Tommy Ford led the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team with a career-best fourth-place finish Sunday on the Rettenbach Glacier in Sölden, Austria, just 0.07-seconds off the podium. Teammate Ted Ligety was fifth, followed by Ryan Cochran-Siegle in 11th - making the American men's team's collective performance today among the most dominant across all nations competing.

“I’m feeling strong,” Tommy said after the race. “That first run was solid skiing, a little safe. And that second run I definitely trusted it a little more and let it go...and I’m psyched with this personal best, and first points at Sölden as well.”

France took the top two spots on the podium with Alexis Pinturault picking up his 24th World Cup win, and Mathieu Faivre grabbing his seventh World Cup career podium result in second. Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec was third. River Radamus and Brian McLaughlin just missed qualifying for the second run, finishing 32nd and 34th respectively in the first run. Dartmouth Big Green athlete Nick Krause was the final U.S. starter, but DNFd in the first run. 

When asked post-race who will be his challenger this year now that Austrian great Marcel Hirscher has retired, Frenchman Alexis said, “Everything is changing from one race to the next. The Americans, for example, have great talent…” The U.S. men are knocking on the podium’s door, and it feels great to be in the mix once again.  

Ford was 10th in the first run and with the shadows creeping across the course in the second run and Ligety sitting in the hot seat as the current leader, he simply just let the skis run and trusted his instincts through the steepest part of the course. Sunday's result was Ted's first top-five result since his last podium - which was a third place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen during the 2017-18 season. After the first run, Ted waved to the camera and said "hi" to his two-year-old son Jax. 

"It was nice to be in the mix a little bit again...it felt good," said Ted, laughing. "There's a good place to step off of this from, and I'm happy to be in the fight, at least. First run I didn't let it go quite as much, and second run I was able to push a little bit harder, especially in the steep part - so it's a good step forward. We race in Beaver Creek next, and that's a hill that's always treated me really well...I love that hill. Similar to here, where I've always had a lot of success, so hopefully I can continue that trend and get back to what I used to be able to do." 

“There was a little glare from the valley, so (the light) was manageable,” Tommy recalled. “There was a tough rhythm change in the middle, but there was enough speed control where you could get it clean in the bottom half of the pitch.”

With the first race of the season in the books, Tommy and the rest of the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team are heading back home for a two-week camp at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain, Colo., where they will be greeted by mid-winter conditions as they prepare for the next World Cup, the Beaver Creek Birds of Prey, featuring giant slalom, downhill and super-G races Dec. 6-8.

“We have a little break now, so I’m going to go home and relax a little bit,” Tommy said. “Then get back into the gym and keep at it...and when the time comes, I’ll be psyched for Beaver Creek.”

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom
 

Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team member Mikaela Shiffrin (Edwards, Colo.) clearly remembers the first time she beat her childhood idol Tina Maze and experienced the exhilarating feeling that she had finally arrived as a top competitor on the World Cup circuit. 

On a sun-splashed day high in the Austrian Alps on the mighty and menacing Rettenbach Glacier in Sölden, Austria, New Zealand’s 17-year-old sensation Alice Robinson edged Shiffrin, the defending overall World Cup champion, by just 0.06 seconds to claim her first-ever World Cup win. Her giant slalom victory over two highly-accomplished athletes clearly states her arrival on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit. Sixty-time World Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist Shiffrin was second, followed by France’s Tessa Worley, a 13-time World Cup winner and three-time World Champion, in third.

When told that Alice mentioned Mikaela as one of her ski idols growing up and asked if she remembers what that felt like, Mikaela said, “Well, yeah – of course, I remember. That was Tina Maze for me.” “My first victory was at Are (Sweden), and Tina was third. I remember this feeling like it was yesterday. It was so special to feel like I didn't have anything to lose and my entire career was ahead of me. Just being able to ski with no expectations, and how freeing that felt. I can see that in Alice’s skiing. Of course, she’s aggressive, but she takes risks and just skis so well. This nothing-to-lose style is great to watch and for me it's like taking a trip back in time. It’s really exciting to watch her, and it’s fun to remember what that felt like for me, too.”

