13 skiers named for World Championships team

Sun, Jan  20, 2013 - By USSA

PARK CITY, UT (Jan. 19) – 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.

• 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.