US Ski & Snowboard Announces World Cup Nominations for 2018/2019, Tanner Hall joins FWT
Next season’s biggest competitions will certainly feature more than a few surprises.
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Last week, the US Ski & Snowboard Team announced its nominations for the 2018/19 Alpine and Freestyle teams. Over the summer, these athletes will work hard to make the final team roster, which will be announced in the fall. Featuring rock solid leadership from experienced veterans and impressive talent coming up from development teams, next season is promising to be one to watch for Team USA.
On the Alpine side, two household names will lead the charge. Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin will be building on their strong Olympic and World Cup performances, which included Olympic medals for both, plus Shiffrin’s second FIS Ski World Cup overall point title and fifth slalom title. All eyes will be on Vonn, however, as she currently has 82 World Cup Gold Medals and will be keeping Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 gold medals in the crosshairs for the foreseeable future.
The rest of the women’s A team includes Breezy Johnson, Alice McKennis, Laurenne Ross, and Jacqueline Wiles, all of whom are serious Top 10 contenders in every race they enter. We’re especially excited to see McKennis back on snow after a rock-solid season of finishing fifth in the Olympic downhill and third at the FIS World Cup Downhill Championships in Åre, Sweden.
On the men’s side, the A Team consists of veterans Ted Ligety, Steven Nyman, and Travis Ganong, who are certainly anxious for a full season of healthy racing. The B Team members will be working hard to make a move up, especially Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Tommy Ford, both of whom are coming off strong performances at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
See the full roster of nominations for the 2018/19 US Ski and Snowboard Alpine Team Nominations.
On the Freestyle side, many of the Team USA Olympians from 2018 were nominated to return to the team. The Pro Halfpipe team nominations include two-time Olympic Gold Medalist David Wise, Olympic Silver Medalist Alex Ferreira, Torin Yater-Wallace, Aaron Blunck, Olympic Bronze Medalist Brita Sigourney, and Maddie Bowman. The Pro Slopestyle team features nominations for Nick Goepper, who earned silver in PyeongChang, Gus Kenworthy, Bobby Brown, and Joss Christensen, plus Devin Logan and Maggie Voisin on the women’s side. The final team will be announced later this year.
See the full list of the 2018/19 US Ski and Snowboard Freestyle Team Nominations.
In other competition news, freestyle and freeride skiing icon Tanner Hall will be joining the Freeride World Tour in 2019 as a Wild Card. The 34-year-old has been at the center of the freeskiing movement for over 20 years, and never fails to put on a show any time he clicks into a pair of skis. We’re anxious to see what Hall is capable of while skiing against some of the best freeride skiers on the planet all over the world next season.