A two-time Olympian, Stephen finished far back in her two races at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, 49th and 57th place. But that won’t happen again. The Vermont native was seventh overall at the FIS Tour de Ski, and came sixth in a World Cup race in Poland last month. She’s a distance specialist - she figures to race at least the 15K skiathlon and individual 10K - and is viewed as the “glue” on the women’s national team.Website
Twitter: @LizStephen
Noah Hoffman
Hoffman is an up-and-coming distance specialist whose best performance is likely to come in the 50-kilometer mass start race. A native of Colorado, he makes Park City his training base and hopes to take advantage of the lower (for him) altitude in Sochi. He won’t medal, but that’s not surprising - the U.S. won its only medal in cross country in 1976. Hoffman does enter his first Olympics ranked 28th in the World Cup standings.Website
Torin Koos
A four-time Olympian, Koos is a former three-time All America cross-country skier at the University of Utah who also ran track and cross country for the Utes before graduating in 2004 and setting to work on a masters degree at Westminster College. He has won seven U.S. sprint titles, and trains now with the Bridger Ski Foundation in Montana. If can get reach the final of the sprint in Sochi, he’d have a shot at the podium. Website
Photos: The Salt Lake Tribune, USSA, Associated Press