U.S. Ski & Snowboard and the entire ski and riding community mourn the passing of Jeff Shiffrin, who passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, February 2nd.  

Jeff Shiffrin with his wife Eileen made Vail, Colo., their home decades ago, and together raised two remarkable alpine ski racers and humans. Taylor Shiffrin was a member of the two-time NCAA Champion University of Denver Ski Team. Olympic and World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin’s skiing success is remarkable.

“I am without words today as we mourn the loss of Jeff Shiffrin,” said Tiger Shaw, CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “Jeff was a good friend and we will all miss him terribly. Our—and the entire ski world’s—thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this incredibly difficult time.”

Jeff was an anesthesiologist with Vail Health and Anesthesia Partners of Colorado, treating and helping many injured skiers and riders. He was an avid photographer, often having traveled to Mikaela’s World Cup races photographing Mikaela and other U.S. Ski Team athletes. Extremely proud of his daughter, he was rarely in a team picture on the podium because he was always behind the camera capturing the moment. His contributions to all aspects of the skiing and riding world are immeasurable.

Mikaela and Eileen returned from Europe on Sunday afternoon, and Jeff was surrounded by family and close friends during his final hours. He was 65.

In a post on Instagram, Mikaela said, “My family is heartbroken beyond comprehension about the unexpected passing of my kindhearted, loving, caring, patient, wonderful father. Our mountains, our ocean, our sunrise, our heart, our soul, our everything. He taught us so many valuable lessons…but above everything else, he taught us the golden rule: be nice, think first. This is something I will carry with me forever. He was the firm foundation of our family and we miss him terribly. Thank you, from the depths of my heart, for respecting my family’s privacy as we grieve during this unimaginable and devastating time.”

 

 

 

 

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“My family is heartbroken beyond comprehension about the unexpected passing of my kindhearted, loving, caring, patient, wonderful father. Our mountains, our ocean, our sunrise, our heart, our soul, our everything. He taught us so many valuable lessons...but above everything else, he taught us the golden rule: be nice, think first. This is something I will carry with me forever. He was the firm foundation of our family and we miss him terribly. Thank you, from the depths of my heart, for respecting my family's privacy as we grieve during this unimaginable and devastating time.”—Courtesy of Mikaela’s Team 💔🙏

A post shared by Mikaela Shiffrin ⛷💨 (@mikaelashiffrin) on Feb 3, 2020 at 7:15am PST

Mikaela is expected to remain in Colorado, and her return to the World Cup is unknown at this time. 

Jeff is survived by his loving wife Eileen, his daughter Mikaela, his son Taylor and fiancé Kristiana Oslund, as well as his sister Lauren Huelsebusch and her husband Juergen Huelsebusch. Jeff’s memorial will be private. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be directed to U.S. Ski & Snowboard and the Alzheimer’s Association. 

Read Jeff's obituary, courtesy of the Vail Daily
Read "Remembering Jeff Shiffrin, a rock in Mikaela Shiffrin’s mountaintop" by Tim Layden
 

Finishing up a weekend of speed events with a giant slalom, Tommy Ford led the U.S. men down the dark and bumpy Kandahar track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, finishing in 11th place.

In the same location as his first World Cup victory in 2013, Alexis Pinturault of France captured his second win of the 2019-20 season. Loic Meillard of Switzerland was second and Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen of Norway was third.

It was a warm day in Garmisch, with the temperatures and drizzling rain quickly melting the snow. Course workers added salt to the track to allow it to freeze, but the conditions were tough. Given the inconsistent snow, Tommy was satisfied with his effort and was able to put down two solid runs. “Second run was better up top,” said Tommy. “I was more with it for the rhythm of the course right out of the start, feeling more connected... There were a couple turns where I was trying to push a little too hard for the snow conditions—you kind of had to just ride it and float. All in all consistent day and I’d say a good step in the right direction.”

Behind Tommy, Ted Ligety put in an impressive effort in his second run, finishing fourth second run and 14th overall. “First run was pretty disappointing,” said Ted, who was 25th after first run. “I never really found a rhythm and I was just fighting it the whole way. Second run I found the rhythm a little better and made a good run relatively. Not exactly what I wanted to see from this race, but overall happy to have at least moved up a little bit.”

