Winter Sports

Diversity is the theme of this season’s U.S. women’s bobsled roster.

The nine-person team includes an Olympic sprinting gold medalist, an elite hurdler with more than 300,000 Twitter followers, four other athletes with extensive track and field backgrounds, a personal trainer, a volleyball player and a softball shortstop. They come from California to New Jersey, Georgia to Illinois.

ALTA BADIA, Italy) — Lindsey Vonn is heading back to the United States for an unexpected break in the middle of the World Cup ski season and is unlikely to return to Europe until January.

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — The clock is ticking. Only 14 months to go until the Winter Olympics. Shaun White’s message to snowboarding fans (And maybe the competition, too): “Expect the unexpected.”

PARK CITY — Katie Uhlaender was a bundle of nerves as she stood in the finish area at Friday’s World Cup skeleton race, waiting for one final challenger to cross the line.

"It was like watching a scary movie and not wanting to really look," said Uhlaender, the reigning world champion.

When she did, she almost couldn’t believe her eyes.

Valiant, one of the leading comic character-based entertainment companies, will design competition and practice race suits for the team through 2014.

SCHWARZENBERG, Austria — World Cup Alpine skier Bjorn Sieber of Austria died Friday after the van he was riding in swerved off a mountain road and rolled down a hill, police and the Austrian ski federation said.

The 23-year-old Sieber wasn’t on the team for Sunday’s season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, but was scheduled to be one of the skiers who test the course before a race.