Ten Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes are set to compete in Soldeu, Andorra for the Alpine World Cup Finals. Across the four alpine disciplines - downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom - only the top 25 athletes per discipline in the overall rankings, qualify. 

“We are extremely proud of the athletes that will represent the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team as we close out the World Cup season in Soldeu,” said Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team Director, Patrick Riml. “We have had a historical season, highlighted by Mikaela Shiffrin’s immense success breaking record after record. Our women’s and men’s speed and technical teams continue to show growth and promise too, we are excited to see how they perform in Soldeu.”

This season, the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team has found tremendous success, highlighted by Miikaela Shiffrin’s historic 86th and 87th World Cup victory, cementing her in the history books as the greatest alpine skier of all time. Teammate Paula Moltzan has also had a career-best season in slalom and giant slalom. Moltzan had her first World Cup podium result in slalom earlier this season and then went 1-2 alongside Shiffrin in the Semmering World Cup. By sharing the podium together, Moltzan and Shiffrin became the first two American women to share a World Cup slalom podium since Marilyn and Barbara Ann Cochran went 1-2 in December of 1971. Teammate Nina O’Brien has found abundant success this season in giant slalom after her horrific crash in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. With her successful skiing, she has punched her ticket to alpine finals. 

 On the women’s speed side, Breezy Johnson continues to impress with her downhill skiing despite coming off a knee injury that sidelined her the season prior. Johnson’s top results include a top-five in St. Moritz, Switzerland and multiple top-10’s. Teammate Isabella Wright continues to make strides in the speed circuit with a pair of 11th place finishes in downhill and both will represent the United States in the World Cup Finals. 

On the men’s side, speed skiers Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Travis Ganong and Jared Goldberg will represent the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team in the downhill. Cochran-Siegle’s main focus will be downhill and super-G. From the 2022-23 season, highlights from our men’s speed team stem from Kitzbühel, Austria - the Super Bowl of alpine ski racing. On the infamous downhill track, Goldberg scored a career best fourth-place finish and Ganong grabbed a coveted spot on the podium in third - a career-goal of his. Cochran-Siegle found success in Bormio, Italy, with a fifth-place finish in the downhill and on the track in Wengen, Switzerland, he crossed the super-G finish line in sixth. 

 Tommy Ford and River Radamus will race the giant slalom event at World Cup finals and represent the U.S. tech skiers headed to Andorra. Radamus’s best result this season was a 10th place at the Alta Badia World Cup in December. Ford scored a sixth-place at the season opener in Soelden, Austria followed by a couple top-15 results, enough to secure him a spot on the finals roster.

World Cup finals are where the coveted FIS Alpine crystal globe will be awarded for each discipline, as well as the prized FIS Alpine Overall World Cup crystal globe. This season already, Mikaela Shiffrin has formally secured the overall slalom, giant slalom individual globes along with the FIS Alpine World Cup crystal globe - her fifth overall globe of her career.

This years’ World Cup Finals will also mark the end of longtime Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Travis Ganong’s ski racing career. Ganong made his formal retirement announcement prior to the speed series in Aspen, Colo., earlier this month.

 The Alpine World Cup Final races will run March 15-19.

Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team

*name, events to race

 Men’s Team:

Ryan Cochran-Siegle (downhill, super-G)
Tommy Ford (giant slalom)
Travis Ganong (downhill)
Jared Goldberg (downhill)
River Radamus (giant slalom)

Women’s Team:

Breezy Johnson (downhill)
Paula Moltzan (slalom, giant slalom)
Nina O’Brien (giant slalom)
Mikaela Shiffrin (super-G, slalom, giant slalom)
Isabella Wright (downhill)

HOW TO WATCH 

*all times in ET

Soldeu, Andorra

March 15, 2023
Women’s downhill – 6:30 a.m. (Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live)
Men’s downhill – 5:00 a.m. (skiandsnowboard.live)

March 16, 2023
Women’s super-G – 5:00 a.m. (Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live)
Men’s super-G – 6:30 a.m. (skiandsnowboard.live)

March 18, 2023
Women’s slalom – first run 5:30 a.m. // second run 8:30 a.m.  (Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live))
Women’s slalom – 3 p.m. (CNBC)
Men’s giant slalom – first run 4:00 a.m. // second run 7:00 a.m. (skiandsnowboard.live)

March 19, 2023
Women’s giant slalom – first run 4:00 a.m. // second run 7:00 a.m. (Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live)
Women’s giant slalom – 3 p.m. (CNBC)
Men’s slalom – first run 5:30 a.m. // second run 8:30 a.m. (skiandsnowboard.live) 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced today the return of Karin Harjo to the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team as head coach of the greatest alpine skier of all time, Mikaela Shiffrin.