Rounding out the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, Ryan Cochran-Siegle also scored points, finishing in 22nd. River Radamus and Brian McLaughlin did not qualify for a second run.

The men’s tech teams head next to Chamonix, France for a slalom and parallel giant slalom on Saturday and Sunday.

RESULTS
Men’s Giant Slalom

STANDINGS
Overall
Giant Slalom

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HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Sunday, Feb. 2
4:00 p.m. - Men’s giant slalom, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

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

After a frustrating week full of cancellations, the Rosa Khutor organizing committee was able to run a successful super-G on Sunday—the first World Cup alpine race at the venue since the 2014 Olympics. Alice Merryweather led the way for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, snagging a career-best super-G result, in 17th. 

The Italians continued their hot streak of fast skiing on Sunday, with Federica Brignone leading the way and countrywoman Sofia Goggia trailing by just .20 seconds. Joana Haehlen skied her way on to the podium for the second-straight weekend, landing in third—her first-ever super-G podium result. This is the fourth 1-2 finish for the Italian women's team this season.

For the second year in a row, Mother Nature was unkind to Rosa Khutor, dumping snow and pouring rain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday—cancelling all three downhill training runs. An alternate plan was put into place for Saturday, to run a training run in the morning followed by the race, but the surface was not safe for a race. Temperatures were warm and the surface did not freeze overnight, so the course crew watered and salted the bottom of the track, and—for the most part—the track set up for a safe super-G race on Sunday morning. 

The "hurry up and wait" game proved to take its toll on athletes throughout the week. "It was definitely challenging to sit around for most of this week," reflected Alice Merryweather. "There isn't that much to do around here, so we've been playing spikeball and doing workouts to kill time, and I was feeling pretty antsy and mentally drained by today. Still, everyone was pumped up to actually race, and I just channeled all the pent-up energy into my run today. My skiing was far from perfect, but it's still a step in the right direction and I'm happy with the progress I've been making in super-G this season!" 

With Sunday's victory, Federica took the lead in the super-G standings, with 216 points. Corinne Suter of Switzerland has 200 points, while Mikaela Shiffrin—who opted to sit the Sochi speed series out—sits in third with 186 points. Mikaela maintains her lead in the overall, but Federica closed the gap to 270 points and sits in second with 955 points ahead of Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, with 830. 

Alice McKennis also scored points, landing in 27th. Breezy Johnson and Jackie Wiles also started on Sunday, but did not finish. Both are OK. Many of the women struggled on the watered, bumpy bottom pitch, with 12 athletes DNFing. 

Up next for the women is a speed series in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. 

RESULTS
Women’s Super-G

STANDINGS
Overall
Super-G

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 2
6:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel*
7:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
4:00 p.m. - Men’s giant slalom, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

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

Travis Ganong landed in a season-best fifth-place in Saturday's downhill, to lead five Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team downhillers into the top 30 on the Kandahar track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. 

In a race where the top 20 were separated by a mere 1.01 seconds, hometown hero Thomas Dressen emerged victorious in Saturday’s downhill over Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt-Kilde in second, .16 seconds back and France’s Johan Clarey, .17 off the pace. Travis missed the podium by one-tenth of a second. On almost any other downhill day, that performance would have landed him in the top three. 

Though he was slow out of the gate, Travis made up a significant amount of time in the middle section and bottom of the Kandahar track. “It’s kind of frustrating to be .45 of a second out on the first 13 seconds and then coming into the finish .27 out, so for sure I left a lot of time on the hill,” he reflected. “But, I’m really happy with how I skied and it’s always good to have a good result here. There’s always this mystique around Garmisch of being dark and bumpy and gnarly...for my style of skiing, it really works here. I like it a lot.” 

