OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - PARK CITY, UT (Dec. 19) - With five World Cup stops as well as the first U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, presented by Sprint, under its belt, the U.S. Snowboarding halfpipe, snowboardcross and alpine squads are well on track for a season of making their way to the tops of podiums everywhere.

“We had an amazing season last year, but moving ahead we're looking to push the envelope even further as we look toward the Olympic season,” said U.S. Snowboarding Program Director Jeremy Forster.

The snowboardcross athletes, who saw numerous World Cup and X Games podiums last season, have spent the summer working on individual training. The summer work was capped off by an unprecedented camp in which the athletes trained on one of only two built out cross courses in the world, complete with two start gates, along with the ski cross team at Telluride Resort in Colorado.

“The camp was crucial for us to be prepared to go race a World Cup course. Other nations have all been practicing on glaciers, but I don't think they've been able to build the kind of quality course that we were able to build,” U.S. Snowboarding Head Coach Peter Foley said. “I feel like we're in a really good position to do well.”

An authority on crushing the field of any competition she comes across, Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) looks to become the winningest athlete, male or female, on the World Cup snowboardcross circuit. Currently, she sits tied for the women's record at 14 wins with Karine Ruby of France and is two wins away form beating the men's record of 15 wins, which Jasey Jay Anderson of Canada.

“It's definitely something I strive for, but my goal is to just go out and do one race at a time and make sure I'm staying healthy and strong,” Jacobellis said.

Jacobellis also looks to defend her X Games gold medalist status in 2009. The powerhouse has won the gold four times in her career.

Also aiming to put his mark in the book of SBX history is Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA). In 2008, Holland became the second man since teammate Shaun Palmer (South Lake Tahoe, CA) to win three consecutive X Games gold medals.

“I always go into a race to win it and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Going into X Games I want to win it again and I think I can,” Holland said. “It's not going to be easy - I know that. But, it never has been. I really am looking to win, get the four-peat and break the record.”

The rest of the crew will undoubtedly make a splash at competitions around the globe with the likes of snowboarding icon Palmer, Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME), Olympian Jayson Hale (Sierraville, CA) and World Cup winners Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, ID) and Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, MI) gracing its A Team.

The U.S. athletes are the ones to beat in the halfpipe this year as Olympic gold medalists Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) and Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT), X Games gold medalists Steve Fisher (Breckenridge, CO) and Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO), and U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix overall champion Louie Vito (Sandy, UT) stack an ironclad roster.

“We have veterans who have won the Grand Prix series and have won the X Games. Then, we have some up-and-coming young rippers like Greg Bretz [Mammoth Lakes, CA]. We have the perfect combination in the lead up to 2010,” U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe Head Coach Mike Jankowski said. “And on the women's side, to have two gold and a silver Olympic medalist on the team is unparalleled. It's a stacked roster. It's exciting and it bodes well for our 2010 medal push.”

Clark, who recently re-joined the U.S. Snowboarding ranks, won the Grand Prix overall title in 2008 and the first stop on the 2009 tour in Copper. She is looking to focus on making strides in her riding as she looks ahead to Vancouver.

“My focus has shifted this year to be more long term. I'm really taking some time to focus on my riding and I'm taking the focus off the events this year because next year, at the first Grand Prix, that's the event that I want to win,” Clark said. “I'm just taking the time that I need to take to make sure I have every trick learned and everything in the right place to qualify for the Olympics next year.”

Bleiler will also be in the mix, looking to defend her crown as queen of the X Games halfpipe and Teter will be back in the mix hunting for the win as she plans to donate the proceeds of her prize money to a village she sponsors in Kenya.

Fisher plans to take things competition by competition with the end goal being a spot on the 2010 team. Vito, who also won the first stop on the 2009 Grand Prix tour, is looking to make his way into the Olympic field as well.

“Vito kicked off the year with a win against a very competitive field, and Fisher, of course, has what it takes to win contests,” Jankowski said.

The halfpipe crew is also bolstered by a band of rookies who are making their way up the ranks. Most notably, Madeline Schaffrick (Steamboat Springs, CO), Kaitlyn Farrington (Sun Valley, ID), Ross Baker (Squaw Valley, CA) and Broc Waring (Edwards, CO) all made finals at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix where Schaffrick, 14, finished fourth.

After an incredible season where four riders earned five World Cup podiums for the crew, the alpine snowboarding athletes are ready after a summer of intense physical training to go bigger in 2009.

“This summer was more of a physical training summer to get everyone on the fitness program. We see, going into the season already, that it's paying off,” U.S. Snowboarding Alpine Head Coach Steve Persons said. “The athletes have bought into it completely and I think the fitness side of it is a big step in the right direction. The biggest thing for us is to watch it unfold on snow.”

Michelle Gorgone (Boston, MA), Justin Reiter (Steamboat Springs, CO), and Adam Smith (Bend, OR), who each had one top-3 finishes, and Tyler Jewell (Steamboat Springs, CO), who pulled in two podium finishes, headline the roster and are looking to put their names to another historic U.S. Snowboarding season.

The action heads to Arosa, Switzerland this weekend with snowboardcross competing on Saturday and alpine on Sunday.