The 23-year coaching veteran Harjo comes to the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team following a successful stint as the head coach of the women’s alpine national team at Alpine Canada. While with Alpine Canada, athletes she worked with had breakthrough seasons, highlighted by Valérie Grenier’s first World Cup victory in giant slalom and Laurence St-Germain’s first World Championship medal and podium ever—a gold in slalom. 

Harjo began her coaching career in 2000 with the Timberline Atomic Summer Ski Race Camps at Mount Hood, Oregon. She quickly ascended through the ranks, joining the U.S. Ski Team as Head Western Region Coach from 2011 to 2015, then as assistant women’s World Cup tech coach from 2015 to 2017, assistant women’s World Cup speed coach from 2017 to 2022, and most recently the head coach role for Alpine Canada. 

“I am beyond excited and humbled by the opportunity to work with Mikaela in this capacity,” said Harjo. “I started my World Cup coaching career working with the U.S. women’s tech team, and have always been impressed with Mikaela’s focus, resilience and dedication to the process. Her work ethic is second to none, and I’m looking forward to working with her in this next stage of her career. The thing that strikes me the most about Mikaela is that she has already achieved so much, but she still knows there’s still room for betterment. I like to think I approach my coaching career in this way, and I’m so looking forward to working together with Mikaela and the team.” 

Shiffrin is also looking forward to the new, yet familiar, path forward. “I’m really looking forward to working with Karin again, this time more directly as my new head coach,” she reflected. “For a large part of my career, I’ve gotten to work with her here and there with her positions on the women’s tech team and then speed team in more recent years. I’ve witnessed her exceptional work ethic, her ability to work well with other coaches, and most importantly her connection and dedication to her athletes. I believe she can add a huge benefit to my program in the coming years and will provide a fresh and new way of thinking as we move forward.”

This isn’t Harjo’s first time working with Shiffrin. In fact, Harjo was an integral part of the team that supported several of Shiffrin’s 87 World Cup victories and 136 podiums, including her alpine combined gold medal at the 2021 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. 

Shiffrin added, “Karin cultivates strong team dynamics everywhere she works. For sure it will be something new to get used to, but I’m not very worried about the transition since I’ve known Karin for so long and she has always been open and honest from day one. I’m also excited to further highlight female coaches and staff within my group with Karin working alongside my mom and physio Regan [Dewhirst].”

Harjo’s path on the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup circuit has been a storied one, as she’s broken several barriers in the sport. In 2016, she became the first woman to set a women’s World Cup technical course for the first slalom run in Flachau, Austria. In 2022, she became just the second woman to serve as a head women’s alpine coach when she joined Alpine Canada. She’ll join forces with Eileen Shiffrin—Shiffrin’s mother and longtime coach—as one of only a little over a handful of women coaches on the World Cup circuit. 

“We couldn’t be happier to have Karin back with the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team, now in this pivotal leadership role. She’s a great technical coach, connects well with athletes and pushes them to be their best, while creating a strong team environment,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport Anouk Patty. “Having two women coaching the best woman skier in history is momentous, and will hopefully pave the way for the future generation of women in coaching roles—in snowsports and beyond.”

Harjo and her husband Randy Pelkey are based in Underwood, Washington, near Timberline at Mount Hood, Oregon, a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Official Training Site. 

Harjo will finish the remainder of the World Cup season with Alpine Canada and then will join Shiffrin and the team in Kvitfjell, Norway in April for their upcoming spring testing camp.

River Radamus was the top Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, finishing 17th. 

Tommy Ford and George Steffey also scored points, finishing 21st and 26th, respectively. It was Steffey's second career World Cup points score, after snagging points in the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup at the end of February. 

Brian McLaughlin did not qualify for a second run. 