While finishing second in the opening race of the season, especially coming off a 17-victory run on the World Cup circuit season last year, may seem like a step back for Shiffrin, it was quite the opposite as it brings another new challenger to the circuit and ignites the fire for the long season ahead.

“It always stings a little bit...you’re like ‘awe man I wish it was enough!’ But if it’s not enough, it’s not enough, and Alice was also skiing really, really well, and it’s super cool to watch her and I think it’s super cool for everybody,” Mikaela said. “So in a way, it’s motivation, nobody wants to be in second place, everybody wants to win! So I’m just going to take the positives from the day and take the motivation too!”

In addition to Shiffrin, four Americans started Saturday’s opening GS, including Nina O’Brien (San Francisco, Calif.), who finished 21st to post a career-best World Cup result.

“I’m definitely happy with today, it's a good start to the season,” Nina said. “I feel like my training has been going well, so I’m happy to see that it came out on race day as well. I think that myself, and all the girls on our team, have more to show too.”

AJ Hurt (Squaw Valley, Calif.) was 41st, and Keely Cashman (Strawberry, Calif.) was 52nd. Former University of Denver skier Storm Klomhaus (Boulder, Colo.) started her first World Cup did not finish the first run.

Up next, the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team members return to Colorado for their final training camp of the season ahead of the next World Cup, a slalom event in Levi, Finland, Nov. 23.

“Now it’s time for some slalom! Gotta get down to business,” Mikaela said.

RESULTS
Women’s giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change

ALPINE
Sunday, Oct. 27
5:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 1 - Soelden, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
8:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Soelden, AUT - NBC Sports Gold

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow

After seven months of preparation both on and off the mountain, the highly anticipated FIS Ski World Cup circuit will kick off on the mighty and menacing Rettenbach Glacier in Sölden, Austria on October 26-27.

Olympic champion and reigning overall, super-G, giant slalom, slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin and Olympic champion Ted Ligety will lead the way for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team squad that’s 11-deep and features some fresh, new faces too. The U.S. has a long history of success at the Austrian venue, featuring 11 podiums between Mikaela and Ted, Mikaela’s first-ever giant slalom victory in 2014, and Ted’s four victories (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015), which is a record at the venue. In 2012, Ted’s victory margin was 2.75 seconds over Italy’s Manfred Moelgg. 

Early season snowfall has allowed for some of the best conditions the Rettenbach has seen in years. After two years of canceled men’s races due to heavy snow, low visibility and high winds, the weather forecast is looking like sunshine for both Saturday and Sunday’s races. The men and women had a unique opportunity to lap the World Cup track in training this past week before they closed the track for World Cup preparation. 

At elevations of 3,040 to 2,670 meters top-to-bottom, Sölden boasts the highest start of the 2019/20 season. The pitch is menacing. It’s the longest, steepest, sustaining pitch on the World Cup, and finishes with long flats - making it vital for athletes to carry their speed from the steeps to the flats and through the finish...quite often leaving athletes in a sort of "what just happened to me" quandary when they arrive in the finish. Because the opener is so far ahead of the bulk of the season, athletes use Sölden as a bit of a state-of-the-state…a pulse-check on how all of that spring and summer equipment tinkering went, and whether or not the summer conditioning and skiing set them up for success this season. 

Mikaela will lead a crew of five starters, including seven-time national champ Nina O’Brien, two-time national champ AJ Hurt, 2019 national giant slalom champion Keely Cashman, and former University of Denver Ski Team athlete Storm Klomhaus, who will make her World Cup debut on the Rettenbach. “The prep camp has been going quite well,” Mikaela said on Monday in a conference call with the media. 

“Definitely have been skiing a ton of GS, which is awesome...the weather has been great and there’s more snow than I remember here the past few years,” she continued. They opened up the race hill for training for most of the teams the last four days and we got to get on the hill. It’s in great condition, and they’re planning to inject it with some water too. Everyone always asks [at Sölden] if I’m ready and I’m like ‘I’m not ready right now, but I will be on race day, right?!’ - so that’s kind of how I’m feeling."

