Twenty-three-year-old River Radamus finished 6th in the men’s opening giant slalom of the season held in Soelden, Austria on Sunday.
With the retirement of Ted Ligety last year and the continued rehabilitation of teammate Tommy Ford, Radamus was the only one on the young American squad who qualified to take a second run.
The glacier in Soelden, according to US Ski and Snowboard, is “the longest, steepest and most sustained pitch” of any FIS World Cup giant slalom on the tour.
Radamus started 26th and raced a risky first run finishing in 9th position. He had a fast enough 2nd run to move into 6th place.
Former teammate Ted Ligety won the opening giant slalom in Soelden a record four times in the span of five years.
The races kick of the Olympic season as athletes look to qualify early for the Beijing Olympic games taking place in February.
On Saturday, Team USA’s Mikala Shiffrin won her 70th World Cup race of her career, making her only the third skier in World Cup history to reach the 70-win mark. Ingmar Stenmark finished his career with 86 wins and Lindsey Vonn had a total of 82 wins.
Shiffrin put down two runs of near flawless skiing – a performance that was even too much for Lara Gut-Behrami, the reigning GS world champion from Switzerland.
Up next for the men’s and women’s U.S. Ski Team is a training block at U.S. Ski Team Speed and Tech Center at Copper Mountain, CO, then a parallel World Cup event in Lech, Austria, before returning to the North American races on the World Cup tour, including Killington and Beaver Creek.
