Featured Image: Simon Fournier racing in the Stifel Success NorAm Cup. Credit: Jace Stout

After the recent speed races in Copper Mountain, the Stifel Success NorAm Cup men’s moved onto Beaver Creek. In Beaver Creek, the men competed in two days of giant slalom and two days of slalom.

Simon Fournier, a SYNC Canadian athlete, had tremendous success, earning himself a victory and a second place in the giant slaloms as well as another win and top-10 finish in the slaloms. 

Fournier reflected after the first day of slalom, “I’ve lost the quickness and the confidence in slalom, so to be able to get a top-10 in the slalom was pretty amazing. But I still think GS is more fun.”

Fournier is a graduate of the University of Denver and is currently skiing as an invitee with Alpine Canada Alpin and training with the Quebec Team. Before the season, he stated, “I feel I am in a better head space again. I am looking forward to racing. This year, not being at school and being able to focus on what I need to do as a skier makes me quite confident coming into the season.”

The two victories were an excellent start to the season for Fournier! He has not won a NorAm since 2019 in Camp Fortune, Canada. However, he is a decorated NorAm athlete with 13 podiums. He aims to score points on the World Cup circuit this season to make the criteria for Alpine Canada Alpin. These top finishes currently put him in the lead in the NorAm Cup standings. 

Stifel US Ski Team athlete Bridger Gile won the overall GS and Alpine combined season titles for the NorAm circuit in 2021, one of his many accomplishments in his ski racing career. After winning the first run, he ended the first day with a DNF in Beaver Creek, but returned with a win on the second day. Winning showed everyone and himself what he could achieve. He also delivered a great first day of slalom, displaying tenacity and strength, earning himself a 7th-place finish. 

Gile stated, “It feels good. It has been a while since I have raced a NorAm series fully. Since I won the overall, I’ve been skiing in Europe. I was trying to break onto the World Cup tour, and that was not easy. You get beat down a lot, so to come back and win a race shows that all the work that I am putting in, even though I’m getting crushed, I am still learning and improving. So that was a nice feeling.”

His Stifel US Ski Team teammate Cooper Puckett, who raced for Dartmouth College, also shined this week in Beaver Creek. On the first day of GS, he barely got nudged off the podium by Mikkel Solbakken from Norway (+0.02). That started his series with a 4th-place finish. Puckett became determined to find the additional speed to make up for those hundredths of a second. He progressed into achieving two 3rd-place finishes and his second career NorAm Cup slalom victory during the next three days of racing!

Other Impressive Highlights in Beaver Creek

On the first day of the giant slalom, an athlete who stood out on the race course and had the most impressive jump in rankings was Isac Hedstroem from Sweden. He kicked out of the start gate wearing bib-53 and achieved a 5th-place finish. Hedstroem has only raced seven NorAms, with his best finish being 11th place, so this was his first top-5 finish on the circuit. 

Ryder Sarchett, a new 2024 University of Colorado roster member, achieved his first top-10 NorAm giant slalom finish. 

In slalom, Canadian 19-year-old Thomas Mckinlay (2004)  from Canada was the youngest athlete out of both days to break into the top-15. On the first day of slalom, he achieved outstanding performances in both runs, which awarded him 12th place. It was his best NorAm finish to date and his second top-15. 

Camden Palmquist of the Stifel US Ski Team had his best consecutive days of NorAm racing in the slaloms. He crossed the finish line with a third and fourth-place result. It was the first NorAm podium achieved by Palmquist. He will continue to aim for podium finishes, with a World Cup start as the goal. 

It was a successful week of tech NorAm races for the men in Beaver Creek! The next NorAm event for the men will be from January 2nd to the 5th in Burke Mountain.