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2006 Torino Olympic preview...snowboarding
// U.S. Olympic Committee // October 31, 2005
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, which collected a U.S.-record 10 medals at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and 15 medals from the various World Championships in 2003, is committed to being “Best in the World!” at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy. “It’s totally do-able,” said Alan Ashley, vice president of athletics for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, whichincludes 10 able-bodied teams.
Unlike 2002 where the USSA goal for three years had been 10 medals, Ashley said the 2006 goal does not include a specific amount of medals. “The idea of being ‘Best in the World!’ means we dominate snow sports. We have set goals of medals in every sport - alpine and snowboarding, freestyle and nordic...and,” he continued, “based on the way our athletes have been performing this season, there’s no reason to think we won’t reach that goal and be best in Torino. We have extremely talented veterans and talented youngsters, and strong depth, especially in alpine - both men and women - as well as freestyle and snowboarding.”
Lindsey Jacobellis (Bondville, Vt.) may be U.S. Snowboarding’s first double-threat in the Olympic Games: she’s been queen of the snowboardcross for two seasons straight and regularly throws in halfpipe titles at the World Cup level and Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix series. Fellow teammate and teen sensation Hannah Teter (Belmont, Vt.) consistently lands on the podium no matter the level of competition – from the Grand Prix to World Cup to X Games to World Championships. Fifteen-year-old Elena Hight proved she is a contender in the halfpipe with two Grand Prix podiums in 2005. In alpine competition, look for Michelle Gorgone (Sudbury, Mass.) to make her
Olympic debut in 2006.
A strong men’s team will likely be led by 2005 Worlds SBX champ Seth Wescott (Farmington, Maine), who recently added an ’05 SBX silver at the X Games to his collection. Jason Hale (Sierraville, Calif.) grabbed the SBX bronze at Worlds and is expected to continue his charge in 2006. In the pipe, Steve Fisher (St. Louis Park, Minn.), Luke Wynen (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) and Tommy Czeschin (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) are names to look for. PGX racers Adam Smith (Tangent, Ore.) and 2002 bronze medalist Chris Klug (Aspen, Colo.) are expected to be out front for USA.
The snowboarding competition at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games will include parallel giant slalom (PGS), halfpipe (HP) and, for the first time, snowboardcross (SBX).
In accordance with the new Federation Internationale de Ski/International Olympic Committee eligibility requirements, all riders must each have at least one top-25 finish in a FIS World Cup or FIS World Championships before January 2006 and must have accumulated at least 120 FIS points in the specific Olympic discipline on the January 2006 FIS points list in order to be eligible to qualify for the Torino Games.
While the selection criteria has not yet been finalized for the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team, given the qualification standards to compete in Torino, U.S. athletes will need to qualify for, attend and place in the top-25 at least one World Cup before January 2006. The USA has a relatively small quota for entering athletes in a World Cup (generally two to six spots depending on gender and discipline), except for the Lake Placid, N.Y. World Cup in which the U.S. can enter an additional six men and women in each discipline.
Top Hopefuls:
Parallel Giant Slalom:
Michelle Gorgone (Sudbury, Mass.)
Stacia Hookom (Vail, Colo.)
Chris Klug (Aspen, Colo.)
Lisa Kosglow (Boulder, Colo.)
Adam Smith (Bend, Ore.)
Halfpipe:
Tricia Byrnes (Stratton, Vt.)
Kelly Clark (West Dover, Vt.)
Thomas Czeschin (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.)
Steve Fisher (St. Louis Park, Minn.)
Elena Hight (Zephyr Cove, Nev.)
Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.)
Danny Kass (Portland, Maine)
Ross Powers (South Londonderry, Vt.)
Hannah Teter (Belmont, Vt.)
J.J. Thomas (Golden, Colo.)
Snowboardcross:
Joanie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.)
Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, Calif.)
Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.)
Seth Westcott (Farmington, Maine)
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