@S.H.
And to your second comment about development..... The USST Alpine development report card is in, tell me about all the young WC Level skiers we have in both men’s and women’s? To use a golf analogy, LV is on about the 17th green of her career, MS is hardly a young WC skier as she has been around for a long time. So show me how there has not been a massive VOID in the USST development of ALPINE skiers in the recent past?
Sorry to pick on you, but you raised your head above the parapet
On your overall point, I agree with you. USSS has mismanaged the alpine program. However, your criterion of "show me positive results" is easy to meet. Come up with better criteria, or USSS and USST will point to these accomplishments and say "what do you mean?" Come up with better criteria.
MS and LV are great. 7 women in the top-30 WCSL is phenomenal.
Questions for you:
If USST is not responsible for athletes' results, who is? What would it take for USST to be responsible for somebody's results in your view?
On MS:
MS is 23. She is young. Have a conversation with her away from a camera or a microphone. It will tell you a lot.
Eileen Shiffrin has a huge part to say about the direction of her daughter's career, but she certainly is not solely responsible for executing it. USST has ponied up the resources ($$ and talent) to allow MS to develop and grow.
USST will say that allowing ES into the USST structure is USST being flexible to maximize the potential of their athletes. ES is a USST coach. So ... USST is DIRECTLY involved in her success. Now, is this the best way? I would say no, but there's no real way of knowing. MS has spent her entire FIS career developing under the umbrella of USST (with money, PTs, coaching, training space, etc.). To attribute her success to anyone else (besides her own talent, etc.) is hard to do.
On World Cup:
No Americans have really stepped in with birth dates after ~1993 except MS. Is that the fault of USST? Certainly some of it, but "blame" also has to go to clubs, coaching, and parents. Parents and coaches at the club level really drive development priorities for upcoming athletes. Some of that is shaped by USST, but not all.
Tech on both the men's and women's side are pretty rough. There are three men in the top 30 WCSL in GS, none in SL. On the women's side, MS only in GS, and MS and Resi in SL.
On the speed side, the women are doing great in DH, less so in SG. Men have 2 in the WCSL top 30 in DH, but that's with injuries to Nyman and Ganong. The younger crew have to make a move soon. In SG, it's worse.
On upcoming athletes:
On the men's side, all the eggs seem to be in the River Radamus basket. His domestic and junior international results point towards him being a solid WC skier in the near future. But until it happens, we won't know. He is the quintessential USSS development product. He even attended the TEAM Academy. There is also a ton of American talent in the junior ranks. Look at recent junior international competitions/results.
On the women's side, USA also have a ton of talent in the junior ranks. International success. It's about developing that talent to WC-level. And given the age-driven criteria, I'd argue that for women, that's more on club programs than USST.
