Top Five Fridays: February 14, 2025
After showing some tentativeness surrounding her return to racing, Shiffrin’s childhood friend Breezy Johnson convinced her to compete in this week’s first ever Alpine Combined event at the World Championships. The result of that decision, was historic. Image: U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team on Facebook
#1:FIS Alpine World Championship Recap: Gold, Gold, and More Gold:
There’s more to the story than just another race, another gold for Shiffrin. Watch to hear the behind the scenes story of the friendship between Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson.
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the February 14, 2025 edition! This week, much unlike last week, we’ve got a ton of FIS Alpine Racing to cover as the World Championships have been underway all week long. Once we bring you up to speed on all of the latest race results, we’ll share the highlights from the seventh (mostly) annual Kings and Queens of Corbet’s, present an incredibly fruitful weather update for most of North America, and ultimately round things out with the story of a legendary Japanese ski jumper whose 37 year career is still going strong. We’ve got a fun one this time around, and highly recommend sticking around for the length of it! On that note, let’s get this thing underway.
First up this week is coverage of the 2025 FIS Alpine World Championships, hosted by Saalbach, Austria. Over the course of the last seven days, there have been a total of seven races. With that much action to recap, mixed with some pretty exciting results, we’re going to do things a bit differently here today and only cover the most exciting races in detail rather than get into results from every race. That said, if you want to check out the full list of results from every race, hyou can do so here.
So, out of the seven total races, which one was the most exciting? Well, that award absolutely has to go to the Women’s Combined event which made its debut as a new race format this year. Similar in concept to the Team Parallel, the Team Combined asked nations to create two person teams amongst their athletes, pairing a Downhill racer with a Slalom racer. For Team America, the result was four two person teams, paired using ski sponsors as the deciding factor. As a result, Mikaela Shiffrin teamed up with Breezy Johnson for Atomic, Lauren Macuga and Paula Moltzan became a pair for Rossignol, Katie Hensein and Jacqueline Wiles formed a squad also for Rossignol, and Lindsey Vonn and AJ Hurt also joined forces to represent Head.
Reading over those rosters, the writing was already on the wall: Team America was poised to have a successful day. And that they did. Ultimately, when all was said and done, the pairing of Mikaela Shiffin and Breezy Johnson took home the gold medal, with Breezy putting in the 4th fastest Downhill run, and Shiffrin putting in the 3rd fastest Slalom run. That combination led to a total team time of 2:40.89, beating the Swiss team by .39 seconds. In winning that race, not only did Shiffrin earn her first gold medal since returning from injury, but she also won her 8th World Championship gold, which ties the record for the most in the women’s division. For Johnson, it was her second World Championship gold - a fact we’ll explore a little more in just a moment. Also of note in this race, was the near podium finish for the pairing of Lauren Macuga and Paula Moltzan. As you know, both athletes have been on a tear this season, so you can imagine the fear that this pairing struck in their opponents. That fear, if it existed, would have proven to be warranted after the Downhill race, as Macuga won the event, putting the team in first place heading into the Slalom portion. Unfortunately, Moltzan wasn’t able to ski quite fast enough to maintain a podium finish, as her 14th place result in what was a very tight Slalom race led to a 4th place finish overall, missing the podium by just .11 seconds. Still, at the end of the day, of the 8 top athletes, 4 were from Team USA, with 2 taking home gold. All in all, it was a wildly successful event.
In addition to this incredibly exciting race, there were two additional podium finishes this week that necessitated our attention. The first of those two was a race that we just foreshadowed: the Downhill race, which took place last Saturday. In that event, Breezy Johnson took home a first place finish, marking her first ever World Championship gold medal. Prior to that, her best result had been a 9th place finish, back in 2021. As a result, this winning performance is required to be labeled as a “surprise”, although to those of us who had our eye on Johnson prior to her 14 month ban, it’s anything but. Still, earning two gold medals at the World Championships in back to back races will absolutely go down as a career highlight for Johnson.
Before wrapping this one up, we also want to give a big shout out to Paul Moltzan, who earned a bronze medal in the Giant Slalom event yesterday. With that finish, it means that the U.S. women have found a podium finish in every gender exclusive event they’ve entered, while earning a 4th place finish alongside the men in the Team Parallel event. With just a Slalom race left later today, here’s to hoping they can keep the streak alive. To preview the final events from the World Championships, as well as to see results from all of last week’s races, head on over to the official FIS website.
#2: The 7th Annual Kings and Queens of Corbet’s May Have Been the Best One Yet:
Next up in our coverage this week, is a recap of this year’s iteration of Jackson Hole’s Kings and Queens of Corbet’s event. If you checked in with us last week, then you already had an idea of what to expect: a hand picked selection of athletes hucking themselves into one of the most daunting public couloirs in North America, before linking a natural hit with a park jump - all with the task of impressing their fellow riders enough to win the title of King or Queen of Corbet’s. In previous years, this event has resulted in some jaw dropping antics, leading us to question the sanity of the competitors. This year was no different.
Perhaps the highlight of the entire event came from the very first rider to drop into the couloir, not just of the event, but of the entire year. Cutting the proverbial ribbon this year was Tim McChesney, and what an entrance he made. Boosting off the small but poppy lip that competitors had made for the event, McChesney performed what can only be described as a perfect double cork 1080 safety grab. In his rotation, which essentially breaks down to a cork 7 to a cork 360, McChesney recognized after roughly the first 800 degrees of his rotation that he still had plenty of time before impact, and expertly opened up to slow down the final 280 degrees of rotation. The result? A rare successful landing into the couloir. From there, he proceeded to set the takeoff on the windlip to skier’s right, before ending his run by hitting the park jump switch, executing a perfect switch cork 1080 blunt. It was the first run of the event, and it was a thing of beauty.
