Winter4Kids at the National Winter Activity Center, the nation’s first and only fully dedicated youth winter sports facility, announced a partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard and the International Federation of Skiing (FIS) to host the first-ever NorAm Cup parallel event in the U.S.
Taking place on February 14, 2020 in Vernon, NJ at Winter4Kids, the NorAm Cup will offer a new format with head-to-head competition featuring some of the best alpine athletes in the world.
The NorAm Cup will feature the parallel format twice this year with head-to-head competitions featuring some of the best alpine athletes in North America. More than 60 male and 60 female athletes will compete for $75,000 – the largest prize offering yet.
The NorAm Cup strives to prepare athletes for the FIS Ski World Cup, and U.S. Ski & Snowboard is promoting this format at the grassroots level, in an effort to develop future World Cup parallel champions. The event features a head-to-head slalom with a knockout format each round.
“Head-to-head parallel competition is an exciting event and we are thrilled to host with U.S. Ski and Snowboard to showcase the sport under the lights of our state-of-the-art facility,” stated Schone Malliet, Founder and CEO of Winter4Kids. “By hosting the NorAm Cup parallel event, we have been granted a unique opportunity to utilize our facility as an international stage for winter sports. In addition to introducing winter activities to children throughout the tri-state area, our goal is to bring top-notch competitive events to the NY Tri-State area and help grow the sport.”
“U.S. Ski and Snowboard is very excited to team up with Winter4Kids at the National Winter Activity Center to bring this Cup event to the NY Tri-State area,” stated Tiger Shaw, President and CEO at U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “It’s exciting to partner with a like-minded organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of our sport as we lead up to the 2022 Olympics in China.”
“I’m psyched to hear that Winter4Kids and the National Winter Activity Center will be hosting this NorAm parallel event,” said double Olympic champion Ted Ligety. “Winter4Kids’ mission is great, and accessibility to skiing is super important for the future health of the sport of alpine ski racing. The parallel format makes for an exciting spectator event, and the prize purse is an added bonus that should draw elite-level athletes and create some good, healthy competition.”
“This NorAm event sounds like so much fun!” exclaimed three-time Olympic medalist and three-time reigning World Cup overall champion Mikaela Shiffrin. “I’ll be competing on the World Cup tour in Europe, otherwise I would for sure be there. It is vital that we find ways to make the sport more accessible, and the mission of Winter4Kids and the National Winter Activity Center is just what our sport needs in order to grow and thrive. On top of that, fans love the head-to-head atmosphere and that dual format will be showcased more and more in the coming years, so this should be a great event for both athletes and spectators!”
U.S. Ski & Snowboard has had a long relationship with the National Winter Activity Center and Winter4Kids since its first season in 2015.
