ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (Mar. 15, 2016) – The Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals kick off on Wednesday, March 16 at the site of the 2017 World Championships in St. Moritz. The sun is shining, the track is reminiscent of that Colorado buttery smooth snow and globes are up for grabs. Plus, nearly all World Cup Finals events will be shown live on NBCSN.
Nine American athletes are heading to World Cup Finals, where the top 25 ranked athletes in each discipline descend upon St. Moritz. Fans will be able to follow the action live on NBCSN and via live streaming on NBC Sports Live Extra with more than 15 hours of coverage, including the downhill, super G, team event, giant slalom and slalom events. Coverage begins Wednesday on NBCSN at 6 a.m. ET with the men and women’s downhills. Former U.S. Ski Team member Steve Porino and two-time Olympian Kaylin Richardson will be commentating the women’s races, with Porino and Olympic downhiller Todd Brooker will announce the men’s events.
Steven Nyman was 11th in Tuesday’s downhill training at the Audi FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in St. Moritz, Switzerland. (Getty Images-Mitchell Gunn/)
For the women, Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) – who just celebrated her 21st birthday – will be going for her 10th consecutive World Cup slalom win. Shiffrin headlines an impressive roster of U.S. Ski Team athletes including Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR), Stacey Cook (Mammoth Lakes, CA) and Resi Stiegler (Jackson, WY) – who is excited to make her return to World Cup Finals for the first time since 2012. For the men, two-time Olympic medalist Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY), Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA), Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT), Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) and David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO) will compete.
After the Lenzerheide races, the women drove to St. Moritz for downhill training Monday morning. Training runs on Monday and Tuesday both proved to be a challenge as many women struggled to make all of the gates. But Ross and Cook both showed promise, finishing in the top 10 both days, with Ross finishing in third on Tuesday. The Swiss women will be strong contenders on home snow with Lara Gut, Corinne Suter and Fabienne Suter all skiing strong on training days. Keep an eye out for Lichtenstein’s Tina Weirather, too.
Laurenne Ross during Tuesday’s downhill training at the Audi FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup finals in St. Moritz, Switzerland. (Getty Images-Clive Rose)
It was a quick turnaround for the men, who traveled back from Kvitfjell, Norway and jumped right into action with their first and only downhill training run on Tuesday. On a new track with no trees, it’s a challenge to know where you’re going when skiing at 90 mph, but it didn’t seem to bother Italians Peter Fill and Christof Innerhofer, who sandwiched Switzerland’s Beat Feuz for the top three.
The American Downhillers struggled a bit with the track, though Ganong capitalized on training he had on this hill a couple of weeks ago and landed in eighth. Heavy winds affected the big man, Nyman, who has podiumed in the last three World Cup races, and he finished in 11th. Weibrecht finished 19th.
Noticeably missing at World Cup Finals this year is Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO), who will travel to St. Moritz on Wednesday to accept her record 20th crystal globe, and eighth for the downhill discipline. After sustaining a knee injury in Soldeu-El-Tarter, Andorra, Vonn made the tough decision to sit out the rest of the season. This opened the door for Switzerland’s Lara Gut to continue her quest for the overall globe.
World Cup Finals Starters (DH, SG, TE, GS, SL)
Men
David Chodounsky – TE, SL
Travis Ganong – DH, SG
Tim Jitloff – TE, GS
Steven Nyman – DH
Andrew Weibrecht – DH, SG
Women
Stacey Cook – DH
Laurenne Ross – DH, SG, TE
Mikaela Shiffrin – GS, SL
Resi Stiegler – TE, SL
QUOTES
Laurenne Ross
The conditions are prime here in St. Moritz. The snow is basically perfect – it’s going to get a little bumpy for the race tomorrow with the men running it too, but it feels really good and solid under your feet and the course is pretty fun. There’s one technical section that gets a bit awkward, but otherwise it’s a good downhill and I’m psyched to race. I feel tired, but I still have my head in the game. Typically, I tend to ski better when I’m a little fatigued because I don’t ski as tense. So I’m just going to trust that, hope for the best and try to ski strong.
Steven Nyman
The snow is really nice and smooth and a lot of fun to ski—there’s just a lot of wind up there. I went off that jump with a good crosswind and it just kind of caught me and started twisting me, so that freaked me out, but I pulled it off. After that, I wasn’t charging too much. It’s tough because there’s only one training run, but I like the hill. I think it suits me and I think I can do really well here. So hopefully I can put everything together and lay it down. I’ve learned a lot this year and will take it into next year. This podium streak that I have right now is good because it’s all different hills and hopefully I can podium here too.
Andrew Weibrecht
I’ve found my consistency. I’m able to get to the same place every day training and racing, mentally, so I think that really helps me to be able to fire it in day after day. I’m feeling good now, and Kvitfjell was nice to get back into the swing of things. It’s always easy at the end to put one last good effort in – we’ve got a couple of days left here, so it’s good. The super G overall is not really playing in my mind – none of that matters if I’m not skiing well, so that’s all I’m focusing on. If I get super-lucky, then it’s a possibility I can win, but I’m not focused on it at all.
Broadcast and Live Streaming (times EST)
Wednesday, Mar. 16
5:00 a.m. - Men's downhill, St. Moritz - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
6:30 a.m. - Women's downhill, St. Moritz - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
Thursday, Mar. 17
5:00 a.m. - Women's super G, St. Moritz - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
6:30 a.m. - Men's super G, St. Moritz - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
Friday, Mar. 18
7:00 a.m. - Team event (mixed gender), St. Moritz - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
Saturday, Mar. 19
3:30 a.m. - Women’s slalom run 1, St. Moritz - NBC Sports Live Extra
4:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, St. Moritz - NBC Sports Live Extra
7:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom, St. Moritz - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
8:00 a.m. - Women’s slalom, St. Moritz - Universal HD
9:00 a.m. - Men’s super G (encore), St. Moritz - Universal HD
1:00 p.m. - Women's slalom, St. Moritz - NBC
Sunday, Mar. 20
3:30 a.m. - Men's slalom run 1, St. Moritz - NBC Sports Live Extra
4:30 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom run 1, St. Moritz - NBC Sports Live Extra
6:00 a.m. - Men's slalom, St. Moritz - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
7:00 a.m. - Women's giant slalom - NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra
8:00 a.m. - Men’s slalom, St. Moritz - Universal HD
9:00 a.m. - Women’s super G (encore), St. Moritz - Universal HD
RESULTS
Men’s training run 1
Women’s training run 1
Women’s training run 2
START LISTS
Men’s downhill
Women’s downhill