Storm went to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard TEAM Academy and was on the development team prior to attending the University of Denver, but she missed the last two seasons due to injury. In the last two years, she’s had five surgeries on her left knee and one on her right knee in the last two years. Storm is in her senior year at DU, studying biochemistry and pre-med. She found out she would be getting her first World Cup start the evening before her 21st birthday. Pretty sweet birthday gift, huh?! “It’s been a whirlwind missing most of last season, and now starting this one with my first World Cup start, I couldn’t be more excited,” she said.

On the men’s side, veteran Ted will lead six athletes, including Tommy Ford - who was ranked ninth in the world last season in giant slalom, six-time national champ Ryan Cochran-Siegle, two-time 2019 Junior World gold medalist River Radamus, 2018 NCAA GS champion Brian McLaughlin, and current Dartmouth Big Green athlete Nick Krause. 

What has it been like for River to train with one of his childhood heroes, Ted? “Ted leads by example,” he said recently in an interview with FIS. “When Ted steps on the hill there’s an aura of professionalism that you can feel. He takes his business dead series in a way that makes you feel guilty if you take it less so. Him being there raises the game of everyone around.” 

Stay tuned to our Instagram account, because with all of the hype and excitement around the World Cup opener at Sölden - from ski crazed Austrians frothing at the mouth to watch their ski gods take center stage to fan clubs in a drunken stupor (the main sponsor is a beer sponsor, after all) - there's bound to be a lot of antics and action. 

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Keely Cashman
AJ Hurt
Storm Klomhaus*
Nina O’Brien
Mikaela Shiffrin

MEN’S STARTERS
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Tommy Ford
Nick Krause
Ted Ligety
Brian McLaughlin
River Radamus

*Denotes first World Cup Start

MEET THE STARTERS

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Official event hashtag: #worldcupsoelden

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST.
Preliminary schedule, subject to change

ALPINE
Saturday, Oct. 26
4:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom, run 1 - Soelden, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom, run 2 - Soelden, AUT - NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, Oct. 27
5:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 1 - Soelden, AUT - NBC Sports Gold
8:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, run 2 - Soelden, AUT - NBC Sports Gold

Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow

The reason Soelden is available via Gold Pass rather than NBCSN or Olympic Channel is that alpine races held in Austria are not part of the TV agreement that NBC Sports has with FIS. They are controlled and sold by a different rights holder, and were purchased by NBC Sports Gold for exclusive use within “Snow Pass.” If you have any further questions, please reach out to NBC Sports Gold's help desk at support@nbcsports.com.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Alpine Director Jesse Hunt and Alpine Development Director Chip Knight shared the 2020-21 alpine nomination criteria - as well as World Cup, Europa Cup and World Junior criteria for the 2019-20 season - in a series of conference calls with athletes and coaches on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. 

• 2020-21 U.S. Ski Team nomination criteria
• 2019-20 World Cup start guidelines
• 2019-20 Europa Cup start guidelines
• 2020 World Junior Championship selection criteria

Ski Racing Media's Sean Higgins covered the changes on Friday, speaking with both Jesse as well as A Team athlete Bryce Bennett. 

Highlighting this year’s criteria is a change to a two-year team nomination which U.S. Ski & Snowboard believes will allow for improved athlete management strategies. Objective criteria for a team nomination remains unchanged except for the addition of a physical fitness requirement for C and D Team athletes.

Athletes that receive a team nomination at the end of the 2020 season based on objective criteria will be members of the national team for the following two seasons, as opposed to just one as has been the case in the past. Current U.S. Ski Team athletes on the 2019-20 roster have also been grandfathered in to this change and will all be extended a nomination to next season’s roster as well.

“This allows us to have a little bit more of a long-term strategy with our athlete management and we feel that it’s a good direction to go in athletically,” said U.S. Ski Team Alpine Director Jesse Hunt. “That’s a big shift for us.”

Read the full article on SkiRacing.com.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced the 30 finalists for the 2019 Team USA Awards, Best of the Year, which recognize the outstanding achievements of Team USA athletes year-round on Monday. Double Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin is nominated for the Female Olympic Athlete of the Year. Fans are invited to vote for their favorite athletes and teams at TeamUSA.org/Awards through midnight Monday, Oct. 28.

