After four consecutive race cancelations, everything points to a great event in Levi on Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th. The women’s alpine World Cup teams will finally start their season.

In the United States, the race can be viewed live and replayed on the online platform Ski and Snowboard Live.

After the Sölden cancelation, the US women’s tech team took a much needed and deserved break before attending the NYC Gold Medal Gala. Following the gala, the team traveled to Storklinten, Sweden, to resume their preparations for Levi.

Since returning to Europe, the US women have been preparing exclusively in Scandinavia. The team started with a week-long camp in Storklinten before moving operations to Levi, Finland.

Due to favorable weather, the Levi WC organizers could offer training on the race hill and the US women took advantage of this for five days. They will train for another two days on the Levi training hill before participating in the official hill ski on Friday.

The team currently lives in the minimal daylight of the Arctic Circle but in wonderfully comfortable accommodations.

Head women’s World Cup tech coach Magnus Andersson states, “The women are skiing better technically than any previous year I have worked with them. I am starting my 7th year with the US team so I have seen a lot. It certainly helped that we experienced a higher volume of quality SL training during this prep period. The team is well prepared.”

It isn’t possible to discuss Levi without mentioning Shiffrin. It is well known that the winner receives a reindeer, and Shiffrin has a herd of four. She named Rudolph in 2013, Sven in 2016, Mr. Gru in 2018, and Ingemar in 2019. Adding a fifth reindeer to her family would be exciting.

There are two women’s SL races in Finland. The US currently has seven quota start spots.

On Saturday, the Stifel US Alpine women’s team will start

• Mikaela Shiffrin, four time Levi winner, Burke Mountain Academy, Atomic, Oakley
• Paula Moltzan, Buck Hill Ski Team, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, Rossignol/Look
• Nina O’Brien, Burke Mountain Academy, Rossignol/Look
• Katie Hensien, Rowmark Ski Academy, Rossignol/Look
• AJ Hurt, Palisades Tahoe Ski Team, HEAD
• Ava Sunshine, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, Burke Mountain Academy, Atomic, Swix, ASP
• Lila Lapanja, Sugar Bowl Ski Team, Stöckli, Dalbello

On Saturday, AJ Hurt will use the nation’s basic quota spot and, hopefully, score. She would then move into the top 60 on the World Cup Start List and create an additional SL quota spot for our US women for Sestriere Italy.

On Sunday, the US will insert Zoe Zimmermann into the basic spot.

• Zoe Zimmermann, Burke Mountain Academy, Rossignol/Look

Hurt and Zimmermann have the talent to score top 30 results; if they do, soon the US will have another SL quota spot or two on December 6th, 2022.

Additionally, Ava Sunshine will finally ski her first World Cup. She went through the build-up and anticipation preparing for Sölden only to wake up to hear the race would be delayed and ultimately canceled. That experience qualifies her as an experienced rookie. Sunshine says, “There was so much build-up for Sölden, people started asking me about it in the summer. So to be honest, I am going into Levi feeling calmer. I almost feel like I experienced my first World Cup in Sölden However I am still super excited.”