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≡ STAT BLITZ ≡
Last week had sensational outcomes for American stars on the international stage, most especially in figure skating and speed skating, with a true U.S. gold rush! To review:
Alpine Skiing: FIS World Cup in Beaver Creek, Colorado
● Men/Downhill ~ Silver: Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Now 33, Cochran-Siegle won his fourth career World Cup medal and first in a year. It was also his first-ever World Cup medal outside of Italy!
Cross Country Skiing: FIS World Cup in Trondheim (NOR):
● Women/20 km Skiathlon ~ Gold: Jessie Diggins
● Women/10 km Interval Mass Start ~ Bronze: Jessie Diggins
Diggins, now 34 and a three-time World Cup seasonal champion, has said this will be her last competitive season, and got her 28th career World Cup win. After six of 28 events, she is the overall World Cup leader once again.
Figure Skating: ISU Grand Prix Final in Nagoya (JPN)
● Men ~ Gold: Ilia Malinin
● Women ~ Gold: Alysia Liu
● Ice Dance ~ Gold: Madison Chock and Evan Bates
For those who thought the U.S.’s triple win at the 2025 ISU World Championships in Boston was a home-ice fluke, this proved otherwise, as each of the World Champions won again. Malinin was especially impressive, landing seven quadruple jumps and crushing his own world best for the highest score ever in the Free Skate with 238.24, compared to 228.97 at Skate Canada in November. Wow!
Freestyle Skiing: FIS World Cup in Ruka (FIN)
● Men/Aerials ~ Bronze: Christopher Lillis
● Men/Moguls I ~ Bronze: Nick Page
● Women/Moguls I ~ Gold: Tess Johnson
● Women/Moguls I ~ Bronze: Olivia Giaccio
● Women/Moguls II ~ Silver: Olivia Giaccio
● Women/Moguls II ~ Bronze: Jaelin Kauf
The U.S. has been a Freestyle power since it started and Lillis, Kauf and Johnson are already Olympic and/or World Championships medal winners. It appears they are on track already for another strong Olympic performance.
Nordic Combined: FIS World Cup in Trondheim (NOR)
● Women/Gunderson 102 m/5.0 km ~ Bronze: Anna Brabec
This was the shock of the weekend, as 21-year-old Brabec won the first women’s Nordic Combined medal for the U.S. since Tara Geraghty-Moats in 2020! Brabec said afterwards:
“I have been working so hard this summer and without the Olympics on the plate for us, podiuming in a World Cup was my big goal. It feels so insane to have achieved it and at the first World Cup of the season too.”
Nordic Combined was not included in the 2026 Olympic program in a shocking omission; the entire discipline is fighting to stay in for French Alps 2030 and beyond and Brabec helps to show the same countries don’t win all the medals.
Ski Mountaineering: ISMF World Cup in Solitude, Utah
● Mixed Relay ~ Gold: Anna Gibson and Cameron Smith
This was the first World Cup of the season and a rare win for the U.S.
Speed Skating: ISU World Cup in Heerenveen (NED)
● Men/500 m ~ Gold: Jordan Stolz (track record)
● Men/1,000 m ~ Gold: Jordan Stolz (track record)
● Men/1,500 m ~ Gold: Jordan Stolz (track record)
● Men/Team Sprint ~ Silver: Zach Stoppelmoor, Cooper Mcleod, Conor McDermott-Mostowy
● Women/Mass Start ~ Silver: Mia Manganello
Stolz was on fire, not just winning, but in one of the iconic venues of the sport – the Thialf ice arena in Heerenveen – shutting down Dutch stars in all three races. Having won all three Worlds golds in 2022 and 2023, Stolz has a target on his back, even at just 21. But he showed that at his best, he is untouchable.
Manganello, better than ever at 36, won her third medal in three Mass Start races this season, marking her as a contender for Milan-Cortina.
That’s 19 U.S. medals (and nine golds) across six sports or disciplines, with figure skating finishing its competitions until the Four Continents Championships (and European Championships) in January. But most of the rest of the sports remain in full swing.
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