COVID-19 brought the professional sports world to a halt last night, and it is the overwhelming subject of this week’s Medal Stand. Being on Twitter yesterday when the Rudy Gobert news broke and seeing everything come to a pause was a feeling I will not soon forget.
The Medal Stand: Kauf third at Krasnoyarsk World Cup
Jaelin Kauf made another podium at another FIS moguls World Cup over the weekend.
The Teton Valley native and 2018 U.S. Olympian who now resides in Park City was third in women’s dual moguls at the World Cup in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, reaching Saturday’s small final. Teammate Hannah Soar was right behind her in fourth place. Kauf is currently third in the FIS World Cup women’s moguls standings with 470 World Cup points.
With the cancellation of the World Cup stop in Are, Sweden, this upcoming weekend and the World Championships originally scheduled to begin March 16 in Cortina, Italy, due to corona virus threats in Europe, women’s alpine crystal globes were finalized Wednesday. Victor resident and 2018 U.S. Olympian Breezy Johnson ended up 20th in the women’s downhill standings with 136 points.
Coming up locally
The 38th annual Town Downhill takes place Friday to Sunday at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. It is a non-sanctioned community downhill race that goes from the top of the Crags to Moran trail.
Also this weekend is the International Freeskiers and Snowboarders Association (IFSA) North American Junior Freeskiing Competition at Grand Targhee Resort. It begins Saturday and ends Sunday.
Team USA Update
Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who planned to return to competition this weekend in Are after stepping away for all of February and early March while grieving the loss of her father in February, ended the season No. 2 in the women’s overall standings with 1,225 World Cup points, No. 5 in downhill with 256 points, No. 2 in slalom with 440 points, No. 3 in giant slalom with 314 points and No. 7 in super G with 186 points. She shared a photo on her Twitter and Instagram accounts of a customized ski bib her fellow World Cup skiers made for her leading up to this weekend. The bib, which featured a photograph of her father, Jeff, his years of life, the U.S. flag and the phrase ‘be nice, think first’ on it, was signed by other World Cup skiers.
The U.S. women’s national soccer team defeated Japan 3-1 to win the annual SheBelieves Cup on Wednesday. Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press and Lindsey Horan each scored for the U.S.
The USA Track and Field Hershey National Youth Indoor Championships originally scheduled for March 20-22 on Staten Island were canceled Wednesday due to growing concerns over corona virus in New York state. The annual New Balance Nationals Indoor Championships, scheduled for this weekend at The Armory in New York, were canceled late Wednesday night by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation. . The NCAA Division I indoor track national championships will take place this weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will take place without spectators. The World Figure Skating Championships that were originally scheduled to begin Sunday in Montreal, Quebec, were also canceled Wednesday.