U.S. Freeskiing has announced its nominations for the 2016-17 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. Freeskiing receives world class program support, along with access to the USSA 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. Freeskiing 2016-17 Team Nominations (Hometown; Club; USASA Series; Birthdate)
U.S. Freeskiing alum Sammy Carlson, along with his sponsor Rockstar, are releasing a new three-part webisode series highlighting his video career with Teton Gravity Research and Poor Boyz productions.
COPPER MOUNTAIN, CO (May 9, 2016) – Mara White (Tahoma, CA – Squaw Valley Ski Team) took home the win at April’s USASA Nationals, as well as the overall NorAm champion title of the 2015-16 season.
The NorAm title is determined by the cumulative points from all NorAm events during the season. This year, White finished on the podium at six NorAms and won two of them. She also attended the FIS Junior World Ski Championships, where she finished 20th.
Many skiers hang up their gear when springtime emerges. But Tom Wallisch (Pittsburgh, PA) took out the Guinness Book of World Records and set a goal—break the record for the world’s longest rail grind on skis.
The previous record was 241 feet; Wallisch and his crew build a 440-foot rail. In comparison, a football field is 360 feet long.
“The first time I saw it, I thought no way, I’ve made a horrible mistake,” said Wallisch. “It’s a mental battle, against yourself and against the rail.”
Watch Tom Wallisch grind a 440-foot rail to break a world record.
PARK CITY, UT (April 7, 2016) – The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) has developed a strategic partnership with top sports advertising agency Adore Creative to produce branding spots for both the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Grand Prix, two of its most notable action sports brands. The USSA utilized its distribution network with NBC to carry the spots in national broadcasts throughout the season, highlighting the organization’s Best in the World vision with a duo of 30-second brand spots.
WATLES, Italy (April 4, 2016) – At the Suzuki Nine Knights event in Watles, Italy, David Wise (Reno, NV) broke the world record for the highest air on a hip by 3 meters on Friday—soaring 14.2 (about 46.5 feet) meters above the deck.
“It was not a goal, but I decided to go as high as I possibly can, record or not,” said Wise. “To take that title home is definitely an experience of a lifetime. The jump is just so well built. From the first time I hit it to the last, I was having fun.”
The course consisted of an enormous hip—15 meters high and 60 meters long—with five take offs. Wise, an Olympic gold medalist, broke the record held by Norway’s Andreas Hatveit in front of 2000 fans.
VAL THORENS, France (March 24, 2016) – Nine Americans competed in skicross at the 2016 Junior World Championships on Thursday. The top women’s finisher from the USA was Leta McNatt (Ridgway, CO) in 18th and the top man was Nicolo Monforte (Olympic Valley, CA) in 25th.
Freeskiing/Freestyle Junior World Championships are held annually as determined by the FIS with the disciplines and team size are also determined by the FIS. Junior World Championships is a unique opportunity for the best junior athletes in the world to compete together.
The skicross Junior World Championship team will next compete in the French National Championships on Friday, March 25.
SEVEN SPRINGS, PA (March 18, 2016) – The final stop of the Revolution Tour was a successful one for the American freeskiers, who took podiums in three of the four competitions including wins in women’s halfpipe and slopestyle. Caroline Claire (Wilmington, VT) won women’s slopestyle and Carly Margulies (Mammoth Lakes, CA) was the winner in women’s halfpipe.
LAAX, Switzerland (March 12, 2016) – Gus Kenworthy (Telluride, CO) won the last major slopestyle event of the season, the European Freeski Open in Laax, Switzerland. Keri Herman (Breckenridge, CO) was on the podium for the women with a second-place finish.
Kenworthy put an exclamation point on an excellent season that included wins at the Breckenridge Dew Tour and Mammoth U.S. Grand Prix/World Cup as well as four X Games medals (two silver, two bronze). The run that earned him the win at Laax was capped off by a massive hit on the final quarterpipe.
SEVEN SPRINGS, PA (March 12, 2016) – The fourth and final stop of the U.S. Revolution Tour will take place at Seven Springs Mountain Resort this week; it will also serve as the FIS NorAm finals for the 2015-2016 season.
Up-and-coming Olympic hopefuls will compete in Seven Spring’s highly regarded terrain park and superpipe in both slopestyle and halfpipe competitions. The Revolution Tour is an International Ski Federation (FIS)-sanctioned event, offering amateur athletes a chance to earn valuable points: skiers will earn points on the Association of Freeskiing Professionals Tour (AFP), where the Revolution Tour serves as a sliver-level event, while snowboarders will earn points on the World Snowboard Tour (WST) where the Rev Tour qualifies as a national event.
