U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced its U.S. Freeski Team halfpipe and slopestyle nominations for the 2017-18 season. Nominations include those active athletes who qualified based on published selection criteria in the prior season.

Each athlete accepting the nomination to U.S. Freeski Team receives world class program support, along with access to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Center of Excellence, as well as athletic benefits including an elite coaching, sport science, sports medicine and high performance staff, and education opportunities.

An official team announcement will be made in the fall.

U.S. Freeski Team
2017-18 Team Nominations
(Hometown; Club; USASA Series; Birthdate)

HALFPIPE

VALMALENCO, Italy (April 7, 2017) — The FIS Junior World Ski Championships culminated Friday with skicross, where Mazie Hayden (Pittsfield, VT) was the top finisher for the American women, finishing 11th and Erik Sparkowski (Simsbury, CT) was best for the men in 13th. American skiers also were awarded the Marc Hodler trophy, having earned the most overall freestyle skiing points.

Hayden, 16, is blazing a path to a successful skicross career. She earned her first USASA national championship title at just 11 years old, and has won every USASA national title since.

Sweden took the top two spots for the ladies with Sandra Naeslund in first and Lisa Andersson in second. Canadian Alexa Velcic rounded out the podium in third.

It was a good showing for Sparkowski, who has been racing skicross for three seasons, working his way up through the Nor-Am Cup series. He started as an alpine skier, but moved to freestyle in his early teenage years.

VALMALENCO, Italy (April 6, 2017) — U.S. junior freeskiers earned bronze medals in both the men’s and women’s FIS Freestyle Ski Junior World Championships slopestyle on Thursday, with Caroline Claire (Wilmington, VT) on the podium for the women and Ryan Stevenson (Washington, NJ) getting it done for the men.

It was an excellent finish to the 2017 season for Stevenson, who had great results on the Toyota U.S. Revolution Tour. The 17-year-old New Jersey skier took a first and a second-place finish at the dual-comp stop at Waterville Valley in January.

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (Mar. 26, 2017) — U.S. junior freeskiers earned a pair of silver medals in halfpipe on Sunday at the FIS Junior World Championships. Svea Irving (Winter Park, CO) was second for the ladies and Sammy Schuiling (Steamboat Springs, CO) took second for the men.

It was a huge result for Schuiling, marking his first major podium appearance after multiple top-10 finishes on the Toyota U.S. Revolution Tour this season. Rafael Kreienbuhl of Switzerland won the event and Robin Briguet, also from Switzerland, was third.

It was the third podium finish this season for Irving, who is following in the footsteps of older brother Birk, a member of the U.S. Freeskiing halfpipe team. Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru won the event and Valeria Demidova of Russia was third.

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PARK CITY, UT (Mar. 23, 2017) – U.S. Freeskiing will send a strong team of athletes to compete at the 2017 FIS Junior World Championships, with halfpipe competition to take place in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, March 25-26 and slopestyle and skicross competition taking place at Valmalenco, Italy April 6-7.

Jaxin Hoerter (Breckenridge, CO) will lead the eight-member halfpipe team. A member of U.S. Freeskiing, Hoerter has been competing on the World Cup circuit over the past two seasons and is a multi-time Toyota U.S. Revolution Tour winner. Fourth-place finisher at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, Nikita Rubocki (Boise, ID) will also represent the USA in both halfpipe and slopestyle

SIERRA NEVADA, Spain (Mar. 19, 2017) — American skiers took the top two spots in the men’s slopestyle competition at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships in Sierra Nevada on Sunday with McRae Williams (Park City, UT) winning gold and Gus Kenworthy (Telluride, CO) silver.

After a few bad weather days with high winds and difficult snow conditions, Sunday morning was bright and sunny.

The win capped off a banner season for Williams, who won the World Cup event at Font Romeu, earned a silver medal at X Games Norway and walked away with the FIS slopestyle crystal globe. James Woods of Great Britain rounded out the podium in third.

McRae Williams skis to gold. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Laurent Salino)