The J2 National Championships wrapped up at Sugarloaf USA, Maine Tuesday (March 9) with a double whammy set of downhills and three-event traditional combineds for both genders with Scott Snow picking up his second gold medal of the event with an easy DH win while his competition buddy Andrew Kircher captured the combined for his second gold.

First year J2 Jordon Sweitzer corralled the women's downhill title after being surprised in the FIS downhill run-up to the title race by a fellow member of the class of '94 and Foreste Peterson wound up a busy week of work with the combined crown and her third medal.

Snow, of Team Independence, was already in possession of the super G crown from earlier in the championships. That seemed to spike his confidence as he positively spanked the men's downhill field, sliding away with a .98 second margin over Sandy Vietze. Bronson Wright was third, Colin Kamphius made a huge run to get fourth from the 32nd start and Bryce Ellis claimed fifth.

"I wasn't sure, but I was hoping it would happen," said Snow, coached by his dad within the "blue collar" race team they created. "I knew I was good at downhill. I'm strong and a big guy. After yesterday I was pretty confident, but (that win in the FIS downhill Monday) that can also make people hungry."

Especially when you win by 1.29 seconds. Those kind of wins can tend to get some dander up. Snow said he was particularly concerned about Andrew Kircher, Vietze and Wright. "There are a lot of fast guys out there. You can't take anything for granted."

Welch Valley Minnesota‘s Nicholas Mitchell pulled in his second gold medal of the J3 Junior Olympics today (March 9) with a victory in the giant slalom at Golden Peak in Vail, Colo.

After winning Saturday’s downhill by almost a full second, Mitchell proved he can get it done on the tech side as well with both of today’s fastest times. He was .78 seconds up on his nearest rival after the first run, then took the second run by almost a half of a second to earn a total time of 1:30.13.

Sunday’s super G winner, Taos skier Nicolas Veth had the second fastest first-run time and held on for the third-fastest second-run time to claim today’s silver medal with a time of 1:31.39.

Aspen’s Devon Cardamone took the last podium spot in third place, just eight hundredths of a second behind Veth after the two tied for the second fastest first run.

Zak Kjos of Apex Racing in Lino Lakes, Minnesota (bronze medalist in Sunday’s super G) just missed the podium in fourth place, .61 seconds behind Cardamone after turning it up on his second run with the second fastest time behind Mitchell.

All winners from this week’s races in Vail will qualify to participate in the Whistler Cup in mid-April. The international competition is revered as the most important race in North America for ski racers from ages 11-14.

The J3 Junior Olympics conclude tomorrow with men’s and women’s slalom races at Beaver Creek.

For more information, click here to go to the event’s website.

Image of Mitchell by Peter Alexander

Unofficial Results

Without a men's downhill win for the season, the Austrian men took to downhill training for the finale, the Garmisch series beginning Wednesday, with redemption in mind. Hans Grugger posted the fastested time, Mario Scheiber the second fastest and Michael Walchhofer was fourth. Slovene Andrej Sporn was third with Aksel Lund Svindal fifth, Didier Cuche sixth and Erik Guay seventh.

The only competitor the U.S. has in the field limited by World Cup Finals rule, was Ted Ligety in 26th.

At the finals scoring will be limited to the top 15 finishers and participation is limited to the top 25 skiers of the disicpline according to World Cup standings, racers with more than 500 World Cup points in the overall standings and the Olympic and World Junior champions of the season.

Both Bode Miller, who elected not to compete, and Andrew Weibrecht shoulder injury, were eligible to join Ligety for the downhill.

Cuche leads the downhill standings 496-348 over teammate Carlo Janka (15th in training) and cannot be overtaken for the title. The race could impact the race for the overall World Cup title. Benjamin Raich holds over Janka, Cuche and Svindal respectively and has yet to gain a downhill point this season while all three of his competitors are ranked in the top six of the downhill standings. Raich finished 24th among 26 participants in the training run.

The women's training run went to Swiss Fabienne Suter, .68 ahead of a group of six skiers who finished within .57 of each other.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - Is it really that time already? Of course it is. After a long season with flourishing results from the U.S. Ski Team, the World Cup finals are upon us and downhill training begins Tuesday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with racing beginning Wednesday with women's downhill.

The only men definitely representing the U.S. at finals will be Ted Ligety skiing in all disciplines and Jimmy Cochran in slalom. Marco Sullivan is qualified for the speed events but will make a game-time decision on whether or not he'll compete with his lingering injuries. Bode Miller opted out of the remainder of the season to spend time with his daughter and relax.

On the women's side, Lindsey Vonn is qualified to compete in all events and Julia Mancuso is qualified for downhill and super G. Alice McKennis and Stacey Cook will compete in the downhill and Sarah Schleper will compete in giant slalom and slalom.

Watch all the races live on universalsports.com.

World Cup Finals at Garmisch schedule:

Tuesday, March 9: Men's and women's downhill training

Wednesday, March 10: Men's and women's downhill

Thursday, March 11: Men's super G, women's giant slalom

Friday, March 12: Men's GS, women's super G

Saturday, March 13: Men's and women's slalom

Sunday, March 14: Team event

In a move that may well be a first, U.S. ski racer Scott Macartney announced his retirement on Facebook last Saturday.

Macartney posted:  "I will retire after this weekend's racing in Kvitfjell, Norway. It has been an incredible ride- 12 years on the National team, 2 Olympics... podiums, ups and downs. It is time to move on though. No idea what my next move might be, but it will be fun figuring it out. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way!"

The 32-year-old Macartney scored two World Cup podium results in his time, a third-place result at Val Gardena in downhill Dec., 15, 2007 and a second in super G at Garmisch Jan. 29, 2006. It is the crashes, though, which brought him notoriety, the most spectacular coming on his 30th birthday at Kitzbuehel in 2008 when he lost balance at the final jump before the finish and smashed his head against the snow, sustaining a severe concussion and ending his season. The dramatic scene was used to open Audi’s recently released documentary film Truth in Motion.

Macartney has been a strong supporter of the World Cup Dreams foundation, founded by teammates Erik Schlopy and Brian Friedman which strives to provide financial resources and disability insurance to athletes at the national team level.