Kikkan Randall (Anchorage/APU Nordic) heads a team of 13 cross country athletes named by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association to compete in the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships Feb. 20-March 3 in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Randall, a silver medalist in the World Championship sprint four years ago, leads a team that mixes youth with some of the strongest experience ever on a U.S. World Championships Team.
HIGHLIGHTS
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association named 13 athletes to the team that will compete in the 2013 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Current World Cup sprint leader Kikkan Randall (Anchorage), the silver medalist in the World Championship sprint four years ago, leads a team that blends youth with strong international experience. It will be her seventh Worlds. Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) will mark a seventh World Championship Team, including memories of Val di Fiemme in 2003 when he missed a medal in the 15k by just two seconds, finishing fourth. Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) will come to his sixth World Championships on the heels of a strong sprinting season. Newell was fifth at Worlds in 2007 at Sapporo in the classic sprint. The seven U.S. women named bring the most depth ever in a World Championships Team including an historic podium earlier this season in a 4x5k relay. Making their first World Championships Team were Erik Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA) and Sophie Caldwell (Peru, VT). The World Cup squad will remain busy up until the Championships with races this weekend in La Clusaz, France before a one week break leading up to Olympic test events in Sochi, Russia Feb. 1-3. The World Championships Team will train in Davos, Switzerland with a final World Cup Feb. 16-17 before traveling to Val di Fiemme in the Dolomites west of Cortina.
2013 U.S. World Championship Cross Country Team Men (Name, hometown, birthdate, USSA club, past World Champs) Erik Bjornsen, Winthrop, WA, 7/14/91, U.S. Ski Team/Alaska Pacific University Tad Elliott, Durango, CO, 7/2/88, U.S. Ski Team/Ski and Snowboard Club Vail (2011) Kris Freeman, Andover, NH, 10/14/80, Maine Winter Sports Club (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011) Simi Hamilton, Aspen, CO, 5/14/87, U.S. Ski Team/Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (2011) Noah Hoffman, Aspen, CO, 8/1/89, U.S. Ski Team/Ski and Snowboard Club Vail (2011) Andy Newell, Shaftsbury, VT, 11/30/83, U.S. Ski Team/SMS T2 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011)
Women Sadie Bjornsen, Winthrop, WA, 11/21/89, U.S. Ski Team/APU Nordic (2011) Holly Brooks, Anchorage, 4/17/82, U.S. Ski Team/APU Nordic (2011) Sophie Caldwell, Peru, VT, 3/22/96, SMS T2 Jessie Diggins, Afton, MN, 8/26/91, U.S. Ski Team/SMS T2, (2011) Kikkan Randall, Anchorage 12/31/82, U.S. Ski Team/APU Nordic (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011) Ida Sargent, Orleans, VT, 1/25/88, U.S. Ski Team/Craftsbury Nordic (2011) Liz Stephen, E. Montpelier, VT, 1/12/87, U.S. Ski Team/Burke Mountain Academy (2009, 2011)
