Here’s a look at 2 men, 2 women skiers to watch at this year’s event

Alpine ski racers like River Radamus, Lauren Macuga, Lindsey Vonn and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde were on the slopes of Copper Mountain Resort in Summit County on Wednesday training for the upcoming Stifel Copper Cup next week.

All of them were going real fast too, like 60 to 70 mph fast.

Before race day, all had gathered slope side for a feel of the snow, positions of the gates and conditions of the terrain during multiple training sessions this week before looking for a potential podium spot at this season’s fourth stop on the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup circuit.

Held during Thanksgiving week, the Copper Cup will feature men’s and women’s races in Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super-G and is one of only two World Cup stops in the United States (both in Colorado) for the 2026 season.

The race event is also a milestone for Copper Mountain, as this year’s race event is the first official, planned stop on the World Cup calendar for the resort.

About a third of the way down the Super-G course, the sun was shining on Wednesday as the men’s teams took to the hill first.

Each skier enjoyed at least three training runs on the lower sections of the course following underneath the Superbee Express chairlift in the East Village.

Although Colorado has not received much natural snow this fall, snowmaking efforts have created a good surface for the racers to train on, and the athletes were talking about it.

“We call it hero snow,” Steamboat Springs native Radamus said about the conditions of the course. “The snow around this part (western U.S.) is a lot drier, it’s a lot more aggressive, a lot more grippy. It just feels like you can do anything you want on it.”

Radamus, 27, is a four-discipline specialist, has had good results throughout his career and should still seen as a man to keep eyes on.

The three-time National Championships winner in Giant Slalom and two-time National Championships winner in Super-G, Radamus also has a lively personality he exhibits via his hairstyle along with his success on the race course.

“I try to keep those close to the chest, you know, make sure that I keep a surprise going,” Radamus said. “But I’ll probably do something for Birds of Prey (Beaver Creek race), and then I might do something again for the Olympics (Milan/Cortina, Italy).”

When asked what his ideal powder day would be, Radamus said, “get to the mountain and then the roads get closed is ideal. Keep the crowds away, and I think the old saying is no friends on a powder day, but I think having friends around makes it all the more special.”

Copper Mountain home-mountain racer Kyle Negomir, 27, a downhill and super-g specialist is another man to watch on this year’s U.S. Ski Team.

Negomir grew up in Littleton, skiing Copper Mountain as many weekends as he could in his youth.

“I think for my parents, it was cheaper and easier to put me in the ski school than to leave me at daycare down in Denver so they could go ski with their friends,” he said. “I ended up skiing around the mountain, doing Nastar, doing all these things up here in Copper and joined the ski team here when I was probably six years old.”

Negomir’s ski school days paid off. He’s had four top-20 finishes over the last two seasons (three in Super-G, one in Downhill), and two podium finishes (one first, one second) in the 2025 Nor-Am Cup season.

“I’m hoping to be skiing into the top time this year and really trying to fight with the best guys in the world in preparation of these upcoming Olympics,” he said. “I want to perform to the best of my ability and make myself, my team and all the people who have sacrificed to help me get here proud in my skiing.”

When asked what his ideal powder day would be, Negomir said, “I would find one of the 10th Mountain Division huts up on top of the pass, go spend a full day skiing bell to bell with my friends, make some good food, and hang out in a hut and be in the mountains.”

The women skiers took to the course right after the men finished training as the sun reached its mid-day peak.

Over the last two to four seasons, the current U.S. women’s alpine team, have been an up-and-coming force to reckon with and have been very competitive with European teams.

Yet as Mikaela Shiffrin keeps winning races often (currently 102 total World Cup victories) and as Lindsey Vonn (currently 82 World Cup victories) emerges from retirement for one last hurrah, a current hot question about the other women like Breezy Johnson, Isabella Wright and Lauren Macuga is, who’s next?

The latter is Troy, Michigan-born Macuga. She’s only 23, fresh off her first World Cup win in a Super-G race at St. Anton, Austria last January, and has nine, top-10 finishes during the 2025 season.

Like Radamus, Macuga brings personality to the mountain too, with her ever growing collection of 46 bucket hats, big smile and impressions-made toward younger female skiers whom want to talk to her about going fast.

“I think it’s so cool to be a part of this (the women’s ski team), like all of us,” Macuga said. “When we’re around at a World Cup and you have these little girls come up to you, and you’re like, ‘oh yeah, I just did this crazy speed race’ and they’re like, ‘oh my gosh, that’s so cool’, you’re (thinking) it’s amazing we’re inspiring these young girls.”

Macuga also has great camaraderie with her fellow female skiing teammates while traveling around Europe and North America during the World Cup season.

“I think part of it is as a team we just want each other to succeed,” she said. “If I am doing the training round really fast, I will tell my teammates how to do it, like it’s being open about that, so you can be one team.”

When asked what his ideal powder day would be, Macuga said, “I have to say my ideal powder day would be at home in Park City mountain. Like, OK, most ski racers do love a groomer day, don’t get me wrong, it’s nice, but I can’t wait for a powder day. We hardly ever get them.”

Another name that ski race fans need to keep in mind is Kjersti Moritz, a 20-year-old Vail skier with quite the slalom and giant slalom victories resume.

Moritz has amassed four wins in FIS racing (two in Giant Slalom, one in Slalom and one in Super-G) over the last four seasons dating back to 2022, and eight, top-5 finishes dating back to December 2021.

But Moritz wasn’t always about alpine racing, she grew up in the park and pipe scene originally.

“I did half pipe and slope style when I was little,” she said “I kind of figured out that ski racing was more my jam because I liked the accuracy of the timing rather than the subjective judging.”

Her progression in slalom and giant slalom is continuing too. The Giant Slalom race on Saturday, Nov. 29 will be her first World Cup race.

Moritz said she’s looking forward to skiing the grippy but dry snow Colorado is known for saying in part, “Copper does a great job at (making snow), it is super fun to ski on. It’s not really what you find in Europe. Europe is more icy and more hard packed.”

When asked what his ideal powder day would be, Moritz said, “my ideal powder day being the first one on the lift, taking a few runs, maybe going to get some hot chocolate, some French fries. Vail is my favorite place to do that because I’ve been doing it since I was a little girl.”

The Stifel Copper Cup FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup race event runs from Thursday, Nov. 27 to Sunday, Nov. 30 at Copper Mountain Resort in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

The races are free to attend, however, Copper Mountain suggests securing either VIP tickets or grand stand tickets to augment the ski-racing experience.

VIP ticket prices are $500 for the single-day Men’s race experience and $700 for the single-day Women’s race experience, $900 for the 2-day Men’s race experience and $1,350 for the 2-day Women’s race experience and $1,950 for the 4-day race event experience.