In 2017, Travis won first of two downhills in Garmisch—a rescheduled downhill from Wengen. On that same day, teammate Steven Nyman was having the fastest run of the day before he hit the net, injured his knee and was airlifted off the track. Steven ran 11th that day and Travis was 12th. He stood in the start shack for about 20 minutes as they airlifted his teammate, with little idea what was going on, attempting to maintain focus on his run. He came down into first that day. “A bittersweet day for sure,” as he said in our second edition of “Cellar Talks” prior to Saturday’s downhill. The following season, Travis injured his knee. He’s been steadily progressing since his return, with solid results last season and continued strength in the 2019-20 season.  

“The last time I raced here was the year I won, because the next year I blew out my knee, and the next year was cancelled...I have really good feelings on this hill, it just really makes sense to me,” Travis reflected. “The really fast sections into one big turn where you have to nail the timing and carry speed to the next section...yeah, I had good feelings today. The season’s almost coming to an end now, we have two more downhills before finals, and it’s really good to just have a nice solid result, score a bunch of points, and put myself in a good position for the end of the season and next year, too. I’m really happy with my race, and I guess I like this hill a lot.” 

Ryan Cochran-Siegle skied a super solid run, landing in 12th, followed by Jared Goldberg in 20th—his best result so far this season, Bryce Bennett in 23rd, and Steven Nyman in 29th. Ryan is currently sitting in 12th in the downhill standings, with Travis in 14th, Steven in 18th and Bryce in 19th. The level of competition in men’s downhill at the moment is high, with a lot of guys who have the ability to reach the podium. “Even with the shortened race, it was still almost a full-length downhill at 1:40, and it’s amazing how tight the race was,” Travis said.

“I think the conditions ended up being really good today, and everyone was pushing," he continued. "The level is really high in downhill right now, there are different guys on the podium and winning every week, so it’s really competitive. I’m not sure how tight it is behind me, but it’s always nice to be that close to a podium...it’s amazing how competitive it is. The amount of guys that are skiing really really well and pushing is at an amazing level right now, so it’s always good to have a good result when the level is that high.”

Sam Dupratt also started for the Americans—his career-first World Cup downhill—finishing in 47th. 

Up next for the men is a giant slalom on Sunday, in which Olympic champion Ted Ligety and this year’s Birds of Prey GS victor Tommy Ford will lead the charge for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team. Ted’s last career podium was a third place in Garmisch prior to the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. 

WATCH: Take a pause and watch our second edition of Cellar Talks, with the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team downhillers.

RESULTS
Men’s Downhill

STANDINGS
Downhill
Overall

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Official event hashtags: #worldcupgap, #worldcupsochi

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 2
12:30 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*
2:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
4:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
6:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel*
7:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
4:00 p.m. - Men’s giant slalom, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

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

For the second-straight year, weather in Rosa Khutor (Sochi), Russia has provided a challenge for race organizers and the FIS Ski World Cup, forcing them to cancel the women's downhill scheduled for Saturday. 

Heavy amounts of snow and rain pounded the site of the 2014 Olympics site during the week, affecting the surface and making it impossible to get a downhill training run scheduled. Downhill training runs were canceled on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before a plan was made to have a downhill training run on Saturday morning prior to Saturday's race. Snow fell throughout the night, stopping at 3:00 a.m., and though organizers tried hard to prep the surface, the track was not safe for the athletes to ski on Saturday morning. FIS, together with the Jury, made the call to cancel the downhill and shift their focus to prepping the track for Sunday's super-G. 

Current overall, super-G and slalom World Cup standings leader Mikaela Shiffrin, who is competing in all six disciplines, has wisely opted to sit out Rosa Khutor and instead rest and recover prior to the next block of races. Mikaela also is currently sitting in second in the downhill and giant slalom standings. Mikaela, who was leading in the super-G standings last year heading into the speed series in Rosa Khutor, received a hefty amount of disgruntlement from fans and media who did not understand the decision to sit out. Mother Nature was on Mikaela's side then, as well as in Val d'Isere, France earlier this season, and now today as well. 

The organizers are optimistic they can prepare the surface for the super-G on Sunday. The organizers are watering the super-G track on Saturday afternoon and hoping temperatures drop considerably so it will set up appropriately. 

