Jan 19th, 2010 | 11:51 pm |
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- Lowell Bailey of the USA during the e.on Ruhrgas IBU Biathlon World Cup Men’s 4 x 7.5 km Relay on December 13, 2009 in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)
For the week of Monday January 18, 2010
Biathlon The last relay competition before the Olympic Winter Games turned out to be a perfect pre-test for the U.S. men’s team. With a sixth place in Ruhpolding, Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, N.Y.), Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, Alaska), Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, N.Y.), and Jeremy Teela (Heber City, Utah) showed a strong performance ahead of several favored teams.
Bobsled & Skeleton The U.S. qualified two women’s skeleton sleds, three men’s skeleton sleds, three women’s bobsled teams and three men’s two-man and four-man bobsled teams for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The U.S. four-man bobsled teams were named Sunday morning following the competition in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Most of the drama surrounding that selection sat on the shoulders of Mike Kohn and his team, needing to finish at least 14th. Kohn went above and beyond, finishing sixth to add his name to the roster for his first Olympic berth as a driver.
The 2010 U.S. Olympic Team for bobsled and skeleton includes:
Women’s Bobsled: USA I: Shauna Rohbock (Park City, Utah) and Michelle Rzepka (Novi, Mich.) USA II: Erin Pac (Farmington, Conn.) and Elana Meyers (Douglasville, Ga.) USA III: Bree Schaaf (Bremerton, Wash.) and Emily Azevedo (Chico, Calif.)
Women’s Skeleton: Noelle Pikus-Pace (Orem, Utah) Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.)
Men’s Skeleton: Eric Bernotas (Avondale, Pa.) Zach Lund (Salt Lake City, Utah) John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.)
Men’s Four-Man Bobsled: USA I: Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah), Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), Steve Mesler (Buffalo, N.Y.), Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) USA II: John Napier (Lake Placid, N.Y.), Chuck Berkeley (Clayton, Calif.), Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.), Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah) USA III: Mike Kohn (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Jamie Moriarty (Winnetka, Ill.), Bill Schuffenhauer (Orem, Utah), Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.)
Men’s Two-man bobsled: USA I: Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) USA II: John Napier (Lake Placid, N.Y.) and Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.) USA III: Mike Kohn (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and TBA
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- Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett
Figure Skating
U.S. Figure Skating announced the nomination of pairs teams and men’s team as the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships continue in Spokane, Wash. Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, and Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig to the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team. Denney and Barrett, and Evora and Ladwig finished first and second, respectively, at the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash.
Jeremy Abbott, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir finished 1-2-3 at the event and thus secured Olympic
berths on Sunday. The three have had a stranglehold on the national title since 2004 and, with Abbott
winning his second straight Sunday, each has won it multiple times. Lysacek is the reigning world
champion, Abbott won last year’s Grand Prix final and Weir was the bronze medalist at the 2008 worlds.
Skeleton
Eric Bernotas (Avondale, Pa.) brought renewed hope to the U.S. team after claiming his fifth career gold medal in the men’s skeleton World Cup competition in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
It’s been three years since Bernotas earned World Cup gold, and today’s victory was his first medal of the 2009-2010 season. The highest finish for any U.S. skeleton athlete this season has been fifth, including Bernotas’ two fifth place results in Park City, Utah and Lake Placid, N.Y.
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- Bode Miller Content © 2010 ZumaPress All rights reserved.
Skiing
Cross Country: Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) missed out on the semifinal round by an eyelash at the
Viessman FIS World Cup sprint in Estonia on Saturday, finishing 13th after qualifying sixth.
Men’s Alpine: Two-time World Cup overall champion Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.) secured his first
victory of the 2010 Audi FIS Alpine World Cup season on Friday, smoking the field in the downhill and
holding off defending champion Carlo Janka of Switzerland in the slalom for his eighth podium and fourth
win at Wengen. Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) was no slouch in nabbing fifth place, but the day belonged
to Miller, whose blazing downhill, despite two mistakes, gave him enough cushion to win his third World
Cup super combined.
Freestyle Aerials: With only one more aerials competition to go before naming the 2010 U.S. Olympic
Team, young Dylan Ferguson (Amesbury, Mass.) notched his best World Cup finish to lead the U.S. in
sixth at the Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort Friday.
