Torin Koos of Leavenworth made the U.S. roster again making a likely candidate to make his third Olympic team in January.

From the U.S. Ski Team:

World Championship silver medalist Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), along with World Cup sprint medalist Andy Newell (Shaftsburry, VT), Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) and three-time U.S. champion Liz Stephen (East Montelier, VT) are among the athletes headlining the newly named 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team.

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From the U.S. Ski Team:

Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA) led the way for U.S. sprinters in Saturday's World Cup in Lahti, finishing 12th. Petter Northug of Norway won, sprint leader Ola Vigen Hattestad, also of Norway, was second and Nikolay Morilov of Russia took third.

"For Torin, it was a good race. Had things gone more his way, it would have been a pretty different outcome," U.S. Cross Country Coach Patrick Casey said. "He was skiing top six, but ended up getting turned around on a pretty scrappy course."

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Video showing the 360-degree from the "Top of the World" at Whistler Olympic Park, site of the 2010 Olympics' Nordic events.

From the Associated Press:

Kikkan Randall sprinted frenetically through the snowfall, stretching her ski across the finish line and breaking new ground for U.S. skiing.

Randall held off Finland's Pirjo Muranen in a photo finish Tuesday to take silver in the sprint at the Nordic skiing world championships, becoming the first American woman to win a world or Olympic medal in cross-country skiing.

Randall, of Anchorage, Alaska, had never had a top-10 finish in four previous worlds. She led for most of the 1.3-kilometer final but was overtaken by Italy's Arianna Follis in the last turn before the home straight. Follis finished in 2 minutes, 39.3 seconds, and Randall was 0.6 seconds back.

"Everything came together today," Randall said. "It was just kind of a magical day. A good one for me personally, but really a good one for our sport in the United States."

The silver was the first American cross-country medal since Bill Koch won bronze in the 30K at the 1982 worlds.

Also Tuesday, Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway won the men's cross-country sprint, holding off teammate Johan Kjoelstad. Hattestad won in 3:00.8 seconds to beat Kjoelstad by 0.4 seconds. Nikolay Morilov of Russia took bronze.

These worlds have become a turning point for Nordic skiing in the U.S. Halfway into the championships, the Americans lead the medals table with three golds, a silver and bronze -- after never having won more than one medal at the same worlds. Traditional powerhouse Norway has six medals, but only two golds.

Todd Lodwick has two golds in Nordic combined, with teammate Bill Demong finishing third in Sunday's Gundersen event. Lodwick's first gold came in a mass start Friday, hours after Lindsey Van became the first women's ski jumping world champion.

"This is big-time for us," said John Farra, the Nordic director of the U.S. Ski Team. "To get a cross-country medal, I'm not sure people fully realize what that means."

Randall was determined to show the Americans can be a power in cross-country as well.

"We knew we had it in us too," she said. "I went to the awards ceremony that first night when our national anthem was played twice, and definitely felt like I wanted to take my shot at that."

Randall won both her quarterfinal and semifinal heat by taking an early lead and protecting it. She tried the same tactic in the final to avoid getting tangled up in someone else's ski or pole, but Follis proved too strong in the end.

After years of mediocre results, Randall had a breakthrough in 2007 when she won her first World Cup event in Rybinsk, Russia. But she nearly had to give up skiing last year when a blood clot developed in her leg toward the end of the season, forcing her to take blood-thinning medication for six months.

"Every time I get an ache or something in my leg, it gets me a little nervous and scared, but luckily things have come through really well," she said. "I just hope it stays that way. It's definitely been a fight to come back, but today makes it all worth it."

Randall will compete in Wednesday's team sprint and Thursday's relay. She's hoping to keep improving ahead of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

"Americans love it when Americans are winning," she said. "I hope that everybody back home is watching to see what's possible, and gets behind the team going to the Olympics next year."

From the U.S. Ski Team

In an historic day for the USA, Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) took his second World Championship gold and teammate Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) took the bronze during the 2009 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Liberec. The USA is leading the medals count with three gold and a silver after eight of 20 events.

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From the U.S. Ski Team:

American Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) laid down two lengthy jumps and led the cross country to win the gold during a mass start at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Liberec Friday. Lodwick's first career major event medal comes on the heels of teammate Johnny Spillane's (Steamboat Springs, CO) gold in 2003 and Billy Demong's (Vermontville, NY) silver in 2007.

"Words cannot describe it. The biggest thing about my comeback was World Championships. It still hasn't set in, but today I am the best in the world," Lodwick said.

