All articles tagged with #skiing
Two more people died Friday in unrelated incidents at Heavenly Resort near Lake Tahoe, adding to a Sierra winter that already claimed nine lives in the Castle Peak avalanche last week. The deaths involved a 33-year-old man skiing on an intermediate trail and a 58-year-old man in a medical emergency; authorities say the cases are unrelated, under investigation, and the names have not been released.
Nick Goepper opened with a near-perfect 90.00 in Milan-Cortina 2026’s men’s halfpipe, but a brutal crash on his final trick knocked him out of medal contention, with teammate Alex Ferreira taking gold; Goepper walked away unharmed and earned respect from rivals despite the heartbreak.
Amid a powerful Sierra Nevada storm with high avalanche danger, 15 skiers ventured into backcountry near Castle Peak despite warnings. An avalanche on Tuesday buried the group; eight bodies were recovered and one person was missing and presumed dead, bringing nine dead or presumed dead, with six survivors rescued after using avalanche beacons and SOS. The hikers were staying at Frog Lake huts; rescues faced rugged terrain and limited access, making this the deadliest avalanche in modern California history and underscoring the persistent risks of backcountry skiing in volatile snowpack.
Freestyle skier Mac Forehand landed a historic nose-butter triple cork 2160 in the Olympic freeski big air, earning silver behind Tormod Frostad and sparking social-media outcry over judging bias, including calls for investigations despite the final scores (193.5 for Forehand, 199.50 for Frostad).
A dramatic clip from Val Veny near Courmayeur, Italy shows dozens of skiers being enveloped by an avalanche, highlighting ongoing avalanche danger in Europe’s Alps amid a spate of deadly slides that have killed dozens this year; The Daily Beast notes it cannot verify if this clip is the same incident that left two people dead nearby, as officials tally Alpine fatalities (including 27 in the French Alps this year).
Lindsey Vonn, who returned to competition in 2024 and earned eight World Cup podiums (including two golds), ruptured her ACL in Switzerland in the last World Cup race before the Olympics and later crashed in Cortina. In an Instagram post she expressed a strong desire to stand on the mountain again, emphasized that she chose to take risks to ski to her potential, and signaled her continued pursuit despite the setback.
Japan’s Ikuma Horishima delivered a jaw-dropping moment in the downhill dual moguls at the 2026 Winter Olympics by crossing the finish line while skiing backwards after a late fall. The feat drew astonished reaction from NBC commentators; Horishima won silver behind Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, with Nick Page briefly in a position ahead before being ruled out of bounds, marking Horishima’s second Olympic podium.
Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath led the Olympic men’s slalom in Bormio after the first run but straddled a gate on the Stelvio course on the second run, failing to finish and missing gold as Switzerland’s Loïc Meillard captured the title (with Fabio Gstrein and Henrik Kristoffersen taking silver and bronze). McGrath, who had been racing with the heartbreak of his grandfather’s death the night before, walked off the course in distress, throwing his poles as he processed the near-miss.
Two skiers were killed in a Sunday morning avalanche above Courmayeur in northern Italy; a search and recovery operation involved 15 rescuers, three canine units and two helicopters.
American skier Lindsey Vonn is flying back to the U.S. after four surgeries for a left tibia fracture and ACL tear from her Feb. 8 Olympic downhill crash; she’ll undergo additional procedures once home as medical staff coordinate her transfer.
Mikaela Shiffrin finished 11th in the women’s giant slalom at Milan-Cortina 2026, failing to medal as Federica Brignone took gold and Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund tied for silver. Shiffrin, who was seventh after the first run, couldn’t cut enough time on the second to reach the podium, extending her Olympic medal drought since 2018, with one more Olympic chance in the slalom later in the Games.
Freestyle skier Eileen Gu, competing in slopestyle, halfpipe and big air at Milan-Cortina 2026, says she’s disappointed organizers won’t adjust the schedule to give her the same amount of practice as others. With the big air final overlapping halfpipe training and Gu not having recent halfpipe practice, she argues multi-discipline athletes face unfair conflicts, while FIS says it can’t tailor the schedule for a single athlete despite extra training sessions.
Brazilian alpine skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won Brazil’s first-ever Winter Olympic gold and the first Winter Olympic medal for a South American by winning the men’s giant slalom at Milano Cortina 2026, defeating Swiss favorite Marco Odermatt as family and country celebrated.
Lindsey Vonn announced that her fourth surgery on a broken left leg from last weekend’s Winter Olympics crash in Italy was successful and that she’s cleared to return to the United States. She said she has no regrets, plans to share more recovery updates, and remains focused on eventually standing on the mountain again.
American ski star Lindsey Vonn says her latest surgery after an Olympic crash went well and she expects to return to the United States.