It was another day of difficult conditions, seen through the times, as the snow in Europe has been minimal, leading to a lot of salting and minimal slipping of the track. It was easy to see how the skiers that typically ran in the top five to seven, had an advantage over the later starters. 

The podium was nearly identical to Saturday's giant slalom, featuring the same men in a different order. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won the race again, with Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway in second and Alexis Pinturault of France was third. 

Next up, the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team members that finished the season in the top 25 of their discipline will head to Soldeu, Andorra for World Cup Finals. 

RESULTS
Men's giant slalom

How does one summarize 87 victories over 11 years? 

It was always about just a few good turns—an approach initiated by her parents, Jeff and Eileen, and fostered and embraced by the whole family, including Mikaela Shiffrin’s older brother Taylor. Eventually, it would become the approach taken by her entire support team. And that approach would, unbeknownst to the family at the time, inspire the world and generations of skiers to come. 

It was never about 87. And it won’t be about 100 victories, if that feat ends up happening. It was always about, simply, a few good turns and the rest is history. History made. History in the making. History yet to be made. 

A two-time Olympic champion, seven-time World Champion and now, the winningest alpine ski racer of all time, Mikaela’s career can certainly be easily summed up by numbers—lots and lots and lots of them—but those numbers would never truly do her story justice. To know Mikaela’s story, one must attempt to fathom the years and years of blood, sweat and tears she has put into attempting to perfect her craft. And she is still well on her way in her journey for the quest for excellence. 

Like the most fluid poem or the most beautiful classical piano piece, Mikaela’s craft was always smooth and effortless. Her approach was sometimes criticized, but something many marveled at and learned from. How fast, how many disciplines, and how she could move forward after what could not so simply be summed up as a “tough few years,” but a debilitating period of suffering and heartache after the death of her father. And then, there was a public disappointment on the world stage in Beijing where Mikaela walked away capturing not gold medals, but the hearts of viewers around the globe. 

And here we are, where thousands upon thousands of a “few good turns” later, we’ve arrived at 87 in a magical place to Mikaela: Åre, Sweden. To happen here, in Åre, Sweden… 

• Where Mikaela won her first World Cup on December 20, 2012. 
• Where Mikaela met the young cancer survivor Emma Lundell, who made a lasting impact and is still a friend to this day, celebrating number 86 and 87 with Mikaela. 
• Where Mikaela suffered her first major injury in 2015. 
• Where she won three World Championships medals in 2019, and rose above exhaustion and illness to do the unthinkable and win her record fourth-straight slalom World Championships gold. 
• Where she would attempt to return to the World Cup following the soul-crushing agony after the loss of her father, Jeff — only for the return to be delayed and the season cut short due to COVID. 
• The home of Ingemar Stenmark. 
• The place where she equaled Ingemar’s record, and then just one day later, reset the record—a record that stood for 34 years and most people thought would never be broken. 

Mikaela doesn’t really believe in fate, but she does acknowledge there’s something fateful about all of this. Maybe it’s the magic of Åre, Sweden or it’s the magic of Jeff looking down and reminding her that the only numbers that really matter are a few good turns. 

On Saturday, Mikaela Shiffrin became the greatest skier of all time, surpassing the record she tied the day prior, and now has the most World Cup of any alpine skier with 87 wins. She won her 87th race in the slalom in Åre, Sweden, the same location of her first ever World Cup win and exactly 12 years after her first World Cup start.

“I can’t put a name with the numbers,” said Shiffrin. “I don’t know how to define that. When you have these special moments like being on the podium with Paula Moltzan in Semmering, seeing my brother and Kristi and my mom in the finish today-–that’s what makes it memorable. I’m so proud of the skiing I did both runs today and so proud of the team this whole season. Every step of the way, being strong and focused and positive and having the right goals and helping me manage my own focus and distractions. It’s been incredible. It’s been incredible to be part of that. I’m just really thankful.”

It was also a tremendous day for teammate Paula Moltzan who landed just off the podium in fourth place. Moltzan and Shiffrin shared a podium in December in Semmering, Austria. Notably, Moltzan achieved this massive result coming out of hand surgery just a few weeks ago.

“I think I need to bring more intensity this run, but the same mindset to go as hard as I can,” said Moltzan after her first run that landed her in fifth. “The conditions were awesome so it’s nice to see it holding up for everyone.”

