March 30, 2023 – Taos, NM – Paula Moltzan of the U.S. Ski Team and Reto Schmidiger of Switzerland took the top spots on the podiums at Friday’s World Pro Ski Tour 2023 Taos World Championships Super Slalom.

Fresh snow and high winds caused lengthy course delays, but racing began shortly after noon at Taos Ski Valley’s Kachina Basin. Competitors included a deeply talented field of Olympians, World Champions, World Cup athletes and NCAA racers who traveled to New Mexico to try their luck on the dual courses.

WOMEN

The women’s field promised tight races between the likes of 2022 World Champion, Olympian and FIS World Championships gold medalist Paula Moltzan, and 4-time Olympian and current Tour leader, Erin Mielzynski of Canada. While Mielzynski has dominated the last two stops on the Tour, this was Moltzan’s first return to the pro format since winning the World Championships Overall title in Taos last year.

Starting from the round of 16, Mielzynski earned a bye with the fastest qualifying time. She took on Sweden’s Emma Hammergard in the round of eight and swiftly eliminated the current University of Colorado, athlete. Tricia Mangan is a two-time Olympian focusing on the World Cup speed circuit and showed her solid abilities in the Super Slalom by moving onto the semifinals after defeating Canada’s Candace Crawford in the round of eight.

Fellow Norwegians Mina Holtmann and Marte Monsen faced one another in the round of 8 as they skied most of the course neck and neck, with Monsen progressing to face Paula Moltzan. Moltzan had taken care of Evelina Fredricsson of Sweden, who won the first Tour stop in Steamboat this season. This left Mielzynski vs Mangan in the first semifinal bracket and Monsen vs Moltzan in the second.

Mielzynski and Mangan dueled it out, with Mangan taking risks at every gate that led to a big crash and Mielzynski skied to a spot in the finals.  The Monsen/Moltzan pairing left less to chance, with Moltzan leading the charge in both heats.

Tricia Mangan skied the top of the course with more caution in the small final but sped up after the third jump and crashed through the finish in the first run against Monsen. The second run was a nail-biter to the end, but again, Mangan lost control and crashed three gates from the finish, putting Monsen in third and Mangan in fourth.

In the big final of the CLCKR Women’s Super Slalom, Moltzan pulled off a clear first-run victory against Mielzynski, who was skiing less confidently than usual. Moltzan led the second run against Mielzynski but nearly lost it all after catching an edge, but she was able to recover and ski to victory.  

1^st: Moltzan

2^nd: Mielzynski

3^rd: Monsen

4^th: Mangan

MEN

Once racers began kicking out of the gates for the men’s round of 32, the intensity quickly heated up with River Radamus’ meeting double Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety. In a press conference the evening before, both athletes joked about wanting to face one another on the dual course, and qualifying times matched them up in the first round with the new FIS World Champion gold medalist, Radamus, taking the victory. The other tight race in the round of 32 was between Jeremie Lagier of France against Tour regular Miha Keurner of Slovenia. Lagier and Keurner qualified 6th and 7th, respectively, making their pairing the closest in this round, with Kuerner narrowly taking the win.

Into the round of 16, Radamus was eliminated by Czechoslovakia’s Filip Forejtek, who currently skis for the University of Colorado Buffalos and outskied Radamus to advance. The 6’6” Forejtek continued his run through to the finals with solid and dominant efforts amidst challenging course conditions. Former World Cupper, Wiley Maple of Aspen, matched up against Canadian Erik Read, and Maple handily eliminated the first of the Read brothers he would face in the day.

The wind picked up in the round of 8 and mild delays were encountered for course maintenance. Forejtek met Leif Nestvold-Haugan, a decorated World Cup athlete for Norway’s Fighting Vikings. Haugan clipped a gate low and injured his hand and Forejtek advanced to the final four. David Ketterer of Germany, who dominated the Tour with back-to-back wins on the last Tour stop in Bear Valley, faced Michael Ankeny, a U.S. Ski Team veteran and, after two runs, narrowly put Ankeny away. The intense Austrian-Bolivian Olympian Simon Breitfuss-Kammerlander, current season Tour leader, faced Reto Schmidiger and after a tight first run, SBK fell in the second run, dislocating his shoulder. The last pairing in the round of eight was Maple and Jeff Read, who fell after leading the second run and allowed Maple to advance.

Forejtek eliminated David Ketterer with his continued strong skiing in the semifinal round, while Ketterer began to look fatigued. Maple met Schimidger with a narrow lead in the first run, but Schmidiger outskied him in the second to advance to the finals. That brought Ketterer and Maple together in the small final; after the first run, Maple had the advantage, with both athletes pushing to their limits after the long day. In the second run, Maple skied out and Ketterer came away with third place.

The finals saw Forejtek skiing aggressively but ultimately missing the last gate in his first run. In the second heat, he faced the max differential and barged the gates, leaving him unable to make up for that lost time against the very precise Schmidiger, who walked away with the $20,000 check and 2023 Super Slalom World Champion title.

1^st: Schmidinger

2^nd: Forejtek

3^rd: Ketterer

4^th: Maple

The WPST 2023 Taos World Championships continue tomorrow with the Giant Slalom. The full schedule is available at http://worldproskitour.com and can be streamed on FloLive.tv with qualifiers also available on the World Pro Ski Tour YouTube and Facebook pages.

About the World Pro Ski Tour

The World Pro Ski Tour is a nationwide tour of events for men and women where professional skiers race side-by-side in a single elimination format. Prize money and an overall World Pro Ski Tour title attract Olympians and professional skiers worldwide. On-site spectators and TV viewers can watch all stops on the Tour in an exciting and easy-to-understand format. More information on the World Pro Ski Tour and all its partners can be found at http://worldproskitour.com.