Winter Sports

PARK CITY —Reigning Olympic champion Hannah Kearney felt a different kind of pressure Thursday night when she stood at the top of the moguls run.

The announcers made it clear American teammates Heather McPhie and Eliza Outtrim were already guaranteed spots on the podium.

"I thought, OK, I'm the only one who can blow it now,'" Kearney said with a laugh.

WINTER PARK, Colo. — Taking a deep breath, Wally Mozdzierz points his skis down the icy slope and leans forward. He hears the snow crunch and feels the contours change beneath him as he glides swiftly down the mountain, his guide following close behind.

The run is exhilarating and adrenaline pumping — common sensations for anyone on the slopes. But for Mozdzierz, it’s different. He’s totally blind.

“Slight right. Good. Good. Sharp left. Good. Good. Shallow right,” the guide barks as Mozdzierz navigates the bumpy run at Winter Park, home to the National Sports Center for the Disabled.

KITZBUEHEL, Austria — Right in time for the Alpine skiing world championships, Ted Ligety has regained his speed in super-G — on a hill that hasn’t suited him in the past.

The American placed sixth in Friday’s race at Kitzbuehel, Austria, to bounce back from a disappointing showing at Val Gardena, Italy, where he finished 25th last month.

In four previous starts, Ligety had never been better than 22nd in the Austrian resort. His best result came 12 days before the super-G at the world championships, the first men’s race at the event in Schladming, Austria.

SALT LAKE CITY — In the midst of a hot summer, long-track speedskater Heather Richardson took to the ice, only not as some might expect.

She showed up at the Utah Olympic Oval with a used pair of skates from a local Play It Again Sports store, knee pads and a stick supplied by coach Ryan Shimabukuro.

Hockey anyone?

KEARNS — The Utah Olympic Oval has been chosen as the site of the 2014 U.S. Olympic trials for short-track and long-track speedskating.

U.S. Speedskating announced the decision Wednesday following a monthlong bidding process.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn is back at full speed.

Vonn won a World Cup downhill Saturday for her first victory in more than five weeks, beating overall leader Tina Maze by nearly half a second.

And most importantly, she’s back to being fully healthy after a nasty bacterial problem that ate away the muscles in her powerful legs and sapped her energy the last few months.

The camera zoomed out as snowboarder Kevin Pearce sank deeper into the leather rocking chair, his voice quivering with every word he whispered to his therapist.

Just when Pearce thought he was making progress from a traumatic brain injury he suffered during a frightful fall in the halfpipe three years ago, more bad news seemed to follow.