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NBC Sports
2 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Alex Hall leads first four skiers to make U.S. Olympic team for 2026 Milan Cortina Games
Reigning Olympic slopestyle gold medalist Alex Hall is among the first four skiers to make the U.S. team for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. Hall is joined by Olympic silver medalists Alex Ferreira (halfpipe) and Jaelin Kauf (moguls), plus aerials skier Quinn Dehlinger in securing early qualification. Each made the team as the highest-ranked American who is also ranked in the top three in the world on International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) lists. Hall, 26, shares No. 1 on the FIS men's slopestyle list with Norwegian Birk Ruud, the 2022 Olympic big air gold medalist and two-time reigning world champion in slopestyle. Hall has won five World Cups between big air and slopestyle since his Olympic title in 2022. Ferreira, 30, shares No. 1 on the FIS men's halfpipe list with Finley Melville Ives, and 18-year-old from New Zealand who won the world title in March. Ferreira won Olympic halfpipe silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022. This past season, he took second at X Games and third at the world championships, each time placing one spot behind countryman Nick Goepper. In the 2023-24 season, Ferreira won all seven of his competitions and became the first U.S. male freestyle skier to have an undefeated World Cup campaign in an event that's on the Olympic program. Goepper, a three-time Olympic slopestyle medalist, is ranked third on the FIS list and this upcoming season can clinch his Olympic spot in his new event of halfpipe. Kauf, the 2022 Olympic moguls silver medalist, is coming off winning the World Cup season titles in moguls and dual moguls, plus winning the world championships title in dual moguls. She shares No. 1 on the FIS women's moguls list with 2018 Olympic gold medalist Perrine Laffont of France. While moguls has been on the Olympic medal program since 1992, dual moguls makes its Olympic debut in 2026, giving Kauf two medal chances. Dehlinger, 22, is tied for fourth on the FIS men's aerials list. For U.S. Olympic qualifying purposes, Dehlinger moves up one spot as Russian Maxim Burov retained his higher ranking while not being eligible to compete. FIS has excluded all Russian skiers from competition since shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Dehlinger is set to make his Olympic debut in 2026. At the last two world championships, he took gold in the mixed-gender team event and silver in the individual event behind Swiss Noe Roth. Dehlinger hails from the same small ski area as Goepper — Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Another aerials skier, 2022 Olympian Winter Vinecki, is ranked third on the FIS list but did not secure early qualification because she retained that ranking due to injury, according to U.S. Ski and Snowboard. She can still make the team — which is expected to include four total female aerialists — closer to the Games. The four skiers join four other athletes across all sports who have made the U.S. Olympic team already — snowboarders Chloe Kim and Red Gerard and the mixed doubles curling team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin. The Olympic team will ultimately include around 200 athletes. Nick Zaccardi,
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Chloe Kim wins snowboard halfpipe world title, closes in on 2026 Olympic berth
Chloe Kim won her third world championship in snowboard halfpipe on Saturday, moving closer to clinching a spot in her third Olympics in 2026. Kim, the two-time reigning Olympic gold medalist, won with her score of 93.50 points in her first of two runs in Switzerland. Advertisement Japan's Sara Shimizu and Mitsuki Ono took silver and bronze. Kim's winning run included a switch double cork 1080 and a pair of 900s, according to commentators. "Today was definitely a big mental battle, I think for all the ladies," said Kim, who along with the other 11 women had to wait out a two-hour weather delay. "I definitely had a couple mental breakdowns during practice, so I'm just really happy I was able to land something." Her second run was a victory lap with the title already secured. She attempted a cab 1260, according to commentary, but didn't land it. Advertisement "My favorite part about a victory lap is trying to progress the sport and try to do the craziest run I've ever done," she said afterward. "I was really hoping to put that down here, but next time." The top American woman in the world rankings come Tuesday clinches a spot on the team for the Milan Cortina Games, should she also be in the top three overall. Kim went into worlds ranked first. She took one season off after winning her second Olympic gold medal in 2022. This season, she repeated as X Games champion and also became the first woman to land a double cork 1080 in competition. "I think I'm back," she said. "I really started to find the joy for the sport again, and I think that's been a really big change for me, a positive change." Advertisement NBC airs highlights of The Snow League, the new snowboard halfpipe competition series founded by Shaun White, on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. Mark McMorris Mark McMorris' snowboard career has been record breaking and unbreakable Mark McMorris targets more Olympic glory in 2026 after a medal at the last three Games.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern take silver in cross-country skiing world championships team sprint
Americans Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern won a medal in cross-country skiing's team sprint for a second consecutive world championships, taking silver following their bronze two years ago. Diggins, now a seven-time world medalist, and Kern, now a two-time medalist, finished 2.9 seconds behind gold medalist Sweden in Trondheim, Norway. Switzerland earned bronze. Diggins and Kern were third behind Sweden and Norway at the last worlds in 2023, when the team sprint was held in the freestyle skiing format. In the team sprint, each nation's two skiers alternate covering one lap at a time for a total of six laps (three per skier). Diggins went first for the Americans, so Kern anchored for the last lap. It was the same order as in 2023 for two athletes who have trained together for a decade and often been roommates traveling the World Cup circuit. This year's team sprint was in the classic style, which is traditionally weaker for Americans. Events alternate between freestyle and classic at every worlds and Olympics, so the team sprint will switch back to freestyle at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. The last time the team sprint was freestyle at an Olympics was in 2018, when Diggins and Kikkan Randall became the first Americans to win cross-country skiing gold. On Wednesday, Diggins and Kern gave the U.S. its second-ever world podium in a classic event since the two separate classic and freestyle disciplines were established in the 1980s. The first came in 2017 when Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen won classic team sprint bronze. Earlier at these worlds, Diggins placed 23rd in the individual sprint (freestyle) and 13th in the skiathlon (10km each of classic and freestyle). Diggins, the top skier on the World Cup the last two seasons, cited difficulties with her ski setup after those races. She then sat out Tuesday's 10km classic. The final races of worlds are the men's and women's relays Thursday and Friday, then the 50km freestyle mass starts on Saturday (men) and Sunday (women). Goals? Jessie Diggins has 4 pages of them for 2024-25 cross-country skiing season Jessie Diggins begins another cross-country skiing season with a 'holy grail' race among her focuses. Nick Zaccardi, Nick Zaccardi,
