Featured Image: Tricia Mangan 🇺🇸/ Photo by Liv Barbier.

ASPEN, Colo. — The NorAm Finals speed series in Aspen ran in clear order: two downhills first, followed by two Super-G races for both women and men. Across all four races per gender, the athletes who stayed strong, managed the surface, and carried speed through the bottom sections separated themselves.

Women’s Speed Series

Downhill Race 1 — U.S. National Championship (March 18)

1st 🇺🇸 Isabella Wright (USA, 1997, Atomic) — 1:07.00
2nd 🇺🇸 Tricia Mangan (USA, 1997, Head) — +0.08
3rd 🇺🇸 Mari Renick (USA, 2009) — +1.70
4th 🇺🇸 Kaitlin Keane (USA, 2004) — +1.71
5th 🇺🇸 Julia Cunningham (USA, 2007) — +1.79

Wright opened the week with the national title on a hill she knows well.

“I skied for Aspen Valley Ski Club for two years, and this is definitely a second home for me,” she said. “To be back racing here is very full circle.”

She pointed directly to the challenge of the conditions.

“Aspen Valley Ski Club did an amazing job preparing the track… with the extremely warm temperatures, they are handling it so well.”

Wright, a World Cup veteran and 2026 Olympian, backed that performance up across disciplines this season, including scoring Super-G points in Soldeu and posting 13th- and 16th-place downhill finishes in St. Moritz.

Downhill Race 2 — NorAm Finals (March 19)

1st 🇺🇸 Beatrice May (USA, 2006) — 1:08.35
2nd 🇺🇸 Mari Renick (USA, 2009) — +0.24
3rd 🇨🇦 Zoe Gray (CAN, 2004) — +0.37
3rd 🇨🇦 Stefanie Fleckenstein (CAN, 1997) — +0.37
5th 🇺🇸 Julia Cunningham (USA, 2007) — +0.40

May answered one day later. The 19-year-old Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete and Dartmouth freshman, who skied for Burke Mountain Academy, carried speed through the lower pitch and secured the win. She finished third in the NorAm downhill standings, capping a breakthrough season.

Renick, just 16 and in her first FIS season with Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, backed up her podium with another strong result and would go on to secure a World Cup downhill start position.

Super-G Race 1 (March 21)

1st 🇺🇸 Isabella Wright (USA, 1997, Atomic) — 54.16
2nd 🇺🇸 Beatrice May (USA, 2006) — +1.01
3rd 🇺🇸 Kaitlin Keane (USA, 2004) — +1.33
4th 🇺🇸 Logan Grosdidier (USA, 2008) — +1.36
5th 🇨🇦 Sarah Bennett (CAN, 2001) — +1.45

Wright added a Super-G win to her week, showing she can carry speed across disciplines.

“I love being back here… and being surrounded by so many up-and-comers,” she said. “It’s truly my honor to be here… and see that women’s speed is building itself back up in the U.S.”

Super-G Race 2 (March 21)

1st 🇺🇸 Logan Grosdidier (USA, 2008) — 54.01
2nd 🇺🇸 Isabella Wright (USA, 1997, Atomic) — +0.03
3rd 🇺🇸 Elisabeth Bocock (USA, 2005) — +0.11
4th 🇺🇸 Kaitlin Keane (USA, 2004) — +0.12
5th 🇺🇸 Mari Renick (USA, 2009) — +0.32

Grosdidier stepped forward in the second race. At 17, in her first year on the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, she backed up a Junior World Super-G silver medal and a season of top-five NorAm super-G finishes with the win, finishing ahead of two World Cup athletes in Wright and Bocock.

Men’s Speed Series

Downhill Race 1 — U.S. National Championship (March 18)

1st 🇺🇸 Isaiah Nelson (USA, 2001) — 2:07.72
2nd 🇺🇸 Tristan Lane (USA, 1998) — +0.56
3rd 🇺🇸 Sam Morse (USA, 1996) — +0.68
4th 🇨🇦 Jeffrey Read (CAN, 1997, Atomic) — +0.85
5th 🇺🇸 Erik Arvidsson (USA, 1996, Head) — +1.02

Downhill Race 2 — NorAm Finals (March 19)

1st 🇺🇸 Erik Arvidsson (USA, 1996, Head) — 2:08.12
2nd 🇨🇦 Brodie Seger (CAN, 1995, Atomic) — +1.24
3rd 🇨🇦 Sascha Gilbert (CAN, 1996) — +1.30
4th 🇺🇸 Patrick Kenney (USA, 1997, Völkl) — +1.31
5th 🇺🇸 Sam Morse (USA, 1996) — +1.32

Arvidsson’s win capped a full return-from-injury season. The 2016 Junior World downhill champion finished 33rd in the World Cup downhill standings this winter and showed steady progression throughout the season.

