Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) is ready for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games after picking up her 81st-career FIS Ski World Cup victory – her second-straight downhill win and third of the season – Sunday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

“I have so much confidence right now in my skiing, mentally, and my equipment,” Vonn said. “Everything is coming together better than I could have hoped or planned for.  And now I go into Korea with a couple of wins under my belt and I’m just really looking forward to skiing the same way, or even better than I skied this weekend – full charge! No holding back. I’m going to lay it all out on the table and see what happens.”

It was another good news, bad news day for the U.S. women as Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho) picked up her second-straight top-10 result in 8th; Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) was 23rd; Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, Colo.) 29th and Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) in 31st. Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.) was having a solid run until she hit a compression midway down the Kandahar track and slammed into the A-net at a high rate of speed. However, she did stand up briefly before being taken off the course in a sled as a precaution and is OK. In Saturday’s race, Jackie Wiles (Portland, Ore.) suffered a left leg injury resulting from a crash. She will miss the upcoming Games and the rest of the season. Ross also crashed in Saturday’s race.

In Sunday’s full-length downhill race, Vonn absolutely nailed the top portion of the Kandahar track, leading at the first two intervals over Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather. But she fell off the pace in the middle portion of the course, only to come storming back on the bottom to move into the lead.

“Its kind of similar to Lake Louise where I know exactly what I have to do to win,” Vonn said of the Kandahar track. “The bottom section is always critical. Almost every race I’ve raced here, the race is won or lost in the last 30-45 seconds.

“So I carried all my speed really well,” Vonn continued. “I executed exactly the line that I’d hoped for and I was able to actually accelerate down to the finish.”

For the second consecutive day, Italy’s Sofia Goggia finished second to Vonn. Weirather was third. Goggia continues to lead the overall World Cup downhill standings by 23 points over Vonn with one downhill remaining next month at the World Cup Finals in Are, Sweden.

Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) opted to sit out this weekend’s speed events to train and rest up for the Olympic Winter Games. Shiffrin continues to lead the overall World Cup standings by 671 points over Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener.

Up next, the 2018 Olympic Winer Games. The first event for the women will be giant slalom on Feb. 12, followed by slalom Feb. 14; super-G Feb. 17; downhill Feb. 21; and alpine combined on Feb. 23.

RESULTS
Women’s downhill

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
Sunday, Feb. 4
4:00 p.m. – Women’s downhill; Garmisch – NBCSN (same day delay)
 

Jackie Wiles (Portland, Ore.) will be unable to compete at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, according to the United States Olympic Committee and U.S. Ski & Snowboard. Wiles suffered injuries to her left knee and leg Saturday (Feb. 3) in a crash during a FIS Ski World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, won by teammate Lindsey Vonn.

“I am completely devastated and heartbroken that I’m unable to compete in my second Olympic Games, but this is the nature of our sport and I must stay positive," said Wiles. "My teammates who have come back from injury give me hope that I too can come back stronger. Now I’ll shift my focus to rehabbing and getting strong for next World Cup season, and the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. I will be rooting very hard for my teammates – who make up a strong women’s speed squad – and look forward to returning and joining them again next year!”

"We are all extremely disappointed that Jackie suffered this injury so close to the Games,” said Luke Bodensteiner, U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport. “It’s a big loss to our alpine ski team, especially after her very strong results this season. We will do everything we can to support her in her rehabilitation and we’re already looking forward to seeing Jackie back in competitive action, stronger than ever, as soon as possible.”

Wiles is one of three U.S. athletes to score a podium finish in women’s downhill this season with her third-place finish in the event in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and a fifth place in the downhill at Lake Louise, Alberta, to open the speed season.

The USOC and U.S. Ski & Snowboard have not yet determined if her spot will be replaced under the team quota.

Lindsey Vonn’s (Vail, Colo.) Olympic Winter Games preparation is right on target following her 80th career FIS Ski World Cup victory on the Kandahar downhill track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Saturday.