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 1
5:30 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 2
12:30 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*
2:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
4:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
6:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel*
7:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
4:00 p.m. - Men’s giant slalom, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

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

The FIS Ski World Cup men’s tour will take on the mighty and deceiving Kandahar track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, while the women attempt to get races off in 2014 Olympic venue in Rosa Khutor, Sochi, Russia. 

The Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team downhillers and giant slalom skiers head to Garmisch to take on a downhill and giant slalom on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Though warm weather has plagued the World Cup classic downhill and erased the first downhill training run on Thursday, the organizers salted the track and the downhillers were able to get in a training run⁠—albeit with soft snow and less-than-ideal conditions⁠—on Friday. In Friday’s first and only downhill training run, Ryan Cochran-Siegle led the way with the fifth-fastest time, .48 seconds off France’s Johan Clarey’s time, while 2017 Garmisch winner Travis Ganong was just a tenth back, tied for seventh. 

It's a dark, bumpy ride down the Kandahar in Garmisch, and after the noise of Wengen's Lauberhorn and Kitzbuehel's Hahnenkamm, it can be quite deceiving. The downhillers have talked about how many have let their guard down in Garmisch, and how it has come back to bite them. The classic track is challenging and has claimed its fair share of victims in the past—including, and especially, in 2017 when 11 athletes DNFed and two (including Steven Nyman) were airlifted from the track with season-ending injuries. 

The giant slalom crew will return to action on Sunday, led by Olympic champion Ted Ligety and this year’s Beaver Creek victor, Tommy Ford. Though the giant slalom crew has had a break since Adelboden, they’ve gotten a solid training block at the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team’s European official training base in Alpe Cimbra ski area – Folgaria, Lavarone in Italy. Keep an eye on both Ted and Tommy, and remember—Ted’s last podium was in 2018 in Garmisch on this track, prior to the PyeongChang Olympics. 

Steven, Travis, Ryan, Bryce Bennett, Sam Morse, Sam Dupratt and Jared Goldberg enjoyed their annual visit to the U.S. Army base in Garmisch on Wednesday evening, signing autographs for families of servicemen and servicewomen in Garmisch. This is a tradition the Team has enjoyed for the last 20+ years, and it’s a hearty American welcome that makes the athletes feel at home in Garmisch. 

The women’s speed team traveled to Rosa Khutor, in Sochi, Russia for a downhill on Saturday and a super-G on Sunday, but heavy snowfall has severely affected the schedule, with cancelled downhill training runs on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Snow continues to fall at Rosa Khutor, though organizers are optimistic they’ll be able to nail down an aggressive schedule on Saturday that includes a downhill training run at 8:00 a.m. CET followed by a race at 10:30 a.m. CET. The speed series in 2019 was cancelled entirely due to heavy snowfall. 

Current overall, super-G and slalom World Cup standings leader Mikaela Shiffrin, who is competing in all six disciplines, has wisely opted to sit out Rosa Khutor and instead rest and recover prior to the next block of races. Mikaela also is currently sitting in second in the downhill and giant slalom standings. If the weather subsides and the races happen, keep an eye on Breezy Johnson—who scored a pair of top-10 results in her second and third World Cup races back from injury last weekend in Bansko, Bulgaria. 

WATCH: Take a pause and watch our second edition of Cellar Talks, with the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team downhillers.

Check out how and who to watch below. 

MEN’S STARTERS
Bryce Bennett
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Sam Dupratt
Tommy Ford
Travis Ganong
Jared Goldberg
Ted Ligety
Brian McLaughlin
Steven Nyman
River Radamus 

WOMEN’S STARTERS
Breezy Johnson
Alice McKennis
Alice Merryweather
Jackie Wiles

RESULTS
Men’s Downhill Training Run 1

START LISTS
Women’s Downhill Training Run
Men’s Downhill

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Official event hashtags: #worldcupgap, #worldcupsochi

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 1
3:30 a.m. - Women’s downhill, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
5:30 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 2
12:30 a.m. - Men’s downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*
2:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
4:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
6:30 a.m. - Women’s super-G, Rosa Khutor, RUS - Olympic Channel*
7:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
4:00 p.m. - Men’s giant slalom, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - NBCSN*

*Same-day broadcast

Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app. 

