Consensus is that the United States is very strong in two areas — alpine and snowboarding.
Recent result bare that out.
Louie Vito of Sandy won back-to-back win in the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix this month.
And Ted Ligety of Park City continues to finish high in alpine ski racing.
In his latest win, Vito hit back-to-back 1080s, followed by a 900 and closing front side 720 for a 95 on his first run. On his second run he pushed the envelope even further with a series that included consecutive 1080s followed by consecutive 900s and a closing 720 for a score of 96.
Ligety finished fifth in the World Cup combined in Kitzbuehel, Austria, which included an eighth in famed downhill. He very well could have won the event had he not made a mistake in one of his strongest events, the slalom. He was 43rd in the slalom and eighth in the downhill.
In the World Cup freestyle moguls, Nate Roberts of Park City finished ninth in a dual mogul event at Deer Valley earlier this month. Jay Bowman-Kirigin of Salt Lake City was 12th.
Scotty Bahrke of Park City overcame fog and bad weather to finish sixth in World Cup aerials at the 2010 Olympic site in Vancouver. It was his best finish in a World Cup event.
In competition Sunday, Bahrke finished 10th in an aerial event in Japan.
Bode Miller of Brettlon Woods, N.H., became the winningest alpine skier last month by winning the Kitzbuehel combined. Miller has now won 28 World Cup event. He bettered Phil Mahre's record of 27.
Miller has let it be known he likely will not compete in the 2010 Games. His poor record and equally poor attitude in the 2006 Olympics brought him mountains of bad press and criticism.
In other events involving Utah-based athletes:
Jonathan Cheever of Park City was sixth in the men's snowboard cross held a couple of weeks ago.
Two Utah skiers were named to the FIS Junior World Championships in Spain. Competition begins Saturday and runs through March 1.
Making the team were Andrew Phillips of Sandy and Kiley Staples Park City. Staples is the defending NorAm slalom champion.
E-mail: grass@desnews.com