World Cup in Lake Placid will set the tone for what they aim to achieve,” said Chief of Sport for U.S. Ski & Snowboard Luke Bodensteiner.

There will be more than 150 athletes competing across 15 nations. The 2019 Lake Placid Freestyle Cup is an important stop on the FIS Freestyle World Cup circuit for American athletes, as results from this event will impact the 2019 World Championship Freestyle Team nominations. Aerials athletes will be named to the team based on results from this World Cup event, in addition to U.S. Nationals, taking place at Lake Placid on January 26. Moguls athletes will be named to the team based on World Cup standings through January 28, 2019. The Lake Placid Freestyle Cup is the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team’s only domestic stop before the 2019 FIS World Championships in Utah in February.

“We are thrilled that this World Cup event continues to come back to Lake Placid year after year,” added New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) President/CEO Mike Pratt. “Whether it’s moguls at Whiteface or the aerials at the Olympic Jumping Complex, these athletes provide breathtaking excitement that’s hard to match.”

A complete schedule of events can be found at https://www.whiteface.com/events/world-cup-freestyle. Spectators and competitors are encouraged to join in the conversation on social media with #LPWorldCup.

New this year is a VIP experience for Saturday night’s aerials event. Tickets are $75 and will include premier indoor and outdoor viewing areas, dinner and two drinks. A cash bar will also be available. Must be 21 and older to purchase. For all ticketing information, please visit https://www.whiteface.com/events/world-cup-freestyle.

For more information on the 2019 FIS Lake Placid Freestyle Cup, please contact Lara Carlton at lara.carlton@usskiandsnowboard.org.

Members of the media may apply for an event press credential athttps://www.whiteface.com/sites/default/files/public/forms/2019_Lake_Placid_World_Cup_Freestyle_Media_Credential_Application.pdf. 

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!