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

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) today announced finalists for the Team USA Awards, Best of January, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of Team USA athletes from last month. Two U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes are nominated: Mikaela Shiffrin and Colby Stevenson.

Fans are invited to vote for their favorite athletes and teams at TeamUSA.org/Awards through midnight Tuesday, Feb. 4.  

Male Athlete of the Month

Colby Stevenson, Freestyle Skiing
Captured gold in slopestyle at his first Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado, and additionally took bronze in slopestyle at the world cup in Seiser Alm, Italy, marking his fourth podium finish on the world cup level. 

Female Athlete of the Month

Mikaela Shiffrin, Alpine Skiing
Earned four world cup podium spots in January, taking home gold in super-G and downhill at the world cup in Bansko, Bulgaria, along with bronze in slalom at the world cup in Flachau, Austria, and bronze in giant slalom at the world cup in Sestriere, Italy.

Selection Process
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per sport discipline. An internal nominating committee selects finalists to advance to the voting round. Votes received from NGB representatives and select members of the media account for 50% of the final tally, with the other half determined by online fan voting via TeamUSA.org/Awards.

VOTE NOW

Due to the outbreak and continuing spread of the Novel Coronavirus, FIS, the Chinese Ski Association and its Yanqing Local Organizing Committee, have jointly decided to cancel the upcoming men’s Audi FIS World Cup races scheduled for 15 -16 February 2020.

“It is with great regret that all of the stakeholders are obliged to take the difficult decision to cancel the World Cup races in Yanqing this season, as the historic first FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in China and the first official Beijing 2022 Test Event,” said FIS President Gian Franco Kasper. “Although the risk level in Yanqing is low, the health and welfare of the athletes and all participants must take priority. It is also imperative that athletes can focus on their performance and particularly on the completely new and very challenging course.

The first competitions on the new Olympic downhill course in Yanqing were carried out successfully as part of the 14th Chinese National Winter Games from 16 to 20 January. The FIS Technical Experts and Medical Supervisor who were present were very pleased with the new course and snow conditions, as well as the organization of the event and mountain operations.

FIS will advise at a later date in regard to the rescheduling of the canceled races from Yanqing: a downhill and a super-G.

The women’s Audi FIS World Cup downhill and super-G, which will serve as the Beijing 2022 Test Event will take place next season in March 2021 and efforts will be undertaken to schedule a test event for the men as well.

***

About FIS
FIS is the governing body for international skiing and snowboarding, founded in 1924 during the first Olympic Games in Chamonix, France. Recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIS manages the Olympic disciplines of Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Freestyle Skiing, and Snowboarding, including setting the international competition rules. Through its 131 member nations, more than 7’000 FIS ski and snowboard competitions are staged annually. Specific initiatives are undertaken by FIS to promote snow activities as a healthy leisure recreation, notably for the young. For more information, please visit www.fis-ski.com

Release courtesy of FIS.

It was a wild and chaotic night slalom under the lights in Schladming in front of a rowdy Austrian crowd with Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway taking home the win. Racing against arguably the deepest and most challenging field on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit at the moment, the U.S. men did not qualify for a second run.

Heavy and wet snow started pounding a few hours before the race began, altering the hard surface underneath and leaving a deep rut. The snow peeled away from the racers’ skis as they turned, causing some of the best skiers on the World Cup tour to crash and make serious mistakes.

Due to the unpredictable conditions, Clement Noel of France became the story of the night. He was one of the favorites coming into the race, but made a major mistake right out of the gate and finished 30th first run—just barely making the second run. But running first in his second run and having a perfect track gave him the opportunity to throw down a blazing fast run and hold the lead for 25 racers.

It seemed like no one would beat Clement’s combined time, with the crowd pulsing in anticipation as each racer failed in his attempt. There was even an entertaining hiccup when it seemed like Alex Vinatzer of Italy had beaten Clement by .57, but instead was given a faster time because a nearly naked female fan came out of the crowd to walk across the finish line ahead of him. In reality, Alex was .13 seconds behind Clement, but even he had to laugh about the mishap.  

