In Olympic sports over the weekend, Lindsey Vonn finished third in both of her World Cup races – Saturday’s downhill won by Cornelia Huetter of Austria and Sunday’s super-G won by Sofia Goggia of Italy.
Vonn has finished in the top four of all five of her races this season (including a win) and ranks No. 1 in the World Cup downhill standings and No. 3 in the super-G.
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She next races Jan. 10-11 in a downhill and super-G in Zauchensee, Austria.
“Four podiums in five races, I couldn’t really be any happier,” Vonn said.
On the men’s side, Swiss teammates Marco Odermatt and Franjo von Allmen traded first- and second-place finishes in two downhills in Val Gardena, Italy. Odermatt, the 2023 World downhill champion, and von Allmen, the 2025 World downhill champion, rank first and second in the World Cup downhill standings, just as they did last season.
Odermatt was also second in a super-G and sixth in a giant slalom over the weekend after winning in both disciplines earlier this season. He could enter the Olympics as the favorite in the downhill, super-G and GS.
Image for Sofia Goggia wins super-G in Val D’lsere, Lindsey Vonn takes third
Sofia Goggia wins super-G in Val D’lsere, Lindsey Vonn takes third
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Sofia Goggia won the women’s super-G in Val D’lsere, narrowly edging Alice Robinson. Lindsey Vonn finished third for the second consecutive day.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Humphries earned her first World Cup victory since having son Aulden in June 2024. Humphries and push athlete Emily Renna captured Sunday’s two-woman bobsled race in Sigulda, Latvia.
“He still wakes up three to four times in the night, so we’re dealing with that, but it’s the pressure of being a mom, and performance, and I will take it any day of the week,” Humphries said.
Humphries now ranks second in the two-woman season standings behind reigning Olympic gold medalist Laura Nolte of Germany, who won the first three races, then placed third on Sunday.
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Kaysha Love, who was the top challenger to Nolte earlier this season, placed 10th in the monobob and 13th in the two-woman event in Sigulda. Love, the reigning world champion in monobob, is still the highest-ranked American in monobob in fifth place in this season’s standings, barely ahead of Humphries.
Five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor had her best weekend of the season so far with fourth- and fifth-place finishes.
Kaillie Humphries
Kaillie Humphries returns to bobsled as a mom
After taking maternity leave for the 2023-24 season, Humphries rejoined the World Cup to open the 2024-25 campaign in Altenberg, Germany.
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Alex Ferreira jumped from fourth place after the opening run to win the ski halfpipe at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colorado, marking his 12th consecutive World Cup podium dating to January 2023.
Ferreira, already an Olympic silver and bronze medalist, previously qualified for the Milan Cortina Games last spring via his world ranking at the time — tied for No. 1 with world champion Finley Melville Ives of New Zealand, who wasn’t in the Copper field.
Hunter Hess was second in Copper – the second of four U.S. Olympic qualifying events – after placing third the previous week in the first qualifier. Hess is in strong position to make his first Olympic team.
Meanwhile, 2014 and 2018 Olympic gold medalist David Wise and three-time Olympic slopestyle medalist Nick Goepper were 13th and 16th in Copper and will look to improve in the last two qualifying events in January. Up to four athletes can make the Olympic team in men’s ski halfpipe.
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In snowboard halfpipe in Copper, two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim made her season debut, placing first in the qualifying round. She then fell during training and posted an Instagram story announcing she would not compete in the final, saying she got “bodied” in practice.
In its recap of the final, U.S. Ski and Snowboard said that Kim “is OK.” Kim already qualified for the Milan Cortina Games via her No. 1 world ranking last spring.
Bea Kim was the lone American woman or man to make a snowboard halfpipe podium in Copper, taking third in the women’s event to boost her chances of making her first Olympic team.
Image for Alex Ferreira, Hunter Hess finish 1-2 in freeski halfpipe at U.S. Grand Prix at Copper
Alex Ferreira, Hunter Hess finish 1-2 in freeski halfpipe at U.S. Grand Prix at Copper
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Alex Ferreira and Zoe Atkin earned wins at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, while Hunter Hess scored an important result for Olympic qualification.
Marcus Mueller (a pilot who owns a four-seat airplane) and Ansel Haugsjaa (HOWG-shaw) became the youngest men’s doubles team to win a World Cup luge race in more than 20 years.
Mueller, 20, and Haugsjaa, 21, prevailed on home ice in Lake Placid. American lugers typically perform better at the U.S. venues in Lake Placid and Park City than in Europe, where Austria and Germany usually dominate. However, Mueller and Haugsjaa did place second in the first competition held on the Olympic track in Cortina three weeks ago. They are the 2024 World junior champions and were 11th in last season’s World Cup standings.
Ashley Farquharson and Summer Britcher finished second and third in the women’s singles race in Lake Placid, one week after Britcher won and Farquharson placed third in Park City. Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby were third in Lake Placid in women’s doubles, an event that makes its Olympic debut in 2026. Forgan and Kirkby were third in last season’s World Cup standings, the highest ranking for any Americans across all luge disciplines.
FIL Luge World Cup Innsbruck 2024
Chevonne Forgan, Sophia Kirkby ride success toward Olympic debut of women’s doubles luge
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Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby are from opposite sides of the world, yet developed on bond on the ice.
Deedra Irwin, Margie Freed and Maxime Germain were named to the Olympic biathlon team, bringing the total number of Americans qualified for the Milan Cortina Olympics to 40 across all sports.
The team will ultimately be around 200 athletes.
Biathlon is the lone Winter Olympic sport where the U.S. has never won an Olympic medal.
In 2022, Irwin recorded the best individual Olympic biathlon finish in U.S. history — seventh place in the 15km. Freed and Germain each made their first Olympic team. They join the previously qualified Campbell Wright, who won two silver medals at last February’s World Championships.
Mikaela Shiffrin
Who is qualified for Team USA for 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics?
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Chloe Kim was the first American to clinch an Olympic spot across all sports.
Three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto and 2022 Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama won the Japan Figure Skating Championships and will lead a group of Japanese medal contenders into the Milan Cortina Games.
Sakamoto skated two strong programs to win over three-time world junior champion Mao Shimada, who is too young for the 2026 Olympics. Sakamoto is instead joined on the Olympic team by 2025 World bronze medalist Mone Chiba and 2025 Grand Prix Final silver medalist Ami Nakai.’
Kagiyama continued his season of strong but not flawless skating to prevail over Grand Prix Final bronze medalist Shun Sato and Kao Miura, who both join him on the Olympic team. Kagiyama has been the closest (albeit often distant) challenger to American Ilia Malinin over the last three seasons.
The Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships are Jan. 7-10 in St. Louis, after which the Olympic team will be named.