Second place went to Swiss skier Wendy Holdener, and third place Sweden’s own Anna Swenn Larsson. Rounding out the top five was 2023 World Championship slalom gold medalist Laurence St. Germain of Canada. This result marks her best World Cup result of her career. She is also a former University of Vermont teammate of Moltzan. 

The top 25 women in slalom will now head to Soldeu, Andorra for World Cup Finals, which runs March 15-19.

RESULTS
Women’s slalom 

Exactly 12 years after she began racing on the World Cup, Mikaela Shiffrin of the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team won her 87th World Cup in the Åre, Sweden slalom on March 11, 2023, breaking the tie of 86 wins set by Ingemar Stenmark in 1989 to become the winningest alpine skier in history.

For the second day in a row, Shiffrin dominated the Swedish course to take her second win in two days and officially break the record. She held the lead in the first run by .69 seconds and skied an aggressive and smart run second run to win the race by .94 seconds. As she crossed the finish line, she took a moment to let her historic win soak in, and then she saw her brother Taylor and sister-in-law Kristi, who surprised Shiffrin by flying in from the U.S. to celebrate with her, and swept her up in a hug. 

“I can’t put a name with the numbers,” said Shiffrin. “I don’t know how to define that. When you have these special moments like being on the podium with Paula Moltzan in Semmering, seeing my brother and Kristi and my mom in the finish today—that’s what makes it memorable. I’m so proud of the skiing I did both runs today and so proud of the team this whole season. Every step of the way, being strong and focused and positive and having the right goals and helping me manage my own focus and distractions. It’s been incredible. It’s been incredible to be part of that. I’m just really thankful.”

Just off the podium was Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team teammate Moltzan in fourth place, who recently had hand surgery after breaking it during the World Championships. But she ignored the three plates and 25 screws in her hand, and attacked the slalom course to secure a banner finish.

Shiffrin won her first World Cup at the same venue in Åre, Sweden in 2012 and has been on a streak since then, winning 87 Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cups throughout her 12 years on the circuit. Her dominance has been unmatched, winning 35% of the races she starts and podiuming in nearly 60%. The win places her securely in the history books and makes her the greatest of all time in the sport of alpine ski racing. 

“It’s been hard to describe,” said Shiffrin of her record. “It’s not over yet, which is even more ridiculous! I still had the same feeling at the start of this run that I have every race—I shouldn’t feel pressure, but somehow I feel something in my heartbeat. That’s the anticipation we want to feel as ski racers and I have it—it’s stronger than ever. I’m just getting started.”

Shiffrin tied the World Cup wins record on March 10 in Are, Sweden with 86 wins, which had been held by Sweden’s Stenmark for 34 years. Shiffrin also tied and then broke Lindsey Vonn’s women’s record of 82 wins in January in Kronplatz, Italy. She has been unstoppable this season, winning 13 races so far, securing three World Championship medals in slalom, giant slalom and super-G and clinching the slalom, giant slalom and overall crystal globe for the 2022-23 season. 

Shiffrin’s 87th win is just 12 years after she started her first race on the World Cup in 2011 when she was only 15. She won her first World Cup nine months later in December 2012, becoming the second-youngest American to win an alpine World Cup. Since then, she has won three Olympic medals—including two golds—and 14 World Championship medals—the record for World Championships medals in the modern era—and has 15 crystal globes, including the three that she will receive at World Cup Finals.

Out of her 87 wins, 53 of them are slalom wins, the most of any skier, man or woman, in one discipline. But while she started off as a slalom specialist, she quickly expanded her repertoire to win a race in each of the World Cup’s six disciplines and became the first skier in history to do so: slalom (53), giant slalom (20), super-G (5), downhill (3), combined (1) and parallel (5). She holds the record for the most slalom wins and is tied for a women’s record for the most giant slalom World Cup victories. 

“It is truly magnificent to be able to watch Mikaela Shiffrin write her name into history,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President & CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. “She is the definition of a champion, both inside and out, and the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team couldn’t be happier to celebrate this massive achievement with her. We can’t wait to watch Mikaela win even more in the future!”

Shiffrin and members of the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team who have finished in the top 25 of a discipline will now head to World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Andorra next to wrap up the season. 

