O’Brien and Winters are National Combined Champions

The final races of the NorAm speed series in Sugarloaf, Maine, took place on Thursday with men’s and women’s alpine combined and a men’s super-G being contested down the Narrow Gauge track. Thursday’s competitions were also the final races of the 2019 NorAm season and decided the final Overall standings. The top continental finisher in the men’s and women’s standings earns a personal starting spot in every World Cup in the 2020 season.

Additionally, the men’s and women’s alpine combined races doubled as the U.S. Alpine Championships, crowning 2019 national champions in the event.

Men’s Super-G

In the lone men’s super-G, U.S. Ski Teamer and reigning World Junior super-G gold medalist, River Radamus took the win with a time of 1:12.67 seconds. Radamus managed to separate himself from the rest of the field and finish 0.66 seconds ahead of teammate and second-place finisher Jared Goldberg. Canada’s Jeffrey Read rounded out the podium finishers in third place, 0.83 seconds back. Radamus was also the fastest junior.

Thursday’s race was the final men’s NorAm super-G of the season and independent American racer and Groundswell Athletics athlete Sam DuPratt walked away with the title with 312 points, beating out a pair of Canadians with Read in second with 254 points and Sam Mulligan finishing third in the standings with 249. Dupratt and Read earned World Cup super-G spots for the 2020 winter.

Super-G Results

1. River Radamus (USA): 1:12.67
2. Jared Goldberg (USA): +0.66
3. Jeffrey Read (CAN): +0.83
4. Sam Morse (USA): +0.85
5. James Crawford (CAN): +0.97
6. Brian McLaughlin (USA): +1.18
7. Kyle Negomir (USA): +1.19
8. Sam Mulligan (CAN): +1.21
9. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA): +1.23
10. Samuel Dupratt (USA): +1.40

For complete FIS results, please click here.

Men’s and Women’s Alpine Combined

In the combined races, Nina O’Brien continued her winning streak, taking the women’s race with a two-run time of 1:59.18 seconds. O’Brien sat in second place after the super-G run and posted a blistering slalom time to make the jump to the top step of the podium. Fellow American AJ Hurt finished in second place, 0.20 seconds back, and teammate Keely Cashman, who won the super-G run, finished up in third place, 1.63 seconds off the pace after the slalom run. Hurt was also the fastest junior in the combined.

On the men’s side, the U.S. Ski Team’s Luke Winters battled from 11th place after his super-G run to set the fastest slalom time and vault himself on top of the podium for his career-first National Championship title. Winters finished with a combined time of 1:54.32 seconds, good for 0.43 seconds ahead of second-place finisher, Canada’s Read. Winters’ teammate, Kyle Negomir, rounded out the podium in third place, 0.69 seconds back.

“I wasn’t expecting much from the super-G portion because I haven’t raced speed this year but I ended up putting myself in a good spot for the slalom,” Winters said. “The snow was hard and set was tough for a combined slalom but I was happy with how I skied. Training slalom all year gave me a big advantage with the course set and snow. Last year, I was happy with a second place behind Ryan [Cochran-Siegle] but it was good to come out on top with my first National Championship win.”

The NorAm combined titles went to Canada’s Read for the men with 180 points, finishing ahead of Negomir with 140 and Mulligan with 105. On the women’s side, Hurt took the title with 180 points with the United State’s Patricia Mangan in second with 110 and O’Brien in third with 100 points.

Nina O’Brien captured the 2019 women’s Overall NorAm title. Image Credit: Jimmy Krupka

In the races for the Overall NorAm titles, O’Brien took the title for the women, amassing 1,821 points throughout the season. O’Brien finished ahead of Hurt in second place with 1,577 points and Cashman in third with 1,217 points.

“I’m really happy with how my NorAm season went,” O’Brien explained. “I finished second in the overall standings the past two years, so winning the title was definitely on my mind this season. I’m excited that I was able to find some consistency and speed across four events this season, hopefully I can bring that to the World Cup next year! It was also pretty fun battling it out with AJ Hurt all year for the title. I’m really proud of the progress that she and our entire team made this season.”

Negomir was victorious in the men’s standings with 921 points, good enough for first ahead of Read in second with 816 and Canada’s Simon Fournier in third with 776. O’Brien and Negomir will have earned dedicated start spots in all World Cup races in the 2020 season with their Overall title victories.

Women’s Alpine Combined

1. Nina O’Brien (USA): 1:59.18
2. AJ Hurt (USA): +0.20
3. Keely Cashman (USA): +1.63
4. Patricia Mangan (USA): +2.40
5. Isabella Wright (USA): +3.80
6. Resi Stiegler (USA): +4.69
7. Beatrix Lever (CAN): +6.22
8. Sarah Bennett (CAN): +6.94
9. Lauren Macuga (USA): +7.01
10. Olivia Holm (USA): +7.61

For complete FIS results, please click here.

Men’s Alpine Combined

1. Luke Winters (USA): 1:54.32
2. Jeffrey Read (CAN): +0.43
3. Kyle Negomir (USA): +0.69
4. Erik Read (CAN): +1.13
5. Sam Mulligan (CAN): +1.23
6. Isaiah Nelson (USA): +2.15
7. Riley Seger (CAN): +2.21
8. Brodie Seger (CAN): +2.35
9. Alexander Koell (SWE): +2.37
10. Jared Goldberg (USA): +2.45

For complete FIS results, please click here.

The men and women now head to Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, for the 2019 U.S. Alpine Championship slalom, giant slalom, and parallel races March 23-26.