U.S. Olympic Alpine Skiing Team Announced

Olympic gold medalists Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.), Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) and Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah), and two-time medalist Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.) will lead a strong U.S. Alpine Ski Team of 22 men and women at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard today (January 24) announced its selections for the U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team that will compete at the Games in PyeongChang beginning February 9. The selections will be confirmed by the United States Olympic Committee when it formally names Team USA this Friday (January 26).

The team includes 22 athletes who qualified for the team through one or more top-three finishes, top five finishes, and top 10 finishes, and then World Cup points. Qualification included 2017-18 FIS World Cup races through Cortina, Italy and Kitzbuehel, Austria on Jan. 20-21, 2018.

The alpine team will have its first Olympic competition on February 11 with the men’s downhill. The women will kick it off with the giant slalom on February 12.

NBCUniversal will present more than 2,400 hours of coverage across NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app - the most ever for a Winter Olympics.

Patrick Riml, Alpine Director said "A group of people have worked very hard to enable us to put together such a strong alpine race team for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. We have a good mix of veterans, Olympic champions who know what it takes to win at the highest level, and new, younger talent who have consistently shown throughout the qualifying process that they are ready now to fly the flag for the USA at the greatest competition of all.

"Over the last three months of competition, our preparation for the Games has been meticulous and we go to South Korea feeling confident about our chances. I am pleased with the strength of our team and know that every member of the staff will work hard to ensure athletes maximize their potential and execute on the plan. We also know that we are going to the Games with the cheers of the American public ringing in our ears, and that is a very proud feeling for the whole team."

Lindsey Vonn added "I’m incredibly excited to be going to my fourth Olympics. I’ve been waiting for these Games since I was injured, before Sochi, so it’s been about eight years. I’m very proud to represent America, I’m proud to be on this team with so many amazing athletes, and I look forward to competing."

Mikaela Shiffrin agreed "I’m honored to represent my country in my second Olympic Winter Games alongside some of the top athletes of the Games, including Lindsey, Ted, and Andrew. This has already been a wonderful season, and going to the Games is almost like the cherry on top of the cake! I am very excited about getting back to PyeongChang, and I’m looking forward to racing against so many incredible competitors on the biggest stage of them all. I will be taking it one event at a time, exactly as I do in the World Cup events."

Ted Ligety went on "I’m excited to be going to my fourth Olympics. It’s definitely been a fun journey over all these years, and to be able to go to an Olympics where I actually had my first World Cup win ever, it’s really fun to be able to revisit that hill. The last time I raced on that hill was in 2006 and that was my first World Cup win. So to go from being a rookie back in 2006, to now being in my fourth Olympics is pretty crazy to see how far I’ve come."

Steven Nyman condluded "It is incredible to be named to my fourth Olympic team! It is wild to grasp that this will be my fourth Olympics. It was always my dream as a kid to ski in the Olympics, and my Olympic heroes were a great influence on my life. Hopefully, our team can provide similar inspiration to future generations."

TEAM FACTS

The winningest female ski racer of all time, Lindsey Vonn won Olympic gold in downhill in Vancouver in 2010, but was sidelined with an injury and did not compete in Sochi. She is coming back with a vengeance, on a hunt for Olympic gold once again. Vonn will be competing in her fourth Olympics and finished second in both the downhill and super-G Olympic test events in 2017. Vonn has been named the first international PyeongChang 2018 Games Ambassador. She’s won 79 World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing - downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and alpine combined - in her career.
Mikaela Shiffrin is arguably one of the most dominant athletes in world sport competing today. Mikaela won the 2016-17 overall and slalom FIS Ski World Cup titles, and currently leads the 2017-18 overall, slalom and giant slalom World Cup standings. She became the youngest woman in U.S. history to win a World Championship and the youngest athlete in history (male or female) to win an Olympic gold medal in Sochi. Shiffrin has a hat-trick of World Championship gold medals in slalom - 2013, 2015 and 2017.
Known as “Mr. GS,” two-time Olympic champion Ted Ligety underwent back surgery in January 2017, causing him to miss the rest of the 2016-17 season. The YongPyong Alpine Centre is a special venue for Ligety as it is the home of his very first World Cup giant slalom victory in 2006. He won his first Olympic gold in 2006 in the alpine combined in Torino, then again in his main discipline, giant slalom, in 2014 in Sochi.
Andrew Weibrecht grabbed the 2010 Olympic super-G bronze medal, and then in 2014, produced a truly inspirational run to claim silver. Nicknamed “Warhorse”, he has a knack for performing when it matters most - on the big stage.
The U.S. men’s American downhill racers are a strong and tight group of athletes. Veteran Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) suffered a knee injury in 2017 and is making a strong comeback for PyeongChang. In the 2016 Olympic test event, Nyman finished third in the downhill. Promising young talent like Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) - who will make his Olympic debut - as well as Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah), also look to make their mark.
Just 10 months after a significant knee injury, Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) has made an impressive return to competition and continues to have her eyes on the prize in PyeongChang.
Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.) clinched her spot on a third Olympic team. Her father, Austrian Pepi Stiegler, was an Olympic Gold medalist in slalom in Innsbruck in 1964.
Young up-and-comers Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho), and Lindsey Vonn Foundation ambassador Jackie Wiles (Aurora, Ore.) also look to make an impression in PyeongChang.