Montana
Blanc Wins Crans-Montana Super-G, Johnson Breaks Through
Malorie Blanc / GEPA pictures
Women’s Super-G, Crans-Montana: Blanc delivers a home win as Johnson puts the Stifel U.S. Ski Team on the podium
Crans-Montana delivered the kind of bluebird Super-G day racers dream about — grippy snow, great light, and a course the women could truly attack. And attack they did, with a stunning hometown breakthrough from Switzerland’s Malorie Blanc, and a massive moment for the Stifel U.S. Ski Team as Breezy Johnson charged onto her first World Cup Super-G podium.
Top 5
- 1st 🇨🇭 Malorie Blanc (SUI) — bib 17 — +0.00 — 2004 — Atomic
- 2nd 🇮🇹 Sofia Goggia (ITA) — bib 13 — +0.18 — 1992 — Atomic
- 3rd 🇺🇸 Breezy Johnson (USA) — bib 29 — +0.36 — 1995 — Atomic
- 4th 🇮🇹 Roberta Melesi (ITA) — bib 2 — +0.42 — 1996
- 5th 🇩🇪 Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (GER) — bib 18 — +0.44 — 1996
Top Five — Women’s Super-G Standings (entering the Olympics)
- 1st 🇮🇹 Sofia Goggia (ITA, 1992, Atomic) — 280 pts
- 2nd 🇳🇿 Alice Robinson (NZL, 2001) — −60
- 3rd 🇺🇸 Lindsey Vonn (USA, 1984, Head) — −90
- 4th 🇫🇷 Romane Miradoli (FRA, 1994) — −99
- 5th 🇨🇭 Malorie Blanc (SUI, 2004, Atomic) — −127
How the race unfolded
Austria’s Ariane Rädler opened the day by setting the first benchmark (1:17.95), but Italy quickly took control. Roberta Melesi (bib 2) tightened her line and lowered the mark to 1:17.76, immediately putting pressure on the early favorites.
The first major threats followed quickly. Kajsa Vickhoff Lie couldn’t unseat the then-leader and skied into the finish +0.46 at the time, while Alice Robinson — still searching for her best top-end speed — came close, just +0.09 back. As the race unfolded, Robinson would eventually slide to sixth (+0.51).
Then the race turned dramatic. Italy’s Elena Curtoni (bib 8) went down and did not finish, another major contender erased. Soon after, Germany’s Emma Aicher (bib 12), the Tarvisio Super-G winner, crashed in the same turn that ended Lindsey Vonn’s downhill day. Aicher was able to get up and ski to the finish.
Italy’s speed queen answered next. Sofia Goggia (bib 13) grabbed the advantage early, gave time back through the middle, then re-attacked with trademark aggression to take the lead by 0.24, lighting up the timing board with her on-the-limit style.
While Vonn appeared on the start list — a sign her team believed there was a chance — it remained a game-day decision. In the end, she did not start as she continues to recover from Friday’s downhill crash.
The emotional center of the race was also at the top. Federica Brignone racing a Super-G was a significant moment — her first speed discipline start since last spring’s injury. She skied solidly, finished safely (18th, +1.28), and took another encouraging step as she builds toward Cortina.
Blanc shocks the field in front of her home crowd
Then the stadium erupted.
Switzerland’s Malorie Blanc (bib 17) delivered the run of her life in her own backyard — fast, clean, and right on the edge of control — vaulting into the leader’s chair and eventually into her first World Cup victory. With Switzerland eager for a new speed headline after losing its top Super-G skier earlier this season, Blanc’s breakthrough could not have come at a better moment.
Blanc had never stood on a World Cup Super-G podium before — and now she was winning in front of a sold-out home crowd in Crans-Montana.
“It’s incredible, and I still have a little trouble realizing it,” Blanc said. “I’ll wait until the end just to be sure it’s real. It means so much to me — to show this to my fans and to people who love skiing. I really wanted to do something great here, and I’m very thankful I could do it.”
Blanc admitted the run itself didn’t feel perfect.
“The feeling wasn’t that good on the slope,” she said. “I thought I was making some mistakes, but I just kept going. Then I crossed the finish line and heard the crowd — it was sold out — and I thought, ‘OK, maybe it’s not that bad.’ I’m just so happy.”
With the Olympic Winter Games next on the calendar — and Crans-Montana the final race before Cortina — Blanc said she isn’t looking too far ahead yet.
“I’m just living the moment,” Blanc said. “It will be my first Olympics, so I want to enjoy it and see what happens.”
