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Shelley Osterloh Reporting As we near the end of the winter season the United State Ski and Snowboard team is proclaiming its best season yet and looking ahead to good results at next year’s Olympics.
At the 2002 Salt Lake City Games U.S. ski and snowboard athletes earned a USA-record 10 Olympic medals. The goal for the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy is to be "Best in the World!"
Bill Gorton, US Ski and Snowboard Team, Chief Operating Officer: "We are not specifying the number of medals; we are just saying we are going to win more than anybody else."
That goal has resulted in one of the deepest teams the US has produced. 27-year old Bode Miller earned a couple of gold medals at World Championships and finished the World Cup season winning the Overall Title, the first time an American has done so in 22 years.
Speed skier Daron Rahlves also took home two medals at World Championships. In Freestyle Skiing two American's lead the world. Jeremy Bloom won a record-tying six in a row World Cup Moguls titles and holds the Overall World Cup title, given for highest cumulative points in the season.
In Aerials, Park City's Jeret Peterson won the overall World Cup title and the Aerials team won the Nation's Cup, a symbol of World Cup Supremacy.
In 2002 American Snowboarders won five medals including a men's sweep of the half pipe. Americans continue to dominate the field with athletes like Keir Dillon and Hannah Teter who won the World Super Pipe Championships this weekend in Park City.
The team’s COO says they've also made progress in areas where the US has traditionally struggled.
Bill Gorton, US Ski and Snowboard Team, Chief Operating Officer: "We are looking forward to winning some nordic combined medals hopefully in Torino, as well."
Since 1997, the US Ski and Snowboard Team's Rallying phrase has been "Best in the World.” This season has given the team new confidence as it prepares to prove it in 2006.
