US Ski Team announces 2021-22 alpine nominations

U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced the U.S. Alpine Ski Team nominations for the 2021-22 competition season. Nominations include those active athletes who qualified based on published selection criteria in the prior season.

Two-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion Mikaela Shiffrin and Bormio, Italy super-G victor Ryan Cochran-Siegle are among 44 athletes nominated to represent the U.S. Ski Team for the 2021-22 season. The alpine team had more depth during the 2020-21 season than they’ve experienced in years, grabbing 18 podiums and four victories across five athletes.

Add to that four World Championship medals for Shiffrin, two World Junior Championship medals, including Ben Ritchie’s gold in slalom and AJ Hurt’s bronze in slalom, and career-first podiums by Paula Moltzan in the parallel and Breezy Johnson with four-straight third-place finishes in downhill. Not to be overlooked are encouraging results from Tommy Ford, who snagged second place in an early-season Santa Caterina giant slalom. 

During the 2021-22 season at the World Cup level, the North American events—including the much-anticipated Homelight Killington Cup in Killington, Vt., Xfinity Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek, Colo., and Lake Louise speed series—were sadly canceled, in an effort to minimize travel and find efficiencies in an already complicated nearly 80-race schedule. The NorAm calendar was impossible as well, due to travel restrictions between the United States and Canada. The crew looks forward to 2021-22, hoping for more normalcy and a return to the North American races.  

The 2020-21 season will kick off with the FIS Ski World Cup opener in Soelden, Austria October 23-24, and will feature the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China, from February 4-20, 2022. Due to COVID-19, the Olympic test events in 2020 and 2021 were canceled, so both the men and the women will head into the Olympics without having skied the tracks.  

The 44 athletes nominated will be supported by a strong coaching staff, committed to “winning at every level,” which is Alpine Director Jesse Hunt’s mantra. “We are inspired by this group of nominated athletes that not only endured but excelled in one of the most difficult seasons in memory. They persevered through a pandemic and remained determined to achieve greatness in spite of the daily challenges. It is a truly extraordinary group and we are proud to announce their nomination to the team in an Olympic year.”

Alpine athletes at all levels and across disciplines have already begun training for the 2021-22 season, kicking off pre-season camps at Official Training Sites Mammoth Mountain and Squaw Valley in California. 

A 2021-22 staff announcement is forthcoming, while an official U.S. Alpine Ski Team announcement will be made in the fall.

2021-22 U.S. Alpine Ski Team Nominations
(Hometown; Club; Birthdate)

A TEAM
Women

• Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho; Rowmark Ski Academy; 1/19/1996)
• Paula Moltzan (Prior Lake, Minn.; 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)
• Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.; Burke Mountain Academy/Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 3/13/1995)

Men

• Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 7/14/1992)
• Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.; Cochran’s/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club; 3/27/1992)
• Tommy Ford (Bend, OR; Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation; 3/20/1989)
• Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 7/14/1988)
• Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah; Park City Ski and Snowboard/Sundance Ski Team; 2/12/1982)                     

B TEAM
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)
• Jacqueline Wiles (Aurora, Ore.; White Pass Ski Club; 7/13/1992)
• Isabella Wright (Salt Lake City, UT; Snowbird Sports Education Foundation; 2/10/1997)

Men

• Erik Arvidsson (Woodside, CA; Middlebury College and Squaw Valley Ski Team; 9/3/1996)
• Sam DuPratt (Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation; 11/28/1993)  
• Bridger Gile (Aspen, Colo., Aspen Valley Ski Club, and Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 10/15/1999)
• Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah; Snowbird Sports Education Foundation; 6/15/1991)
• Jimmy Krupka (Waitsfield, Vt.; Dartmouth College and Green Mountain Valley School (7/15/1998)
• 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)
• Jett Seymour (Steamboat, Colo.; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club/University of Denver Ski Team; 11/5/1998)
• Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.; Sugar Bowl Academy; 4/2/1997)

C TEAM
Women

• Katie Hensien (Redmond, Wash.; Rowmark Ski Academy; 12/1/1999)
• Nicola Rountree-Williams (Edwards, Colo.; Loveland Ski Area; 7/7/2002)
• Zoe Zimmermann (Gilford, N.H.; Burke Mountain Academy; 5/16/2002)

Men

• Isaiah Nelson (Wayzata, MN.; Buck Hill Ski Racing Club; 4/3/2001)

DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Women

• Mary Bocock (Salt Lake City, UT; Rowmark Ski Academy; 10/3/2003)*
• Ava Jemison (Edwards, Colo.; Burke Mountain Academy; 6/20/2002)*
• Storm Klomhaus (Boulder, Colo.; Team X Alpine; 7/17/1998)
• Lauren Macuga (Park City, Utah; Park City Ski & Snowboard; 7/4/2002)
• Allie Resnick (Vail, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 9/1/2001)
• Emma Resnick (Vail, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 7/23/2003)
• Dasha Romanov (Thornton, Colo.; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 5/3/2003)*
• Alix Wilkinson (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 8/2/2000)

Men

• Justin Bigatel (Park City, UT; Park City Ski & Snowboard; 4/29/2003)*
• Trent Pennington (Shalimar, Fla.; Ski and Snowboard Club Vail; 5/8/2002)
• Camden Palmquist (Eagan, Minn.; Team Summit Colorado; 4/15/2003)*
• Jay Poulter (Bondville, Vt.; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club; 7/1/2003)*
• Cooper Puckett (Steamboat, Colo.; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club; 3/31/2003)*
• Ryder Sarchett (Ketchum, ID; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 7/28/2003)*
• Jack Smith (Sun Valley, Idaho; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 4/24/2001)

Release courtesy of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard.