For 17 days in February, all eyes will be on Torino, Italy, site of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Feb. 10-26, 2,500 athletes from all over the world, and more than a few from Minnesota, will convene in the metropolitan Italian city to compete in 15 sports.
Athletes representing 85 countries will attend the Games, and approximately 215 competitors will make up the U.S. team. Since Minnesotans tend to be pretty familiar with ice, snow, and the sports they inspire, it’s no wonder that more than 30 athletes from the North Star State are seriously vying for a chance to compete on the world’s stage.
Here’s a quick look at some of these local winter sports stars. Although many U.S. Olympic teams had not finalized their rosters when we went to press, these are some of the faces you may see them in Torino – zipping down the slopes, skating around the tracks, and receiving medals on the podium!
Alpine Skiing
Name: Kristina Koznick
Date of birth: Nov. 24, 1975
Hometown: Eagan
Koznick began skiing competitively when she was 7 years old at Buck Hill Ski Area in Burnsville. After strong performances at the Junior Olympics, she made the U.S. Ski Team at 15 and was the youngest American woman ever to compete in an Alpine World Cup event. She has competed in two Olympic games, and has accumulated over 18 World Cup medals.
Name: Lindsey Kildow
Date of birth: Oct. 18, 1984
Born: St. Paul
Up-and-comer Lindsey Kildow was the breakout sensation of the 2005 World Cup season. She surprised a lot of people when she won the opening downhill event of the 2005 season in Lake Louise, Alberta, but then she went on to finish among the top three in five additional contests by midseason. Like Koznick, she also grew up skiing at Buck Hill Ski Area. Now she’s a top contender for a spot on the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team.
Luge
Name: Tony Benshoof
Date of birth: July 7, 1975
Born: St. Paul
Resides: White Bear Lake
Luge athletes lie on their backs on open sleds, feet first. They race down an ice-covered course filled with hairpin turns, steering with their calves. Athletes often reach speeds of about 75 mph. Both men and women compete in singles and doubles events.
Tony Benshoof finished 17th at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. He’s also included in 2002 Guinness World Records Book for establishing the highest-ever recorded luge speed (86.6 mph). As a member of USA Luge’s national team for the past 15 years, Tony is on track to becoming the top U.S. men’s singles medal winner of all time. When he’s not racing down ice tracks, he likes to water ski on White Bear Lake.
Curling
Name: Cassie Johnson
Date of birth: Oct. 30, 1981
Born and resides: Bemidji
Minnesotan teammates: Jamie Johnson (Bemidji), Jessica Schultz (Duluth; now resides in Bemidji), and alternate Courtney George (Duluth; now resides in Bemidji).
Name: Pete Fenson
Date of birth: Feb. 29, 1968
Born and resides: Bemidji
Minnesotan teammates: Shawn Rojeski (Chisholm), Joe Polo (Cass Lake), John Shuster (Chisholm), and alternate Scott Baird (Bemidji).
Johnson’s curling team (called a “”) won silver at the 2005 World Women’s Curling Championship in March just weeks after winning the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling. The Johnson sisters and Maureen Brunt also won the 2002 world junior title, and Cassie Johnson and Brunt teamed up again to win the silver the following year.
The Fenson rink finished sixth at the recent Ford World Championships, securing the U.S. Men’s Olympic berth for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games along the way.
Snowboarding
Name: Steve Fisher
Date of birth: Sept. 21, 1982
Born: St. Louis Park
Fisher is among the world’s elite halfpipe riders, but it all began in a Minnesota landfill. His initial run took place on a halfpipe cut into mounds of trash at a local dump. He received serious attention from U.S. snowboarding coaches with his 2003 U.S. Snowboard Finals win, earned the bronze at the 2003 World Championships
Speedskating
Name: Amy Sannes
Date of birth: Feb. 3, 1977
Born: St. Paul, MN
Speedskating races consist of two skaters who must compete simultaneously on a 400-meter track. There are two separate lanes on the track, and the inside lane is shorter than the outside lane. In order for the competitors in each race to skate the same distance, they must change lanes once each lap. A flagman directs the leading skater to cross over first. All the competitors are ranked on the basis of time.
Sannes is a two-time Olympian who finished eighth in the 1,500m in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and hopes to compete in Torino in 2006. She is a current member of the 2005 World Cup team.
Name: Amy Peterson
Date of birth: Nov. 29, 1971
Hometown: Maplewood
Peterson is a five-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist. After spending the past three years in retirement as a coach, she’s staging a comeback for the 2006 Games in Torino. Peterson is a nine-time U.S. Short Track Champion and was the 1998-1999 U.S. Speedskating Athlete of the Year.
Biathlon
Name: Jill Krause Beste
Date of birth: Feb. 17, 1978
Hometown: St. Cloud
Biathlon combines cross-country skiing and rifle marksmanship. Biathletes alternate skiing and shooting, competing under the pressure of the clock that continues to run even as they stop to shoot. There is a penalty for each missed shot, so biathletes must balance speed with shooting accuracy.
As a third-grader, Jill Krause had hopes of becoming a figure skater. But when she moved to Minnesota in seventh grade, she discovered skiing. Krause is now a solid Biathlon World Cup competitor .
Hockey
Name: Jenny Potter
Hometown: Eagan
Name: Krissy Wendell
Hometown: Brooklyn Park
Name: Natalie Darwitz
Hometown: Eagan
Potter is a two-time Olympian (and first-time mother) returning to the squad in Torino. A 2004 graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth, she finished tied for third on the 2004 Four Nations Cup team. Two other team members, Wendell and Darwitz, were both members of the top-ranked University of Minnesota hockey squad. Each also participated on the U.S. team at the 2004 Women’s Four Nations Cup and on the U.S. Olympic Team in 2002.
Name: Jason Blake
Hometown: Moorhead
Martin is an experienced members of Team USA, having participated in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. In addition, Minnesota Wild player Brian Rolston was a member of the 2002 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team.
