Radamus leads U.S. to fourth-place team parallel finish on Day 1 of FIS Alpine World Ski Championships

Marco Trovati/AP photo
Led by three former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skiers, the U.S. finished fourth in the team parallel event on the first day of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships on Tuesday in Saalbach, Austria. SSCV alumni River Radamus, Nina O’Brien and Paula Moltzan joined Minnesota-born Isaiah Nelson to form the American squad — which came in as the defending champions.
“I love this event,” said Radamus, who — along with O’Brien and Moltzan — was a part of the gold medal-winning team in Meribel, France, two years ago. “I love racing with this team. Isaiah, our new member, brought a lot of heart to it and it was his first world championship event ever, so I wanted to show up for him as well.”
The U.S. knocked out Poland in the first round to set up a rematch of the 2023 big final with Norway. Radamus upset Atle Lie McGrath and O’Brien stumbled out of the start but made a big comeback to defeat Thea Louise Stjernesund and eliminate the star-studded Scandinavian squad.

“It’s disappointing,” McGrath told FIS after the defeat. “The U.S. were for sure really strong today.”
O’Brien and Moltzan won their duals in the semifinal against Switzerland, but Nelson and Radamus couldn’t do the same against Luca Aerni and Thomas Tumler.

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“I went out there and did the fastest skiing I could,” Moltzan told U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s Sierra Ryder. “I just want to show the rest of the world that we are some of the fastest skiers in the world — maybe not tonight but I still believe in all of us and there are a lot more medal opportunities.”
The small final against Sweden came down to the final matchup. Nelson pushed hard for bronze, but straddled a gate late, giving Ax Swartz and the Swede’s the victory as the Americans settled for fourth.
“I was trying to go for it,” Nelson told Ryder. “I knew I needed to beat the other guy and I was on the limit. Today, it didn’t pay off, but it was a blast. … It was really special to be skiing alongside all these people. It truly feels like a team event.”
Meanwhile, Alex Vinatzer put down a remarkable final run to defeat Tumler and help Italy shock Switzerland — winners in 2019 — for gold.
“It was an amazing start,” Filippo Della Vite told FIS after the victory. “We traveled a lot for this and we are super happy.”
“We’re happy. We fought, we did some mistakes but we never gave up and it’s so nice to stand up there with the silver medal,” Swiss star Wendy Holdener — who has seven World Championship medals to her name — told FIS.
The World Championships continue with downhill training on Wednesday and the women’s super-G on Thursday.