Former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skier strengthen’s Olympic bid by leading Americans for third-straight day in Val Gardena
Alessandro Trovati/AP photo
After a third-straight day of leading Team USA at the Val Gardena speed triple header, Kyle Negomir would be justified in looking ahead to a certain special quadrennial event in February.
“I mean, I think it helps,” the 27-year-old said of his chances of making the 2026 U.S. team after placing 16th in the downhill on Saturday morning in Italy.
Even after three-straight top-20 finishes, the former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skier isn’t booking flights to Italy just yet. Instead, he’s using the Milano Cortina Olympic incentive to elevate his racing each time he steps into the starting gate.
“I think I still feel pretty sick to my stomach before every event with that added level of pressure,” he continued, “But also that added level of motivation to really push and take those risks.”
Negomir posted a career-best 11th-place result on a shortened downhill course on day 1 of the speed weekend in Val Gardena. He led the Americans again in Friday’s super-G, typically his best event. On Saturday, the 27-year-old found his flow state near the bottom of the full-length Saslong course, posting the fourth-fastest fifth sector en route to a finishing time of 2 minutes, 0.52 seconds, less than a second off the podium.
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“You know I’ve had a couple long seasons of being quite slow in downhill, so I think this weekend was just overall really validating that I do belong with these guys,” Negomir stated. “And I can ski at the level that I want to be at.”
After going 1-2 on Thursday, Marco Odermatt and Franjo von Allmen swapped places on Saturday’s podium as von Allmen (1:58.67) finished three-tenths up on his Swiss teammate.
“It’s really cool, I didn’t expect it at all,” von Allmen told FIS after claiming his fourth-career World Cup win. “It’s really cool to share the podium with Marco, and to change sometimes — sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s him.”
“We push each other,” added Odermatt, whose buckle came undone during the race. “We know if someone has the perfect run, it is very hard to beat, and for sure that pushes the whole sport.”
Italy’s Florian Schieder rounded out the podium in third. For the Americans, Sam Morse and Bryce Bennett also scored World Cup points behind Negomir, coming through in 24th and 26th, respectively.
“It was a scrappy run,” Morse told U.S. Ski and Snowboard media. The Maine-born 29-year-old said he’s been fiddling with his setup lately, especially after feeling he had “a little too much grip” in Friday’s super-G.
“Took the boots back in a little bit and just was kind of squirrely,” Morse continued. “But (I was) trying to just roll with it because this year’s course really rewarded those that go fall line with it.”
Jared Goldberg (35th), Erik Arvidsson (46th) and Maple Wiley (50th) rounded out the American finishers as Olympic silver medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegle posted a DNF.
The men’s World Cup continues with a giant slalom and slalom on Dec. 21-22. The next speed event is a super-G in Livigno next Saturday.
“Livigno’s a totally new track,” Morse commented. “No one’s going to have an advantage, so I’m really excited to go see something new.”
Negomir is currently 16th in the downhill cup standings, the second American behind Cochran-Siegle (seventh). According to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s selection criteria, up to four athletes can start for the U.S. at the Olympics in each discipline. Up to three in each discipline will be nominated based upon individual World Cup results at “evaluation events” held between Oct. 25 and Jan. 18 in the following order: 1) one or more top-3 World Cup results, 2) one or more top-5 World Cup results, 3) one or more top-10 World Cup results and 4) one or more top-20 World Cup results.
As of this writing Cochran-Siegle’s runner-up finish at Beaver Creek on Dec. 4 is the only men’s result that fits the first criteria. Negomir’s 11th is the next best men’s speed result, and River Radamus’ 12th at the Birds of Prey super-G is third. After Livigno, the only remaining speed races within the selection window are the super-G and downhill in Wengen, Switzerland Jan. 17-18.
“I feel like I’m capable of more,” Negomir stated. “But hopefully this building a good platform to continue to push and hopefully be skiing at my best level at the Olympics — assuming I can make it.”