Goggia continues strong season
While Malorie Blanc thrilled the home crowd with her breakthrough victory, Sofia Goggia continued her strong Super-G campaign with a second-place finish, reinforcing her momentum heading into the Olympic Winter Games.
“I’m really happy with my performance today,” Goggia said. “My January wasn’t that good, especially in downhill, but I knew this hill suited me, so I just tried to ski my best.”
Goggia said there were still areas she felt she could improve, but she was satisfied with the way she attacked the course in the final race before the Games.
“I made a mistake in the middle and didn’t carry enough speed there,” she said. “But I’m really happy with the way I’ve been attacking the race.”
Breezy Johnson makes it a Stifel U.S. Ski Team celebration
Breezy Johnson delivered one of the biggest results of her career, charging to third place (+0.36) for her first-ever World Cup Super-G podium — a huge moment for the Stifel U.S. Ski Team in the final race before the Olympics.
“I’ve been working on Super-G for a really long time,” Johnson said. “I respect Super-G — I think it’s the hardest event. I always wanted to be good at it, but I didn’t expect that run to be what got me to the podium.”
Johnson said her focus was to keep attacking even when things got messy.
“I just tried to keep it running,” she said. “Every time I made a mistake, I forgot about it and kept going.”
The run felt fast but unpredictable.
“It’s almost like downhill,” Johnson said, “but there were places where it was a little all over the place. Down at the bottom I thought I was about to straddle that gate, so that was a little crazy.”
The timing of the result mattered as much as the result itself.
“I hadn’t even qualified to race the Super-G in Cortina before today,” Johnson said. “I really wanted to race that Super-G, so I just wanted to come out and give it my best.”
Bocock builds Olympic confidence with top-15 result
For Mary Bocock, Friday’s Super-G was a meaningful step forward at exactly the right time.
“It’s very exciting, especially after yesterday was a tough day for all the girls mentally and with the conditions,” Bocock said. “I was a little nervous today, but I’m very, very happy with how it went.”
Bocock said the technical nature of the Crans-Montana course played to her strengths.
“I love this track because it’s very technical,” she said. “I’m really happy I was able to execute my plan.”
The 15th-place finish marked one of the best results of Bocock’s young World Cup career and sends her to the Olympic Winter Games with confidence.
“This is amazing because now I’m going from my best result straight into the Olympics,” Bocock said. “It gives me confidence knowing I can ski well, and Cortina can also be a pretty technical track.”
Bocock said the feedback afterward reinforced that confidence.
“They just kept saying, ‘Good job, Mary,’” she said. “They told me I looked a little loose, which I was, but also that I looked confident — and that’s always good to hear.”
More fireworks: Pirovano disqualified after leading late
Italy’s day could have been even bigger. Lara Pirovano was leading with one split to go before missing a gate just before the finish and being disqualified. Even so, the message is clear: the Italians are skiing very fast as they head toward their home Olympics.
Bibs 31+ who finished inside the top 30
- 15th ⚡ 🇺🇸 Mary Bocock (USA) — bib 38 — +1.16 — 2003
- 17th 🇺🇸 Jacqueline Wiles (USA) — bib 47 — +1.27 — 1992
- 21st 🇦🇹 Julia Scheib (AUT) — bib 32 — +1.39 — 1998
- 27th 🇮🇹 Nicol Delago (ITA) — bib 42 — +1.81 — 1996 — Atomic
- 28th 🇨🇭 Priska Ming-Nufer (SUI) — bib 48 — +2.15 — 1992 (highest bib in top 30)
- 29th 🇨🇭 Janine Schmitt (SUI) — bib 34 — +2.16 — 2000
USA skiers in the top 30
- 3rd 🇺🇸 Breezy Johnson (USA) — bib 29 — +0.36 — 1995 — Atomic
- 15th 🇺🇸 Mary Bocock (USA) — bib 38 — +1.16 — 2003
- 17th 🇺🇸 Jacqueline Wiles (USA) — bib 47 — +1.27 — 1992
- 19th 🇺🇸 Tricia Mangan (USA) — bib 21 — +1.32 — 1997 — Head
- 25th 🇺🇸 Keely Cashman (USA) — bib 16 — +1.61 — 1999 — Head
Stifel U.S. Ski Team depth: five women in the points
Beyond Johnson’s podium, it was another statement day for the Stifel U.S. Ski Team: five women scored points, a strong performance from a very strong squad. Bocock’s surge was particularly encouraging — only her second points result after the season-opening St. Moritz Super-G (the race that secured her Olympic spot), and she attacked today with unmistakable Olympic energy.
