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Updated at 7:02 a.m., Monday, January 26, 2009

Skiing: Miller, Vonn, Mancuso lead U.S. team for worlds

Associated Press

SCHLADMING, Austria — Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso will lead the United States team at next month's World Alpine Ski Championships in Val d'Isere, France.

The nine-man, eight-woman team was announced Monday, one day before a men's World Cup slalom in Schladming, and included 10 skiers who raced at the Olympics and six who have never before competed at the worlds.

"We are bringing a powerful team to Worlds," U.S. Alpine director Jesse Hunt said in Park City, Utah. "We have seasoned World Championship medalists with Lindsey, Julia and Bode. Plus Ted (Ligety), Marco (Sullivan) and Steven (Nyman) have success on the World Cup. Now they're aiming for top results at worlds."

Miller won four gold and one silver medal at the 2003 and '05 championships, Mancuso took two bronze in '05 and a silver in '07, and Vonn captured two silvers in '07.

Missing from the squad were TJ Lanning and Leanne Smith, who both have injured knees from World Cup downhill crashes Saturday in Kitzbuehel, Austria, and Cortina d'Amezzo, Italy, respectively.

The world championships are Feb. 3-15 and include a course for the men's speed events that also was featured in the 1992 Winter Olympics.

The men's team will be made up of Miller, Ligety, Sullivan, Nyman, Jimmy Cochran, Erik Fisher, Tim Jitloff, Andrew Weibrecht and Jake Zamansky. The women's team consists of Vonn, Mancuso, Stacey Cook, Hailey Duke, Chelsea Marshall, Megan McJames, Sarah Schleper and Resi Stiegler.