Industry News
The U.S. Ski Team announced on social media before Wednesday’s Individual Parallel event that Slalom expert Paula Moltzan would not be starting due to a fracture she incurred in the Team Parallel event the day before.
Paula Moltzan was part of the Parallel team that skied to America’s first-ever Team Parallel Championship. Paula has had her best season this year, placing in the Top 5 in several Slalom events during the ongoing 22/23 World Cup season. It is unclear at this stage how long she will be out from racing.
Paula had previously fractured her hand during the 2022 Winter Olympics and finally had it reset in May 2022. During yesterday’s competition, she broke three fingers of her left hand on the last run of the Big Final against Norway.
Unfortunately, Team Parallel events are relatively accident prone, as skiers compete side by side, resulting in higher speeds than on individual runs and the potential of your competitor crashing into you, as evidenced by a near crash between an Austrian and Norwegian skier during yesterday’s event. It is also why Mikaela Shiffrin and other top-ranked skiers decided not to compete in the Team Parallel event.
We hope she can return to competitions for the remainder of the 22/23 FIS Alpine World Cup season. She is currently ranked 6th in Slalom and 10th in Giant Slalom, and we hope she has the opportunity to gain more FIS points before the end of the FIS World Cup season.
Update:
Paula Moltzan broke her left hand in the last run of the team event today. She will not be racing in tomorrow’s individual parallel race and will further evaluate the coming World Championships events.
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 14, 2023