Finally, running 27th, Daniel Yule of Switzerland continued his dominant January to outski Clement’s time and finish in third place. Alexis Pinturault of France took second place. Henrik, even with a major mistake in his second run, turned on the afterburners at the bottom of the course to take the win by .34 seconds—his fourth win in Schladming.

The Americans had a tough day, with the Luke Winters, Ben Ritchie and Kyle Negomir struggling with the difficult surface and failing to qualify for a second run. AJ Ginnis did not finish. But Ryan Wilson, the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team World Cup slalom coach, looked at the race as a learning opportunity. “We can take a bunch of experience out of this because it’s Schladming and it’s crazy and it’s an atmosphere that none of these guys have any experience with and they’re going to have a lot of it for the next eight or nine years,” he said. “It’s another day of being here and learning from these the other guys around us.”

Ryan also spoke to the depth of the field, which is made up of a mixture of older men who have been on the circuit for years and young fast up-and-comers. “It’s a weird crossing of two generations now,” he commented. “With sport science, with the way guys are able to train, with how much advancement has happened in the last 20 years—a couple of the guys have been racing for almost that long which is outrageous—they are able to keep their bodies in a better position and are able to have more experience than anybody has ever had racing this slalom. You’re not just going to take the big dog’s bone away because he’s been in a lot more fights.”

Next up, the men head to Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany for a downhill and giant slalom.

RESULTS
Slalom

STANDINGS
Overall
Slalom

The ski industry lost one of its most treasured pioneers and founder of NASTAR with the passing of John Fry over the weekend. A longtime supporter of the U.S. Ski Team and ski racing, he is also credited with starting the Nations Cup to recognize the top country each season in the sport. 

Fry was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1995. 

Fry devoted much of his life to ski journalism, serving on the staffs of SKI LIFE, SKI, Snow Country, Skiing Heritage (now Skiing History), and Ski Area Management (SAM) Magazine. His in-depth knowledge and unparalleled passion for skiing brought the sport to life through the thousands of pages he created over his lengthy career.

However, John’s passion for the sport of skiing also ran far beyond the written word as evidenced by his creation of NASTAR (National Standard Racing) in 1969 when he was editor-in-chief of SKI Magazine. He was driven by the idea of creating in skiing the equivalent of par in golf. He adapted the French percentage-of-time system to a program he called the “National Standard Race,” using the acronym NASTAR that we all know today.

The nationwide recreational alpine racing series has engaged thousands of resort visitors for decades, and continues to embrace the passion for alpine ski racing under the management of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. Fry also developed the Nations Cup of alpine skiing, ranking the worlds’ national ski teams based on World Cup points.

“John’s legacy and passion for ski racing will live on through NASTAR, where many U.S. ski racers first enjoyed their taste of the sport,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw. “He set the bar for commitment to skiing and ski racing as both a journalist, and visionary.”

Born Jan. 22, 1930, in Montreal, Canada, John took up skiing at age six. He attended high school at Lower Canada College (class of 1947) and was a member of its championship ski team. At McGill University he raced for the Red Birds Ski Club and earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1951.

In1972, he served as editorial director of Outdoor Life, SKI and GOLF. In 1965 he married Marlies Strillinger. In the summer of 1987, The New York Times Co. retained Fry to create a new magazine, Snow Country. When the magazine debuted in January 1988, he became the full-time editor-in-chief. Snow Country attained a circulation of 450,000.

He retired from The New York Times Co. in 1999 and returned to SKI as a contributing editor. He remained an active contributor at Skiing History magazine until his untimely death on Jan. 24, 2020, two days after celebrating his 90th birthday with his wife Marlies in Puerto Rico.

John is survived by his wife of 55 years, Marlies; their daughter, Nicole Fry; his children by Ann Lyons, the sculptor Leslie Fry and William Fry; and grandchildren Sarah and Emily Fry.

A memorial will be set for a later date.