Freestyle Moguls: The first leg of Heather McPhie’s (Park City, Utah) Olympic dreams were achieved
Saturday night as she finished second at the Visa Freestyle International to lock her spot on the 2010
U.S. Olympic Team. McPhie was joined on the podium by teammate Michelle Roark (Denver) who threw
her name in the Olympic running, finishing third. The clear winter night belonged to McPhie who, only two
days earlier, had her first World Cup victory. McPhie and Roark led the way for the U.S. to take four of
the top five spots with Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) finishing fourth and Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City,
Calif.) fifth. Also nearing another Winter Games is Roark, who with her third place finish is happy to have
the momentum back in her skiing. And it came on the same venue where a win four years ago sent her to
Torino.
In only his second appearance in a World Cup competition, Jeremy Cota (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) led
the way for the U.S. men, finishing seventh.
Nordic Combined: World Champion Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) notched his second
World Cup podium in as many weeks Saturday, taking third to lead three U.S. men into the top 10 in
France. World Champion Billy Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.) just missed the podium Sunday, leading the
way for the U.S. in fourth during a World Cup nordic combined competition in France. Starting :50
seconds back of the lead group, Demong had to fight to make up time, moving up to fourth by the 2.8K
mark. Demong continued to push, winding his way to just 8 seconds back before a little fatigue set in.
Snowboarding
PGS: U.S. Snowboarding’s Michelle Gorgone (Boston, Mass.) and Justin Reiter (Steamboat Springs,
Colo.) led the way for the U.S. Sunday as each finished 10th during a parallel giant slalom World Cup in
Switzerland.
Weekly Preview
Biathlon: IBU World Cup racing continues in Antholz, Italy January 20-24th.
Bobsled & Skeleton: U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton athletes will compete in the final World Cup of the
season and the final race before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games when they visit Igls, Austria, for
competition this weekend.
Figure Skating: The U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held annually since 1914, continues
through Sunday, January 24 with Olympic spots still to be determined in ice dancing and ladies. The
2010 is taking place at the Spokane Arena and be televised live on NBC and webcast on icenetwork.com.
The championships are the final event before the selection of the figure skating team that will compete for
the United States at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
Luge: The World Cup tour takes a one week break for the European Championships next weekend in
Latvia. The Americans will forego that event and prepare for the World Cup final set for the 2006 Olympic
course in Cesana, Italy, Jan. 30-31.
Skiing:
Cross Country: Andy Newell now gets a trip home to Vermont after 10 weeks on the road in
Europe. Now he’ll focus on training for the Olympic Games and a final World Cup sprint in Canmore,
Alberta, Canada, on Feb. 6. Freestyle: With the Visa Freestyle International wrapped up, the freestyle
world moves along to Lake Placid for the final World Cup competitions prior to the 2010 Games Jan. 21-
24. Olympic moguls spots are still up for grabs in Lake Placid.
On the men’s side, Pat Deneen has a spot from Olympic Trials, while Bryan Wilson has virtually locked his spot on the basis of a pair of seconds
last month. Nate Roberts (Park City, Utah), who crashed in qualifications both days at Deer Valley, is the
only other man with a podium. The USA will name up to four men. In women’s moguls, Kearney has the
Olympic Trials spot with McPhie clinching her berth. Both Roark and Bahrke have third place finishes.
The Nature Valley Freestyle Cup at Lake Placid opens with moguls Thursday afternoon. Men’s Alpine:
Ligety and Co. have their passports at the ready for more European trekking with myriad speed and
technical events in Kitzbuehel, Austria; Schladming, Austria; and Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, before the
Olympic break.
Women’s Alpine: The U.S. women now move to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The only
remaining technical event before the Olympic selection is a giant slalom Jan. 24 in Cortina. Nordic
Combined: The Team will now head back home to Steamboat Springs and Park City, before coming
together the first week in February for a final pre-Olympic Camp in Utah. According to Bill Demong, the
plan that led he and the U.S team to World Championship success in 2009 will be what they use now, just
weeks till the Olympics, to prepare for the Games.
“The training program we had going into the Games and World Championships in the last four years is really good. It’s for fine tuning and getting those
precious few seconds, especially in the finish,” Demong said.
“I’m looking forward to doing what we normally do and trusting it because I feel really close to some really good races and I couldn’t ask for
more.”
Snowboarding:
PGS Snowboarding: Up next, the team will compete in its last World Cup before
the 2010 Olympics in Stoneham, Quebec Jan. 24. Tyler Jewell (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) has the best
qualifying result with a fourth earlier this month. The Olympic Team will be announced Jan. 25