Following Lodwick, Teammate Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) who was third in the cross country portion of the event, finished fifth overall.

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From the U.S. Ski Team:

Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) made it to the finals in the women's race, finishing sixth in a freestyle sprint at Vadidentro, Friday. Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA) sprinted to eighth, marking his and Randall's best finishes of the season.

"Like usual, it was a good and bad day," Cross Country Sprint Head Coach Chris Grover said.

Andy Newell was on target to have one of the fastest qualifying times of the day when he crashed on the final downhill, just 100 meters from the finish. Even though the course was one of the longest on the sprint World Cup, Newell lost crucial momentum and could not make up enough time, finishing 47th.

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From the U.S. Nordic Ski Team:

Billy Demong (Vermontville, NY) and Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) headline a team of six nordic combined skiers and six ski jumpers named by the U.S. Ski Team to compete in the upcoming FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic. The team includes four women ski jumpers who will take part in the historic debut of their participation in the sport at the World Championship level.

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From the U.S. Ski Team:

As the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver draw near, the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team has taken to the venue where it will reach for the gold just over a year from now, competing in two World Cup events this weekend.

"These Olympic test competitions are going to be a great chance for our nordic combined team to be tested on the ski jumps just 13 months before the first 2010 events kick off," U.S. Nordic Program Director John Farra said. "We are excited to see our top three contenders go to battle at the venue"

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This just in from the U.S. Ski Team:

It was another day of jumping domination for Anders Johnson and the U.S. Ski Jumping Team's Lindsey Van (both Park City, UT). Each took in their second win of the weekend when the 2008 U.S. Championships made way for a SuperTour event in Lake Placid.

"I had pretty good jumps today. I was really psyched," Van said. "It feels good to have two wins and have the consistency coming back."

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Here's our monthly 2010 Winter Games update:

LOCAL ATHLETES
Crystal Mountain skier Scott Macartney continues to train as he recovers from a nasty crash that cut last season short.
“It's been good to get back on snow with all the guys and for me it's been good to be back since it's been a while,” Macartney, an ’04 Olympian, said in statement released by the U.S. Ski Team.
Macartney is staying pretty active off the snow, too. He’s surfing, cooking salmon and might take a European vacation. He says Kitzbuhel, the ski area where he had his accident, offered him a week long summer vacation.
Earlier this month Macartney and the U.S. Ski Team finished a hockey cross-training program in Utah. The program ended with a hockey game.
“It was really fun to be out there with everybody and mix it up a little bit,” Macartney said in press release. “I got checked a few times, but we had a good time. It was a very close game. It came down to the wire and could have gone either way.”

TEAMS USA UPDATES
- Snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler won Best Female Action Sports Athlete honors this month at the ESPY Awards.
- Kikkan Randall of the U.S. Nordic ski team spent part of July training on the Eagle Glacier in his home state of Alaska
- Skating Magazine readers voted Johnny Weir the skater of the year making him the first man to win the award since Michael Weiss in 2000. Weir received 1,156 of approximately 8,400 votes.
- The U.S. Snowboarding team finished a training session on Mount Hood on July 25.

FACILITY UPDATES
- According to the Vancouver Sun, a bad splice resulted in an underground explosion that destroyed 14 circuits and left 20 percent of the city in darkness for three days. According to the newspaper, some officials are concerned about a power failure during the Olympics.
- On July 7 the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Arena became the first indoor competition venue to be completed. According to a statement released by organizers the 7,500 arena was finished four months early and on budget. The venue will host men’s and women’s hockey.
- Organizers announced this month that the anti-doping lab for the games will be located at the Richmond Oval, the speed skating venue.

OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS
- The Summer Olympics start Aug. 8 and the Vancouver Olympic Committee will send 36 members to the games to study the event as it continues to plan for 2010.
- General Electric donated a CT scanner for the games that Olympic organizers say will be the first in Whistler. The scanner will be installed in December.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets go on sale Oct. 11, 2008. Tickets.com was selected as the games’ official ticket service.

From the U.S. Ski Team:

The U.S. Ski Team's Liz Stephen (East Montpelier, VT) and Leif Zimmermann (Bozeman, MT) skied their way to titles in the pursuit event during the U.S. Cross Country Distance Championships on Friday evening in Fairbanks. The events were held in the late evening twilight in Fairbanks.

The event also served as the finale of the USSA SuperTour. Russian Ivan Babikov took the win, with Zimmermann the top American in fourth to grab his third U.S. Championship gold of the season. Zimmermann was a double winner at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Houghton, MI in January.

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