The Team USA Awards honor athletes and teams of the year in six categories:

• Female Olympic Athlete of the Year
• Male Olympic Athlete of the Year
• Olympic Team of the Year, presented by Dow
• Female Paralympic Athlete of the Year
• Male Paralympic Athlete of the Year
• Paralympic Team of the Year, presented by Dow

Athletes and teams considered for Best of the Year were finalists for Best of the Month honors, dating back to the fall of 2018 and coinciding with the sport calendar. A USOPC nominating committee then selected the top-five finalists in the individual and team categories to advance to the voting round.

Mikaela is in good company, nominated alongside powerhouse athletes like record-breaking gymnast Simone Biles. her nomination comes following the best season of her career, having podiumed in 21 of 26 world cup races and earned 17 victories – the most by any skier in a single season – to improve her career total to 60 world cup wins and become the first athlete – male or female – in the history of the sport to win all six alpine disciplines. She finished her season by claiming four of five crystal globes as world cup season champion, and winning three medals (two golds and one bronze) at the world championships, becoming the first skier in history to win four consecutive world titles in the same event with her slalom title.

Online fan voting at TeamUSA.org/Awards accounts for 50 percent of the final tally, while members of the Olympic and Paralympic community – including an esteemed panel of Olympic and Paralympic journalists – account for the other 50 percent.

The six award winners will be announced during the 2019 Team USA Awards, Best of the Year, held on Nov. 19 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. NBC will provide coverage of the awards show from 3-4 p.m. ET on Dec. 22.

Mikaela is now in Austria prepping for the FIS Ski World Cup opener in Soelden, Austria on October 26. 

VOTE FOR MIKAELA NOW

It’s not often that young ski racers at the regional and club level get to train next to or with Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes. It’s even less common for these athletes to cross over while skiing at an indoor training venue. Enter: Snow Valley Indoor Ski Center, in Belgium. 

Three projects wrapped this past week at the indoor venue, including a tri-regional project co-led by the dynamic duo of Rocky/Central Region coach Kristina “Rev” Revello and Eastern Region coach Nate Bryant. The project included 15 athletes across the nation, ranging from first-year FIS and national development group athletes to collegiate athletes like Dartmouth’s Kalle Wagner and Nick Krause, and aspiring World Cup athlete Storm Klomhaus. There was great leadership from the older athletes, and growth opportunities for all involved. 

“The athletes and staff worked very hard to make gains, both on and off the hill,” Kristina said. “It was really exciting to ski inside and not have weather affect our training; the surface was generally consistent and provided a positive environment for learning. We were able to have our own dedicated space on the venue to set up appropriate courses and allowed space for better focus by limiting outside distractions.” What’s the value of limiting distractions? It meant the athletes were able to really hone in on what coaches were asking of them. “At this time in the season,” Kristina continued, “it’s important to continue working on building a well-balanced platform while pushing speed and agility, every athlete was faster and times were closer together as we moved through the week.”

Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club FIS coaches Robert Baker and Sara Radamus were there to support the project, with Sara specifically supporting Storm - who will now make her way to Sölden, Austria for additional training. Kristina noted that the staff worked very well together, and the level of experience made it easy to elevate their level of professionalism. 

“Additionally, everyone had a voice and gave input as to what we did well each day and what we can do better the next,” Kristina added. “I went in with a plan and an end-game, and each day we assessed our progress and made adjustments as needed. It’s good to have an outline with an end goal in mind, but to remain flexible and open to changing the plan. This is a point that means a lot to me as coach - creating a space where we can share in order to improve and make changes if needed. The athletes see this example and follow by voicing their own thoughts. It’s win-win for all of us!”