Race Results
Click on images to enlarge
Analysis of the Top Three and Other North Americans in the Top 30
“It feels really good,” Hamilton said. “People feel good about donating here.”
Warm, dry weather continues today as high pressure remains in control. Record to near-record warmth is expected, with highs climbing into the 80s.
A cold front approaching the region will bring breezy winds and the threat of thunderstorms. Thunderstorms could begin as early as 1 to 2 p.m. in the southern Bitterroot Valley, then track north into west-central Montana between 4 and 6 p.m. Storms are expected to reach the Flathead Lake area around 5 to 6 p.m. The main impacts will be gusty outflow winds, frequent lightning, and small hail.
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Unsettled weather is expected this week, with the daily threat of showers and storms. Temperatures will remain in the 70s across western Montana.
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Montana
Montana’s Unsung State Park By Idaho’s Border Is A Remote Camping And Water Sport Retreat With Colorful Cliffs – Islands
The Bitterroot Mountains, with all their jagged peaks, alpine lakes, and sprawling forests, sweep along the border between Montana and Idaho for more than 160 miles. As you can imagine, the vistas around this stretch of the Rockies are incredible. Tucked into the “nose” of western Montana, right in the heart of the rugged range, Painted Rocks State Park is a prime spot to take it all in. This patch of wilds is on the smaller side — only about 23 acres – and a bit off the beaten path to dodge the foot traffic that some of the region’s more popular state parks get. That isolation is part of the appeal, along with all the colorful rocky cliffs that give the park its name.
The state park is full of granite and rhyolite outcroppings that are “painted” by vibrant swaths of lichens. The organisms – formed by symbiotic relationships between fungi and algae — coat the lofty cliffs in varying shades of orange, yellow, and green, adding a little pop of color to the craggy mountainscape. With virtually no cell service in the area, Painted Rocks State Park is an ideal place to unplug. Several remote campsites perched along the banks of its namesake watering hole, Painted Rocks Reservoir (also known as Painted Rocks Lake), make for a splashing water sport retreat.
Tackle the waters of Painted Rocks State Park
Painted Rocks State Park opened in the early 1960s, roughly 10 miles away from the Idaho border, as the crow flies, near Montana’s mountain town of Darby. But its accompanying reservoir was built a couple of decades before that. The lake was made by damming a portion of the West Fork of the Bitterroot River. Spanning more than 560 surface acres, the reservoir was initially intended to provide water to the surrounding farmlands. Although it’s used for irrigation and household purposes today, it’s also favored for its water-based recreational pursuits.
The lake has a boat launch and dock, so you can take your watercraft out for a relaxing cruise along the waters. You can also paddle the ripples in a kayak or canoe, or hop in for a little swim. Just be sure to read up on all of Montana’s boating regulations and other water safety rules before you head out. It’s also worth noting that the reservoir’s water levels can fluctuate, with Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks recommending that you hard-launch your vessels to prevent any damage.
Do a bit of wildlife watching as you coast along. The state park is home to a variety of native and migratory birds, from mountain bluebirds and pileated woodpeckers to sandhill cranes and yellow warblers. You may even be able to catch a glimpse of the rare harlequin duck, too. An array of larger animals roam the lands, including moose, elk, white-tailed deer, and bears. Bighorn sheep have also been known to roam around, as the mountain crawlers were reintroduced to the region in the 1980s after nearly going extinct due to unchecked hunting and disease. Cameras are worth keeping close at hand.
Get some shut eye along the banks of Painted Rocks Reservoir
Painted Rocks State Park sits at the southern end of the reservoir, where you’ll find the recreation area’s little campground, if you want to stay the night. There are about two dozen campsites hidden among the pine trees along the water near the boat launch. The camp spots can accommodate RVs, with back-in and pull-through sites available. Amenities are pretty limited – you’ll have to bring your own water, but there are on-site restrooms, picnic tables, and grills.
Since Big Sky Country doubles as big bear country — and we’re talking both grizzlies and black bears — be sure to properly bear-proof your campsite. There are lockers on hand if you don’t have a safe space to store your food, as well as bear-proof dumpsters for any garbage. The campground is open year-round, with the peak season usually ranging from late spring to the end of summer. If you opt to set up camp during the colder months, just keep in mind that the area gets quite a bit of snow in the winter. If you’d prefer a more luxurious lodging abode, Triple Creek Ranch, one of America’s best resorts, is only about a 30-minute drive away.
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