FAMOUS U.S. SKIERS
Donna Weinbrecht has won almost everything in Freestyle. This former Killington local with the signature blonde ponytail won the Olympic gold medal in 1992 and was the 1st woman to ever win a medal in the moguls. It goes with her five World Cup titles; 46 World Cup victories; and the silver medal from her first World Championships (1989) MORE
Lake Tahoe's Julia Mancuso, the reigning Olympic giant slalom champion, is setting
records and collecting medals at an impressive pace. The four-event athlete started
World Cup racing and was a NorAm champion at 16, competed in the Olympics at 17, had
set a U.S. mark for Junior World Championships before she was out of her teens, and
started her twenties by capturing two World Championships medals and establishing a
record for most consecutive U.S. championships top-3s. And then she led the first run of
the 2006 Olympic GS...and rolled to gold. MORE
Veteran Kelly Hillman didn't ski until 9 and didn't turn to aerials until 15,
but she's been making up for lost time. She's been to four World
Championships, picked off a couple of U.S. championships and turned-in
World Cup top-5 performances. Newlywed Hilliman will be taking off this
winter, rehabbing from a horrendous crash in China last December when
she fractured her right femur in a competition jump. She had posted
top-10 results in the first two meets of the 2006 MORE
Bode Miller (official site) - There's a storybook quality to Bode Miller's life - born at home
in New Hampshire's White Mountains, educated at home until the fourth grade, grew up in
a self-styled "hippie cabin" with no electricity or running water, off to a ski academy by 13
because, in large part, he liked skiing's development ladder vs. snowboarding's decided
lack of structure...and on to Olympic medalist, world champion, World Cup champion.
Miller's tenacity, talent and singular racing style - called "a little bit goofy, but it works for
him" by a former teammate - has made him today's most recognized alpine racer. MORE
Moguls skier Jillian Vogtli moved from New York to Utah after college
and got serious about competing. Within 100 days, she'd won the NorAm
title (1996). She's competed in the Olympics and three World
Championships. In 2004, Vogtli enjoyed a resurgance in her
performance, capturing the moguls title at the U.S. Championships.
MORE
Kirsten Clark, three-time Olympian got a rolling start for ski racing at Maine's Sugarloaf USA where she began skiing and racing as a tyke. She's charged from there to World Cup winner, World Championships medalist and the only American to win four straight U.S. downhill championships. Recovering from her season-ending crash in 2004 showed her how much she loves to race and made her an even stronger athlete. MORE
Aerialist Ryan St. Onge - who made the Ski Team at 14 - has taken things
one step, one flip, one turn, one Junior World Championships medal and
one World Cup and U.S. Championships victory at a time. His passion for
aerials and his steadiness have him, coaches say, just starting what
could become ongoing major success. MORE
Jeremy Bloom put his college football career on hold to chase his Olympic dream in moguls for 2002; then he sparkled for two seasons as a receiver and kick return specialist for the University of Colorado before getting back on track with his Olympic dreams. The Coloradoan has been a World Cup champion (2002, 2005), a World Championships gold medalist...and Bloom says he's got room in his trophy case for an Olympic medal from Torino. MORE
Stacey Cook is from Lake Tahoe and enjoyed skiing as a kid but she really got jazzed about it when she joined Northstar's "real" racing program - and won her first race. She added downhill in 2003, then won the NorAm overall and DH titles in '04. She skied onto the 2006 Olympic Team and U.S. coaches agree she's bound for major international success. MORE
Lindsey Kildow from Vail is one of the few world-class, four-event ski racers. Besides winning at the World Cup level, she's the only American to win at Italy's Trofeo Topolino (the so-called Junior-Junior Worlds, for kids 11-14) and earn Junior Worlds medals and U.S. titles - all of it while a teenager. Six weeks after she turned 20, Kildow produced her first World Cup victory. MORE
Other U.S. Alpine Ski Team bios.
Other U.S. Freestyle Team bios.