With Sara’s dedication and support, Storm was able to train with the Europa Cup/World Cup tech women during their last two days. Kristina noted that Storm made tremendous improvements, while collegiate athletes Nick and Kalle each stepped up and were great examples of leaders to the younger athletes in the group. “Having college level athletes attend our camps is crucial for them, as well as being able to give back to the larger community,” Kristina said. “Many of the (younger) athletes would like to ski in college so it was good for them to have that interaction. Our younger invitee athletes were able to make strides and showed they belong with this national development group. Hopefully everyone will get a solid block in the gym and will come to Colorado with newfound motivation to go even faster.”

Along with the tri-regional project, the women’s development team project, led by head women’s development coach Marjan Cernigoj, was training alongside the women’s Europa Cup/World Cup tech team at Snow Valley. The development group included C Team athlete Galena Wardle - who is still doing her return to snow progression after sitting the 2019 season out with an injury - as well as D Team athletes Lauren Macuga, Ainsley Proffit, Emma Resnick and Zoe Zimmermann. This camp focused on additional high-level  pace in preparation for NorAm and World Juniors. 

The women’s Europa Cup/World Cup tech team, led by Head Coach Magnus Andersson and assistant coaches Kris Shampeny and Katie Twible, included six athletes: Keely Cashman, Katie Hensien, AJ Hurt, Abi Jewett, Paula Moltzan, and Nina O’Brien. These athletes led an Instagram takeover on Friday, showing fans what it’s like to ski indoors and partake in a crossover camp. 

“Each group has separate training environments, but there were crossover opportunities for the best athletes in the younger groups to ski-up with the faster/older athletes,” Alpine Development Director Chip Knight said. “They are training very similar, even parallel courses so the opportunity for direct comparison and analysis is readily available.” 

Chip added that “the project is unique because of the range of groups in close proximity, all focusing on slalom, in a weather-controlled environment, and each having the opportunity for massive training volume each day: two sessions, 20 runs per session, 800 turns per day, quick turn-around. The coaches all report impressive gains from the athletes in a very short period of time. The focus is slalom repetition, especially on timing of pressure, movement, and pace.”

Up next for the women’s Europa Cup and World Cup group will be a camp in Sölden, Austria on the Rettenbach Glacier in advance of the FIS Ski World Cup opener on October 26-27. 

Two-time Junior World Champion River Radamus was recently featured in the FIS' Q&A series, where he talks about everything from performing under pressure to skiing alongside Ted Ligety and beyond. 

Though he grew up in a ski racing family in Edwards, Colo., River really turned heads when he became the first skier to win three individual gold medals at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer. He has shown a steady progression since, grabbing his first FIS Junior World Ski Championships medal (silver) in super-G in 2018, the 2018 NorAM overall title, and three Junior Worlds medals (gold in super-G and giant slalom, and silver in the team event) as well as scoring his first World Cup points during the 2019 season at Alta Badia, Italy, when he finished 24th.

Who is the most inspiring athlete to you and why?
As an American skier, there’s no bigger inspiration than Bode. I think our team kind of prides itself on doing things a little different from other nations. We have different advantages and disadvantages than other national teams so we have to be a bit unorthodox to succeed in this sport. There was no one more unorthodox than Bode. He always did things his own way and was completely unapologetic about it. And of course the results speak for themselves.  

Ted Ligety has had an important influence on your skiing style, and now you have the opportunity to train with him and discover his secrets. What are the most important lessons you have learned from him?
Haha if I told you his secrets, then they wouldn’t be secrets…

Seriously though, Ted leads by example. When Ted steps on the hill there’s an aura of professionalism that you can feel. He takes his business dead serious in a way that makes you feel guilty if you take it less so. Him being there raises the game of everyone around. 

How important is your team to you?
Team is crucial to me. My team is the reason I am where I am today. Our crew is really tight-knit. We push ourselves and each other extremely hard. We hold each other to a really high standard on and off the hill, and hold each other accountable when we fall short. I think when our standard of excellence is really high, it puts all of us in a position to succeed. We’re working hard right now to cultivate this culture, and make sure it’s sustainable beyond just our group, so that it lives as an understood legacy for years to come.

River will find himself full time on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit this year, so keep an eye on him when World Cup action kicks off in Soelden, Austria later this month.  

Read the full article on FIS-ski.com.

Want to learn more about River?
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