The United States earned three medals total at the 2002 Games, sweeping the men's (Jim Shea, Jr.) and women's (Tristan Gale) gold medals. Lea Ann Parsley also earned a silver in Salt Lake.

The three men nominated to the team are 2002, 2004 America’s Cup champion Zach Lund (Salt Lake City, UT), three-time Verizon National Champion Eric Bernotas (Avondale, PA) and Kevin Ellis (Dallas, TX). The men are ranked second, fifth and seventh in the world.

The U.S. was allowed to nominate a maximum of three men as a result of the team being ranked second in the overall World Cup points. All three men will be making their Olympic debuts in Torino.

Chris Soule, (Trumbull, CT) 2002 Olympian and 2003 World Cup champion, and 2003 Junior World silver medalist Caleb Smith (Lake Placid, N.Y.) are being nominated as replacements.

Three-time national champion Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, CO) was the only woman nominated. Uhlaender, ranked fifth in the world, will making her Olympic debut. The U.S. earned only one sled for the Games as a result of the women’s team not being ranked as one of the top three nations in World Cup points. The American team finished ten points behind Switzerland in its effort to get a second sled. The two women's replacement athletes are 2005 World Cup Champion Noelle Pikus-Pace (Orem, UT) and 2005 America’s Cup Champion Courtney Yamada (Boise, ID).

All local and national media will have the opportunity to speak to the athletes during the week of January 16-20 via teleconference from Europe. With the teams competing overseas and traveling to the next World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland having a teleconference this weekend was not possible. Stay tuned for dates, times and numbers for the teleconference call.