Italy’s Sofia Goggia finished second, followed by Austria’s Cornelia Huetter in third. Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho) just missed the podium, posting a career-best World Cup finish in fourth.

Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, Colo.) was 17th; Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.) was 22nd, and Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.), who was just added to the U.S. Olympic Alpine Team Saturday, was 37th.  Jackie Wiles (Portland, Ore.) and Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) both crashed. Ross did ski to the finish, however, Wiles was taken off the course in a sled and is being treated for a left leg injury. There is no confirmation yet on any impact to her Olympic Team status.

Saturday’s race was scheduled to be a two-run downhill sprint. However, weather canceled downhill training both Thursday and Friday, so the women ran a downhill training run prior to the race Saturday. Both the training run and race started from the super-G start.

Saturday’s victory was Vonn’s fourth World Cup downhill win on the Kandahar track and her eighth career World Cup victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Up next, the women compete in another downhill Sunday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is scheduled as a full-length downhill event.

RESULTS
Women’s Downhill

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST

Sunday, Feb. 4
6:30 a.m. – Women’s downhill; Garmisch – Olympic Channel TV (LIVE)
4:00 p.m. – Women’s downhill; Garmisch – NBCSN (same day delay)

The United States Olympic Committee, in conjunction with U.S. Ski & Snowboard, today announced the addition of alpine skier Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) to the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team.
 
Merryweather replaces the quota spot previously held by Steven Nyman, who was injured on Jan. 26 in competition at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
 
Merryweather, 21, who skis out of Stratton Mountain School, won downhill gold last season at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships, then broke into the top 20 in downhill at the FIS World Cup Final in Aspen last March.
 
Team USA now stands at 243 athletes, including 135 men and 108 women. Updated rosters can be found at TeamUSA.org/2018Olympics.
 

It was a big day at FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Davos, Switzerland for the Americans, who walked away from the super-G with a double podium. Three-time Youth Olympic Games gold medalist River Radamus (Edwards, Colo./Ski & Snowboard Club Vail ) grabbed the silver medal, while teammate Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore./Sugar Bowl Academy) snagged the bronze medal. Kyle Negomir (Littleton, Colo./Ski & Snowboard Club Vail) was also in the top 10, tying for seventh. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland took the victory. 

After a heavy amount of snowfall on Thursday, the men had to deal with weather delays but remained focused with their eyes on the prize. Alpine Development Director Chip Knight shared that the organizers made an impressive effort to get the race off, using snowblowers to move the new snow out of the race track, and snowcats to smooth out the berms on the side of the trail. He was very impressed with the performance of all three athletes. 

"River, Luke, and Kyle each did a tremendous job with their inspection, adapting to new information from the coaches’ course reports, and then executing a revised plan while flowing with the speed and terrain," noted Knight. "As with any speed event, it’s a team effort among the athletes, coaches, and service technicians. The whole group pulled together really well today, and the strong results are a reflection of that operation."

Winters, who is competing ath the Junior Worlds for the first time, was thrilled to land on the podium. "Today was definitely one to remember," he said. "This is my first and last time at world juniors, so getting a bronze medal early in the race series is a huge accomplishment for me. Sharing the podium on the world stage like that with your teammate was exciting."

Winters also commended the organizers for prepping the track well despite the challenging weather. "There were parts of the course today that were not easy. Starting second, I had to stick with the plan and ski aggressive, and it worked out. The course was in perfect condition, thanks to all the course workers, after receiving a foot of snow the day before."

He now looks ahead to the rest of the race series with optimism and confidence. "With that said, lots of racing to do here, team event tomorrow, followed by the alpine combined, then finishing off with slalom and giant slalom to end the trip. I can promise you there will be more of this to come!"

Matthew Macaluso (Vail, Colo./Ski & Snowboard Club Vail) and George Steffey (Lyme, N.H./Stratton Mountain School) also started in Friday's super-G, but did not finish. 