With the vibe thoroughly set, the rest of the event went off. As is typically the case, the event saw several high impact crashes from riders sending massive airs and doubles deep into the couloir. It also, however, saw a number of incredible successes. Alex Hackel, for instance, put down a beautiful hand drag cork 7 which we’re sure’ll be remembered for years to come.
Joining him in the hand drag cork 7 approach was Tristen Lilly. Despite technically doing the same trick as Hackel, Lilly’s version was more on the “mindbending” side of the spectrum rather than the “textbook” side. In his version, Lilly’s first 360 was nearly fully inverted, while his final 360 was nearly vertical and came around at the very last second. While technically a cork 7, the rotation was more akin to a rodeo 360 to straight 360. In order to fully appreciate the feat, you simply have to watch it happen.
Beyond these highlights, there were massive straight airs, backflips, double backflips, tomahawks, and everything in between. At present, we don’t know who won the event just yet as the riders will be voting later this afternoon with winners being publicly announced tomorrow. You can keep an eye on that by checking out the official Kings and Queens of Corbet’s webpage.
#3: It’s Must Be Oprah’s Mid Winter Giveaway Week, the Way We’re All Getting Snow:
For our third highlight this week, we’re sharing a rare genre of news for us here on TFF: a snow report. Typically, we tend to stay away from headlines like this as they end up being regionally specific. Afterall, why should someone in Oregon care if it snows here in Vermont, for example? This week though, the snow report is different. This week, it’s what we can only describe as an Oprah tier snow giveaway. Allow us to explain.
Here in Vermont, we’ve actually been having one of the best winters in recent memories, thanks to what’s essentially a “normal” winter. If you’ve tagged along with us in recent years, then you might realize that last winter was an El Niño winter, which was preceded by a triple-dip La Niña winter, meaning three La Niña seasons in a row. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2017-2018 to find the first season when there wasn’t a strong occurrence of either weather system. This year though? Things are mostly normal, and the result has been a consistently cold, snowy winter. That said, things are about to get even better, as this weekend a storm will roll through that is expected to deliver a foot and a half or more at mountains across New England.
As for why someone in Oregon should care about snow in Vermont though? Well, they probably shouldn’t, but there’s good news for Oregnonians too: you’re also about to get walloped. According to Chris Tomer, Mt. Bachelor should expect to see about 30” of snow this weekend, while Timberline is lined up for 36”. “Okay,” you say, “but what about the rest of us?” Fear not, because you’re getting snow too.
In California, Heavenly is projected to get 36” through Monday, while Mammoth is in line for 42”. In Utah, Park City is set for 20” while Alta is looking at 30”. To their North, Jackson Hole is expecting to get 34” while Grand Targhee is looking at 28”. In Colorado, Aspen, Crested Butte, and Powderhorn are right around the two feet mark. South of them, Wolf Creek is anticipating 36”. Heck, even Snowbowl in Arizona has 24” coming their way.
So, like we said, while we don’t normally do this. This week though, since it’s Oprah’s Free Snow Giveaway week and we’re all getting powder, it feels newsworthy. For more on what to expect in your neck of the woods, your best bet is to check in with YouTube Meteorologist Chris Tomer.
#4: At 52 Years Old, Japan’s Kasai Noriaki is Set to Compete in His 569th World Cup Event This Weekend:
One of the more subtle, but impressive parts of Noriaki’s story? He added roughly 50 meters to his distance over the course of his career.
Finally, we’re rounding things out this week with a story that we just happened to stumble across, but immediately felt compelled to share. That story is that of Japanese ski jumper Kasai Noriaki who is set to compete in his 579th World Cup event this weekend. The event itself is a ski jumping event taking place in Sapporo, which just so happens to be the location of his first World Cup event 37 years ago, in 1988. When he takes to the course this weekend, he will be extending his own record for FIS World Cup appearances, and if he earns points, will also be extending his record as the oldest FIS World Cup athlete to earn points in an event. He currently holds that position after earning points in an event in Slovenia 11 months ago, when he was 51 years, 290 days old. In addition to these records, he holds four others, including the oldest individual World Cup medallist, at 44 years, 293 days old, as well as the most World Championship appearances by an individual ski jumper at 13.
Noriaki’s career isn’t only tied to the feats he’s accomplished through his longevity though. In his earlier days, Noriaki wasn’t just a participant in World Cup events; he was a legitimate contender. After making his Olympic debut at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, Noriaki won his first Olympic medal in the 1994 games in Lillehammer, taking home a silver in the large hill team event. A full 20 years later, Noriaki again earned Olympic medals, with a bronze in the large hill team event, and a career best silver in the individual large hill event at the age of 40. Surrounding his Olympic appearances, Noriaki was also a popular face on World Cup podiums for decades. Over the course of his career, he earned a total of 63 individual podiums, as well as 19 team podiums.
These days, Noriaki’s success is certainly slowing down, now that he’s 52. This season, he has mostly competed on the FIS’s Continental Cup circuit after failing to qualify for the World Cup. Now though, he’s earned enough points to get the nod for this weekend’s event. Should he earn points there, he’ll have the chance to stay on the circuit. For Noriaki, that would be huge, as he has two goals left for his career: keep going until he’s 60, and earn 600 World Cup starts. Without being privy to the secrets of time, it’s hard to know whether Noriaki can hit these numerically incomprehensible goals, but if there’s one thing we do know, it’s that it’s not time to count him out quite yet. To learn more about the legend of Kasai Noriaki, head over the Olympics website and give the full story a read.