“It feels good to be racing back in the U.S.,” he said. “They did a great job… managing to get the race off in such crazy warm temperatures.”

“It feels good to lock up the downhill title and have that in my back pocket going into next year.”

Maple, who won the other downhill, continued his late-season World Cup form, scoring in four consecutive World Cup downhill races. The Aspen Valley Ski Club athlete secured a World Cup downhill start position for next season.

Super-G Race 1 (March 20)

1st 🇺🇸 Isaiah Nelson (USA, 2001) — 52.65
2nd 🇺🇸 Bradshaw Underhill (USA, 2000) — +0.02
3rd 🇺🇸 Erik Arvidsson (USA, 1996, Head) — +0.44
4th 🇳🇴 Johs Braathen Herland (NOR, 2003) — +0.46
5th 🇨🇦 Jeffrey Read (CAN, 1997, Atomic) — +0.56

Nelson attacked from the start and carried speed cleanly through the course.

“It’s been a blast racing in Aspen,” Nelson said. “The crew has done a great job to set up some sweet speed races. I had a lot of fun skiing the downhill track and seem to have found the fast line.”

“It’s always great to reconnect with everyone at the end of the season… and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.”

The 2022 Junior World Super-G champion won three NorAm Super-G races this season and secured the NorAm Super-G title, earning a World Cup start position next year. He also posted 10th- and 15th-place finishes in Europa Cup Super-G races in February and completed two World Cup downhill starts.

Super-G Race 2 (March 22)

1st 🇨🇦 Jeffrey Read (CAN, 1997, Atomic) — 53.19
2nd 🇺🇸 Erik Arvidsson (USA, 1996, Head) — +0.12
3rd 🇳🇴 Johs Braathen Herland (NOR, 2003) — +0.32
4th 🇺🇸 Sam Morse (USA, 1996) — +0.38
5th 🇨🇦 Brodie Seger (CAN, 1995, Atomic) — +0.42
5th 🇺🇸 Isaiah Nelson (USA, 2001) — +0.42

Read closed the series with a clean run from a later bib on a deteriorating surface.

“I just wanted to go out and hammer, put it all on the line,” he said. “Starting with a later bib, I knew it had to be precise and full gas all the way down.”

“It was getting a little peely up top… but once you committed, it was back on the gas through the finish.”

Despite a challenging World Cup season in which he scored 19 Super-G points, Read’s win in Aspen stands as one of his strongest performances of the year. He previously finished second in a World Cup Super-G in Kvitfjell in 2024 and has qualified twice for the World Cup Finals Super-G.

World Cup Spots Secured

Downhill

• 🇺🇸 Erik Arvidsson — Stifel U.S. Ski Team
• 🇺🇸 Wiley Maple — USA Independent (Aspen Valley Ski Club)
• 🇨🇦 Stefanie Fleckenstein — Canadian Independent World Cup
• 🇺🇸 Mari Renick — Ski & Snowboard Club Vail

Super-G

• 🇺🇸 Isaiah Nelson — Stifel U.S. Ski Team
• 🇺🇸 Erik Arvidsson — Stifel U.S. Ski Team
• 🇺🇸 Logan Grosdidier — Stifel U.S. Ski Team
• 🇺🇸 Katie Rowekamp — Burke Mountain Academy

Fleckenstein’s result comes after a long return from her 2023 Val d’Isère crash, where she still managed to score points. Renick earned her spot at just 16 in her first FIS season.

What the Week Showed

Wright and Read showed World Cup-level.
Arvidsson and Maple confirmed that World Cup experience still wins.

But the shift is coming from behind.

Grosdidier won. May won. Renick earned a World Cup spot. Nelson took control of a discipline.

The next group is already here—and the technical NorAm Finals begin this week.