Earlier in the week, A.J. Hurt (Carnelian Bay, Calif./Squaw Valley Ski Team) finished eighth in the giant slalom and Katie Hensien (Redmond, Wash./Rowmark Ski Academy) followed that up with a fourth in slalom. Both athletes made their FIS Ski World Cup debuts in the 2017-18 season. 

Up next is the men's and women's team event on Saturday, February 3rd. Competition continues through the weekend and into next week. 

RESULTS
Men's Super-G

COMPETITION SCHEDULE
Feb. 3 – Men’s and women’s team event
Feb. 4 – Men’s alpine combined, Women's super-G 
Feb. 5 – Women's alpine combined 
Feb. 6 – Men’s giant slalom
Feb. 7 – Men’s slalom
Feb. 8 – Women’s downhill

MORE INFORMATION
Davos 2018

UPDATED 2-2-18: Due to weather conditions Friday, downhill training for the women's FIS Ski Alpine World Cup was canceled. The NEW program for Saturday is a morning downhill training run, followed by a one-run downhill from the super-G start. Thursday’s training run was also canceled due to snow and rain.

Downhill Training, Saturday, 03.02.2018 4:00 a.m. EST
Downhill 1-run, Saturday, 03.02.2018, 6:30 a.m. EST
Downhill, Sunday, 04.02.2018, 6:30 a.m. EST

While the men’s teams travel to PyeongChang, South Korea the women’s speed team has some unfinished business on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany this weekend in the form of an exciting sprint downhill format on Saturday, followed by a classic downhill on Sunday.

Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) is coming off a double-podium weekend of downhill racing in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy two weeks ago, along with a solid performance in Lenzerheide, Switzerland last weekend, where she found her stride and speed in the super-G portion of the alpine combined. Last year in what was just her second race back since returning from the most painful injury of her career, Vonn grabbed her 77th career victory in the downhill on the Kandahar track.

Vonn has a long history with Garmisch, having podiumed 10 times and won seven times. She spent a lot of time in Garmisch throughout the years with best friend and former German skier/rival Maria Hoefl-Riesch, having dinner at her home and celebrating the holidays.

Fans can get excited about the new sprint downhill format FIS is introducing – which will include two shortened runs of downhill. This format requires a different approach, which could favor skiers who have technical experience and the mindset to compete in two runs, versus the one-run format. Vonn emerged victorious in the last sprint downhill, which was in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria in January of 2016. Stacey Cook (Mammoth Lakes, CA) finished eighth.

Keep an eye out for Jackie Wiles (Aurora, Ore.), who just snagged her second FIS Ski World Cup podium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, when she finished third, sharing the podium with teammate Vonn. Also watch for Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.), who has been making steady progress in this comeback season on the road to PyeongChang. The women’s speed team is deep, fast and furious.

The women’s speed team carried the torch passed on from the men’s speed team, continuing the tradition with a much-needed taste of home at their annual visit to the Garmisch military base. The crowd was huge and the women were stoked to sign autographs for young fans and hang with their families at the base. Vonn’s dog Lucy even came out to hang. The women also plan to watch the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII on Sunday at the military base before heading to PyeongChang to represent Team USA on the big stage.

See who to watch and where to catch all the action below.

WOMEN’S STARTERS

• Stacey Cook
• Breezy Johnson
• Alice McKennis
• Alice Merryweather
• Laurenne Ross
• Lindsey Vonn
• Jackie Wiles

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST

Saturday, Feb. 3
4:30 a.m. – Women’s downhill training run; Garmisch – Olympic Channel TV (LIVE)
6:30 a.m. – Women’s downhill, 1 run; Garmisch – Olympic Channel TV (LIVE)
10:30 p.m. – Women’s downhill, 1 run; Garmisch - NBCSN (same day delay)

Sunday, Feb. 4
6:30 a.m. – Women’s downhill; Garmisch – Olympic Channel TV (LIVE)
4:00 p.m. – Women’s downhill; Garmisch – NBCSN (same day delay)