Sochi 2014: Olympians with Utah connections
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Ted Ligety
The 2006 Olympic gold medalist from Park City enters Sochi with some pretty high expectations, after winning an historic three gold medals at the world championships last year. His best chance for gold comes in his signature event, the giant slalom he's an overwhelming favorite and he has been trying to perform well on the World Cup tour as a way to prepare for the Olympics. His three victories, including one in super-combined, suggest it's working.
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Steven Nyman
The three-time Olympian who grew up at Sundance is a slalom skier turned speed specialist who's healthy again after missing all of the 2011-12 season with a torn Achilles tendon. He returned to win only the second World Cup race of his career in a downhill at Val Gardena barely a year ago, though he hasn't finished higher than 19th in 10 races this season. Coincidentally, that's also his best Olympic finish. He also runs the FantasySkiRacer.com fantasy game.
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Marco Sullivan
The three-time Olympian moved to Salt Lake City last year to train and attend Westminster College, and has been encouraged by his results since recovering from a series of injuries. The California native has enjoyed eight top 20 results all in downhill since last season, and has a shot at improving on his best Olympic performance, a ninth-place finish in the downhill in 2002. He missed the 2006 Olympics after losing a race-off for a start position.
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Julia Mancuso
The versatile four-time Olympian is a graduate of the Winter Sports School in Park City, though she now lives in Hawaii, and has three Olympic medals gold in the giant slalom in 2006 and silvers in the downhill and combined in 2010 more than any other American woman. She started the season slowly but enjoyed three top-10 finishes in the last World Cup before Sochi, and hoped that meant she was rounding into form just in time.
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Jared Goldberg
The Skyline High School graduate and Westminster College student is heading to his first Olympics after a breakout season on the World Cup tour, where the speed specialist enjoyed two top-12 finishes in just five races. He may yet to have to race for a starting spot in Sochi, but he's a promising hope for the future at the very least who could have a much larger presence at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in Korea.
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Megan McJames
McJames endured a tough road to Sochi, having to raise her own money and ski independently once she was cut from the U.S. Ski Team after competing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The Park City native made it, despite finishing only six World Cup races since Vancouver, and no higher than 23rd, in a giant slalom. That race is her best event, though she also could possibly start the slalom, downhill or super-combined, too.
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Tim Jitloff
The former Park City resident who's now based in Germany traveled to the 2010 Vancouver Games, but did not earn a start in any races. The former junior world champion has to be more encouraged for Sochi, after finishing fifth in a World Cup giant slalom in December and coming 16th in that event at last year's world championships.
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Nolan Kasper
The slalom specialist is a part-time resident of Park City and heading to his second Olympics, after finishing 24th in his signature event at the 2010 Vancouver Games. The New Jersey native finished 18th in his only completed World Cup race in the last two seasons, but does have five top-10 finishes since Vancouver. He's battled injuries a lot, having had two hip surgeries and one knee surgery in the last three years.
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David Chodounsky
Having failed to make the U.S. Ski Team out of high school in Colorado, the part-time Park City resident skied in college at Dartmouth, where he won individual and team national championships. Since then, he has shown promise on the World Cup circuit with three top-10 finishes in the two seasons since returning from knee surgery. Such a result in Sochi would be a huge accomplishment.
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Erik Fisher
The downhiller who spends his summers in Park City (and attended the Rowmark Academy there) is hopeful for a better outcome in Sochi than at the 2010 Vancouver Games, where he lost out on the final downhill starting spot to Sundance's Steven Nyman. The Idaho native missed all of last season recovering from knee surgery, and has only one top-25 finish a 13th-place in a downhill at Val Gardena.
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Julia Ford
Ford is back on track after a concussion suffered in a crash ended her season prematurely last year. Still in just her third full season on the World Cup tour, the New Hampshire native is enjoying her best season yet heading into her first Olympics though she's still seeking her first top-20 finish. She moved to Utah last year, settling in Salt Lake City and taking classes at Westminster College.
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Leanne Smith
The speed specialist is heading to the Olympics for the second time, after finishing 18th and 21st in the super-G and super-combined at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She's capable of top-10 finishes if things go well, with five of them the past two seasons including two podiums. A native of New Hampshire, she lives part-time in Park City and studied at Westminster College.
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Resi Stiegler
The daughter of an Olympic champion from Austria, the former Park City resident originally from Wyoming was 11th in the combined and 12th in the slalom at the 2006 Turin Olympics, but missed out in 2010 with a broken leg one of a litany of injuries that has made it tough for the former world junior medalist. She splits her time now between Jackson Hole and Hawaii, and probably would be thrilled with top-10 finishes.
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Photos: The Salt Lake Tribune, USSA, Associated Press