RESULTS
Women’s slalom

In the first day of the two-day giant slalom series in Kranjksa Gora, Slovenia, River Radamus led the way for the Americans with a 15th place finish.

The conditions were warm with very soft snow underfoot with course workers salting the course the day prior to try and keep a strong surface for the World Cup racers.

Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won the race to clinch the overall World Cup title for the second year in a row. He also extended his lead over Kristoffersen in the giant slalom standings with 140 points to go with two more races: Sunday's giant slalom and the World Cup Finals GS. In second place was French skier Alexis Pinturault, and in third was Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen.

George Steffey (37th) and Brian McLaughlin (45th) also raced but did not qualify for a second run. Tommy Ford did not finish.

The giant slalom men will now look to Sunday for another crack at the giant slalom.

RESULTS
Men's giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
times in ET

Sunday, March 12
3:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup, Men's Slalom, Run 1, Kranjska Gora, SLO, watch on skiandsnowboard.live
6:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup, Men's Slalom, Run 2, Kranjska Gora, SLO, watch on Peacock/NBC, skiandsnowboard.live
3:00 p.m. FIS Alpine World Cup, Women's Slalom, Giant Slalom, Are, SWE, watch on CNBC**

**Encore presentation

Mikaela Shiffrin is a game changer. Her training and consistency have laid the foundation for a record-breaking American season on the World Cup, and Visa is proud to present a behind-the-scenes look at her historic run.

See what it takes to become the winningest woman in Alpine history with this four-episode series debuting on March 8, 2023.

Ep. 1 -- Record Breaking 83.

Watch HERE.

On Friday, March 10, Mikaela Shiffrin made history. Crossing the finish line in first, Shiffrin clinched her 86th career World Cup win and tied longtime record holder Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who has held the record since 1989, with the most-ever World Cup wins. 

“This is just a spectacular day,” said Shiffrin after the race. “It's a pretty spectacular position to be in. I don’t take it for granted to be in this place where people ask me when I’m going to win 86 or 87. That’s a pretty cool place to be, even though it can be difficult to focus sometimes, but today I felt like the focus was there when I needed it to be and it was really fun to ski.”

Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team teammates Paula Moltzan and Nina O’Brien also skied great giant slalom races, with both of them landing in the top-20. Moltzan was 15th and O'Brien was 16th, respectively. Moltzan skied an impressive race where only three weeks ago sustained a hand injury that led to surgery when she crashed at World Championships - the same race where she won gold in the team event.

“Hand is hanging in there,” said Moltzan. “The doctors put in three plates and 25 screws to stabilize fractures in my three, four and five metacarpals.”

Moltzan will now focus on the slalom on Saturday, March 11 and added that, "giant slalom is a lot easier to manage than slalom," she said in regard to her hand injury. "I have had one day of slalom since before World Championships with a couple runs to test it and I am hoping to give it my all tomorrow with minimal pain.”

Nina O’Brien has also clinched her spot to the alpine World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Andorra, March 15-19. The top 25 in each discipline are invited to the alpine World Cup Finals. Prior to the Åre giant slalom, O’Brien was in the 27th position.

The women will now switch gear to slalom on Saturday, March 11. 

RESULTS
Women's giant slalom

HOW TO WATCH
All times in ET

Åre, Sweden

March 10
4:00 a.m. – Women’s giant slalom, first run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live
7:00 a.m. – Women’s giant slalom, second run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

March 11
4:30 a.m. – Women’s slalom, first run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live
7:30 a.m. – Women’s slalom, second run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

March 12
3:00 p.m. – Women’s giant slalom and slalom – CNBC*

World Cup Finals – Soldeu, Andorra

March 15
5:30 a.m. – Women’s downhill – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

March 16
4:00 a.m. – Women’s super-G – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live

March 18
4:30 a.m. – Women’s slalom, first run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live
7:30 a.m. – Women’s slalom, second run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live
3:00 p.m. – Women’s slalom – CNBC*

March 19 
3:00 a.m. – Women’s giant slalom, first run run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live
6:00 a.m. – Women’s giant slalom, second run – Peacock, skiandsnowboard.live
3:00 p.m. – Women’s giant slalom – CNBC*

*delayed showing