SUN VALLEY, Idaho — Overnight snowfall has delayed the downhill races Saturday to the afternoon.The men’s new start time is 2 p.m., and the women’s is 3 p.m.The FIS World Cup finals will be underway Saturday afternoon at Sun Valley. Skiers and snowcats packed the downhill course, Challenger, S aturday morning after several inches of springtime snow blanketed the course overnight.The forecast is for flurries until 10 a.m., then windy with gusts up to 26 mph. Two to three inches of snow are expected for Saturday.Under the revised program:Men’s jury inspection: 11 a.m. Men’s race inspection: 11:30-12:15 Women’s race inspection: Noon to 1 p.m. Men’s start time: 2 p.m. Women’s start time: 3 p.m. The FIS World Cup finals will be underway Saturday afternoon at Sun Valley. Skiers were scrapping the downhill course, Challenger, Saturday morning after several inches of springtime snow blanketed the course overnight. …SUN VALLEY, Idaho — The 25 best men and women alpine skiers on the planet were poised Friday evening to race this weekend and into next week, drawing bib numbers in an evening ceremony for the first races. The FIS World Cup Finals have arrived at last to Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain on a run named Challenger, which was reshaped this past summer specifically for this event. Saturday is downhill day, with the Super-G running Sunday. The downhill version of the course stretches nearly 7,500 feet with a vertical drop of 2,736 feet. The men begin at 11 a.m., followed by the women at 12:30 p.m.The U.S. women’s speed team will put forth Parkites Lauren Macuga and Lindsey Vonn, Wyoming native and Rowmark Ski Academy alum Breezy Johnson and Portland, Oregon, native Jacqueline Wiles. On the men’s side, Burlington, Vermont, native Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Bryce Bennett of Truckee, California, will compete in the downhill and Super-G.This will be the first time the “Super Bowl” of alpine skiing on US soil since 2017, when Aspen Mountain was the host venue. Last year the event was held at Saalbach-Hinterglem, Austria.The resort was awarded the event in the spring of 2024. They broke ground on July 1 to begin sculpting an all-new venue for the World Cup Finals. In addition to moving earth, they also added safety netting, 34 new snow guns, a new digital timing system, and removed many trees. In the words of the editorial board of Sun Valley’s Mountain Express: “The area hasn’t hosted anything like this since 1975, when pencil-thin long skis were the order of the day.”The World Cup Finals are the culmination of six months of worldwide travel week in, and week out. The current overall standings have Marco Odermatt of Switzerland leading the men and countrywoman Lara Gut-Behrami at the top of the women’s standings.Friday night brought hundreds of fans to the storied Swan Valley Ice rink to watch the bib draw. The top 10 skiers selected their bib numbers by a random draw for Saturday. Macuga drew No. 13, and Breezy Johnson 11. Later in the evening, the remaining U.S. skiers were assigned their bibs. Jacqueline Wiles got 16 and Lindsey Vonn will start in position 19.Dressed in a red, white and blue jacket, Parkite Lauren Macuga learned that she will be wearing bib 13 Saturday afternoon in the women’s downhill at the 2025 World Cup Finals.The two U.S. men’s skiers, Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Bryce Bennett, will start 17th and 18th.Thousands gathered around the Sun Valley ice rink on the back side of the Sun Valley Lodge for the bib-draw ceremony Friday evening.The post Overnight snowfall delays World Cup Finals downhill races into the afternoon appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less