Thirty-Eight Athletes Nominated To 2019-20 U.S. Alpine Ski Team

U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced its U.S. Alpine Ski Team nominations for the 2019-20 season. Nominations include those active athletes who qualified based on published selection criteria in the prior season.

Double Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) and three-time FIS Ski World Cup winner and veteran Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) headline the list of both accomplished and emerging athletes into the 2019-20 season. Coming off a historic 2018-19 season that saw Shiffrin rack up an impressive 17 World Cup victories, four Crystal Globes (overall, slalom, giant slalom, super-G), and an astounding 83% podium percentage, 2019-20 is bound to be another edge-of-our-seats season.

Double Olympic champion and three-time overall World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin will headline the 2019-20 women's alpine team. (Marco Gober - Alpe Cimbra)

The 2019-20 season will feature World Cup Finals in Cortina d’ Ampezzo, Italy from March 18-22, 2020. Cortina d’Ampezzo is a favorite classic venue on the women’s World Cup circuit where our women’s speed team has enjoyed a lot of success, and also the site of the 2021 FIS Ski World Championships.

“I am pleased to share that our A, B, and C team athletes will be fully travel-funded for the 2019-20 season and will be able to go into prep period camps with the ability to focus purely on athletics,” said Alpine Director Jesse Hunt. “Thanks to commercial sponsors, the Bob Beattie Travel Fund, USOC Direct Athlete Support, dedicated trustees and donor gifts to our Foundation, as well as dedicated fundraising activities carried out by athletes, multiple arms of the organization have been working together to make this happen. The organization has also made significant headway in our efforts to decrease travel costs at the development team level, where members will be responsible for no more than $10,000 in travel and training costs with their team.”

The 38 athletes nominated will be supported by a strong coaching staff, committed to “building a positive and professional staff around our athletes,” as Hunt recently said when numerous 2019-20 season staffing additions were announced. Notable staffing additions include Randy Pelkey taking the helm on the World Cup men’s speed side, alongside longtime U.S. Ski Team men's coaches Scotty Veenis and Josh Applegate. On the men’s World Cup tech side, Will Courtney joins Forest Carey and Ian Garner as an assistant coach and strength and conditioning coach. Ryan Wilson will join Carey and Garner to focus on supporting men’s slalom at the World Cup level. Matt Underhill will lead the Europa Cup team on the men’s side. Katie Twible joins the women’s NorAm coaching staff, working with Magnus Andersson and Kris Shampeny.

Our men's team put together a best in the world performance led by double-gold winner River Radamus in Val di Fassa, Italy this past season at FIS Ski Junior World Championships. 

Athletes nominated to the team already opened the season with their first on-snow training camps in late April at official U.S. Ski & Snowboard training sites Mammoth Mountain and Squaw Valley, Calif., as well as physical testing at the certified U.S. Ski & Snowboard Center of Excellence in South Lake Tahoe, located on the Barton Health medical campus and officially unveiled as a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Center of Excellence in 2018.

Each athlete accepting the nomination to U.S. Ski Team receives world-class program support, along with access to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Center of Excellence, as well as athletic benefits including an elite coaching, sport science, sports medicine, and high performance staff, and education opportunities.

An official U.S. Alpine Ski Team team announcement will be made in the fall.

2019-20 Alpine Nominations
(Hometown; Club; Birthdate)

A TEAM
Men
Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 7/14/1992)
Tommy Ford (Bend, OR; Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation; 3/20/1989) 
Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 7/14/1988)
Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah; Park City Ski and Snowboard; 8/31/1984)
Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah; Park City Ski and Snowboard/Sundance Ski Team; 2/12/1982)

Women
Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho; Rowmark Ski Academy; 1/19/1996)
Alice McKennis (New Castle, Colo.; Sunlight Winter Sports Club/Rowmark Ski Academy; 8/18/1989)
Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.; Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation; 8/17/1988)
Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.; Burke Mountain Academy/Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 3/13/1995)
Jacqueline Wiles (Aurora, Ore.; White Pass Ski Club; 7/13/1992)

B TEAM
Men
Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.; Cochran’s/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club; 3/27/1992)
Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah; Snowbird Sports Education Foundation; 6/15/1991)
Brian McLaughlin (Waitsfield, Vt.; Dartmouth College/Green Mountain Valley School; 6/24/1993)
Sam Morse (Carrabassett Valley, Maine; Carrabassett Valley Academy; 5/27/1996)
Kyle Negomir (Littleton, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 10/3/1998)
River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 2/12/1998)
Ben Ritchie (Waitsfield, VT; Green Mountain Valley School; 9/5/2000)
Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.; Sugar Bowl Academy; 4/2/1997)

Women
Keely Cashman (Strawberry, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 4/4/1999)
AJ Hurt (Carnelian Bay, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 12/5/2000)
Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.; Attitash Race Team/Stratton Mountain School; 10/5/1996)
Paula Moltzan (Prior Lake, Minn.; University of Vermont/Buck Hill Ski Team/Ski and Snowboard Club Vail; 4/7/1994)
Nina O’Brien (Edwards, Colo.; Burke Mountain Academy/Squaw Valley Ski Team; 11/29/1997)

C TEAM
Men
Cooper Cornelius (Glenwood Springs, Colo.; Aspen Valley Ski Club; 6/20/1999)
Bridger Gile (Aspen, Colo., Aspen Valley Ski Club and Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 10/15/1999)*
George Steffey (Lyme, N.H.; Stratton Mountain School; 8/8/1997)

Women
Abi Jewett (Ripton, Vt.; Green Mountain Valley School; 1/10/2000)
Katie Hensien (Redmond, Wash.; Rowmark Ski Academy; 12/1/1999)
Galena Wardle (Aspen, Colo.; Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club; 4/24/1998)

DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Men
Jacob Dilling (Vail, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, 10/19/1999)*
Kellen Kinsella (Edwards, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 8/7/2001)*
Isaiah Nelson (Wayzata, MN.; Buck Hill Ski Racing Club; 4/3/2001)
Jack Smith (Sun Valley, Idaho; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 4/24/2001)*

Women
Lauren Macuga (Park City, Utah; Park City Ski & Snowboard; 7/4/2002)*
Ainsley Proffit (St. Louis, MO; Sugar Bowl Ski Team & Academy; 3/21/2001)
Emma Resnick (Vail, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 7/23/2003)*
Alix Wilkinson (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 8/2/2000)*
Zoe Zimmermann (Gilford, N.H.; Burke Mountain Academy; 5/16/2002)

*Newly named to the U.S. Ski Team