Copper Cup U.S. women’s Alpine ski team press conference highlights: Shiffrin on Vonn, Vail twins compete at home World Cup and more

On Friday night at Copper Mountain, nine members of the U.S. women’s Alpine ski team spoke at a press conference prior to a pair of tech races on Saturday and Sunday at the Stifel Copper Cup.

Paula Moltzan

• On sitting in third in the overall standings coming into a home World Cup: “It’s been a really exciting beginning of the season for me. I feel like I’ve built off the base in which I produced last season, so to be able to kind of pick up right where I left off last season feels like a good place to be. Coming into Copper at home, I feel like I’m going to keep carrying the momentum with me but also take some of the momentum of the hometown crowd.”

Breezy Johnson

• The defending downhill world champion on racing tech: “My first World Cup races were tech races and I always called myself a tech skier — and then I slowly shifted to speed. I know Tricia and I have been both been trying to keep our GS at a high level. … we raced at Sölden but it wasn’t our best showing, so we’re hoping that this goes a little better.”

Kjersti Moritz

• On making her World Cup debut 20-minutes from home: “I always imagined my first World Cup race would be somewhere in Europe, where they don’t speak English and my family can’t really be there so I’m super excited to start the year where I’ve trained for many, many years. …most of my family will be there, I’ll have some of my childhood coaches there, so I can’t really think of a more perfect scenario.”

Mikaela Shiffrin

• When asked what her relationship is like with Lindsey Vonn now and whether the two stars could pair up at the Olympics in the team event: “I think anything is possible. It all boils down to basically performance leading up to the Olympics and then the team decides the pairings. I have so much respect for the mentality she’s bringing to this to come out of retirement to show what’s possible. That anything’s actually possible and if you put in the hard work and the mindset, you can get so much from life if you just, like, decide you want to do something and you do it to the best of your ability. And I think she’s showing that and I think she’s always shown that in her whole career, so it’s pretty special to see that again.”

Tricia Mangan

• Reaction to Lauren Macuga suffering a season-ending injury in training on Friday: “She is such a hard worker and such a light on our team, so we will certainly miss her but are already excited for her to be back.”

Liv Moritz

• On competing with her twin sister a day after turning 21: “We’ve sort of had the same goals growing up and pushing each other every single day. So, it’s very special to meet each other at the highest stage, and at home.”
• In answering moderator Mikaela Shiffrin’s question, ‘What’s the point?‘: “I would say the point of showing up and putting in the hard work is to set expectations and lofty goals for myself because I love the feeling of surprising myself with what I can do. And in doing so, I think it’s important to lean on your teammates and push them to be the best versions of themselves.”