After kicking off the season this December in Canada, NorAm athletes headed south to start 2017. The men went to Stowe, Vt. for two giant slalom races, but they were only able to compete in one after Tuesday’s race was canceled due to fog and freezing rain.

On Monday, when the weather was fair, U.S. Ski Team athlete Nick Krause won his second NorAm of the season and his career. After coming in sixth on the first run, 0.78 seconds behind, Krause turned it up a notch to overtake the first-run leader, Canadian Phil Brown. Brown lost the race by just 0.05 seconds and his teammate Dustin Cook was in third, 0.26 seconds behind the pace.


Krause grew up skiing on the East Coast at Stratton Mountain School and Monday was his 12th FIS giant slalom, and only win, at Stowe Mountain Resort. He said that the experience he’s had at Stowe gave him an edge on the much of the competition.

“Confidence is huge on this hill. You can try and set up for every little terrain change, but at the end of the day, you just have to charge it and attack,” Krause said.

Stowe has been kind to Krause throughout his career.

“Growing up, my senior year at Stratton, I had a few breakout races here, and ever since then, I’ve always loved coming to Stowe,” he said, also noting that winning his first NorAm GS has been a goal for a long time.

Krause may have won the day, but Brown walks away from the week as the leader in the NorAm GS standings. Brown took a break from his World Cup schedule to regain confidence in his skiing, and it has worked. After failing to make five straight second runs on the World Cup circuit, Brown took his talents to Panorama in December. Since his return, he has not finished lower than second place in six consecutive slalom and giant slalom starts. He now holds the lead in the NorAm overall standings as well.

“I started in Europe doing World Cups in the beginning of the season, and it wasn’t going that well, so then we made the decision to come back to Panorama to try to find some confidence in racing and find the ability to find some freedom in my skiing and ski the way I do in training,” Brown said.

It worked well in Panorama when he won both GS races, and he said it worked on Monday as well. It has given him a good feeling heading back into the World Cup. He will fly back to Europe on Wednesday to compete in Adelboden, Switzerland, on Jan. 7-8.

Brown leads the overall standings with 440 points in front of American Kieffer Christianson with 400 points. Krause has moved into third with 358 points.

While the men were on Mt. Mansfield, the women traveled to Burke, Vt. for their series. University of Vermont Catamount Paula Moltzan took the first win of the series in giant slalom. Foreste Peterson of Dartmouth College came in second, just 0.13 seconds behind the winner, earning her first NorAm podium. Canadian Amelia Smart was in third, 0.47 seconds behind the leader.

In the second GS, Moltzan and Peterson were back on the podium in second and third, respectively, but this time, Canadian Ali Nullmeyer led them both, winning by a slim 0.07 seconds. Peterson said that the past two days were unexpected.

“I feel like the last four years of my career I’ve been very solid or steady with my results, but I have never broken the top five or four, and I feel like I’ve just kind of plateaued a little bit in my skiing,” she said, “But the start of this season something has seemed to click, and I feel like I have had a good break through in these last couple of races.”

Peterson’s breakthrough has even changed her plans for the season. She now ranks second in the NorAm giant slalom standings, and she has decided to head to Colorado for the tech series in February. No matter what happens in the NorAms, Peterson is well prepped for this year’s EISA Carnival season with Big Green.

After the two GS races, the Canadian women still hold the top three spots in the overall standings. Smart is the name to know right now. She leads with 452 points, continuing an incredible tech season. The Canadian has not finished outside the top seven in any of her seven starts, and has been on the podium in three separate disciplines. Stephanie Fleckenstein managed to stay second in the standings posting a 14th and 16th in the GS series. She has 422 points. Nullmeyer now sits in third with 410 points.

Next the women face two days of slalom at Burke on Jan. 4-5. The men stay at Stowe and will move forward with the slalom races as scheduled.

Complete men’s results can be found here. Complete women’s results can be found here.