Taylor Phinney runner-up for male February Athlete of the Month

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The U.S. Olympic Committee announced luger Erin Hamlin and skiers Lindsey Vonn and Todd Lodwick as its February Athletes of the Month, while Steven Holcomb’s U.S. Men’s Four-Man Bobsled Team was awarded Team of the Month honors.

Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.) and Vonn (Vail, Colo.) shared Female Athlete of the Month honors with extraordinary World Championships performances. Hamlin shocked Germany and the rest of the world by becoming the first non-German to win a luge World Championship title in 16 years in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Feb. 6. The win also snapped Germany’s international racing winning streak dating back to 1997, a 99-race run that included Olympic, World Championship and World Cup events. Hamlin, who suffered from migraine headaches during training at the event, posted the race’s two fastest times and established a new track record en route to her victory. She also joined Wendel Suckow as the only U.S. athletes to win a luge world crown.

Vonn solidified her standing as the best female skier in the world at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Val d’Isere, winning gold in the super-G and the downhill in the first two weeks of February. Following Worlds, Vonn made American history on the World Cup circuit, becoming the winningest woman in U.S. alpine ski racing history with her 19th World Cup victory on Feb. 22. On the final day of the month, she clinched the overall World Cup downhill championship for the second straight year. The only other U.S. woman to have won the downhill in back-to-back years was Picabo Street in 1995-96.

Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) reached a new high in his fairytale return to competition, winning the gold medal in the Nordic combined mass start at the 2009 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships on Feb. 20. Two days later, Lodwick did it again, picking up a second World Championship gold in the Gundersen event. The stunning showing comes after the four-time Olympian came out of his 2006 retirement this season. Lodwick’s second gold marked the first time two U.S. athletes were on the Nordic combined podium together as he was joined by bronze medalist Bill Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.).

Holcomb (Park City, Utah) and his crew made history in claiming the four-man bobsled World Championship in Lake Placid, N.Y., in a four-heat competition from Feb. 28-March 1. Holcomb’s victory by .97 seconds ended a 50-year World Championship medal drought for the U.S. Team USA I push athletes Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), Steve Mesler (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb) helped propel the sled, nicknamed the “Night Train,” to a four-run time of 3:36.61 to take the title.

Paralympic skier Stephani Victor (Park City, Utah) finished third in the women’s voting after winning three gold medals and one silver medal at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships at High One Resort in Kangwonland, South Korea. The 2006 Paralympic gold medalist won gold in slalom, giant slalom and super combined and silver in the super-G in the sitting division from Feb. 20-24. Victor added another gold, silver and bronze in February World Cup events in Sweden and Italy.

Coming in second in the men’s voting was cyclist Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo.), who won a pair of gold medals on his way to setting two American records at a UCI Track World Cup in Denmark, Feb. 13-14. Phinney clocked a time of 4 minutes, 15.223 seconds in the qualifying round of the men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit, surpassing the previous record of 4:19.8 set by Mariano Friedick in 1996. Later, Phinney turned in a time of 4:19.119 in the finals to register his first World Cup victory of the season. Phinney then went on to set his second national record in as many days in his men’s one kilometer time trial victory. He clocked a winning time of 1:01.641 to eclipse the old U.S. mark of 1:01.825 set by Erin Hartwell in 1995.

Earning the third-place vote was figure skater Adam Rippon (Clarks Summit, Pa.). The 2008 World Junior champion repeated his gold-medal win at this year’s competition in Sofia, Bulgaria. Rippon handily won both the short program and the free skate, finishing more than 17 points ahead of silver medalist Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic. Rippon, who trains in Toronto, Canada, under two-time Olympic medalist Brian Orser, set the highest event score ever (222 points) en route to becoming the first man to win the World Junior title twice.

Second place in the team vote went to the U.S. Women’s Short Track Speedskating Team, which won the relay at the World Cup event in Dresden, Germany, in American-record time. Also in Dresden, the U.S. women ranked No. 1 in team classification at a World Cup event for the first time. The team consisted of Katherine Reutter (Champaign, Ill.), Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, Tenn.), Jessica Smith (Melvindale, Mich.), Lana Gehring (Glenview, Ill.) and Maria Garcia (Carson, Calif.).

Coming in third was the U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team, which clinched its 12th straight world team title at the 16th Barefoot Water Ski World Championships on Feb. 1 at Lake Inspiration and Forest Lakes in Otaki, New Zealand. The U.S. Elite Team was led by Keith St. Onge (Winter Haven, Fla.), who won gold medals in men’s slalom and overall, a silver medal in jumping and the bronze medal in tricks; Billy Brzoza (Coventry, R.I.) earned the silver in men’s slalom; Elaine Heller (Alma Center, Wis.) earned silvers in women’s slalom, tricks, jumping and overall and Laura Szwed (White Lake, Mich.) earned bronze medals in women’s slalom and tricks.

Results:

Women
1. Erin Hamlin, Luge/Lindsey Vonn, Alpine Skiing
3. Stephani Victor, Adaptive Alpine Skiing

Men
1. Todd Lodwick, Nordic Combined
2. Taylor Phinney, Cycling
3. Adam Rippon, Figure Skating

Team
1. Steven Holcomb’s Four-Man Team, Bobsled
2. Women’s Short Track World Cup Team, Speedskating
3. U.S. Elite Barefoot Team, Water Ski