August 28, 2007 (Park City, Utah) – Three-time Olympian Bill Demong(Vermontville, NY) and 12-time U.S. champion Lindsey Van (Park City, UT)will look to extend their winning streaks March 15-16 when the U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships return to Utah’s Olympic sites for the first time since 2001, Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner announced.

The two-day schedule on the 2002 Olympic venue at Utah Olympic Park includes jumping titles for men and women. The 134-meter large hill jumping championships are set for March 15 and the 100-meter normal hill title events the next day. The nordic combined championship, a sprint event, will include one jump on the large hill and a 7.5K race March 15 at Soldier Hollow, the Olympic cross country venue.

“These championships are a key part of the Olympic legacy, just as the cross country championships of 2005 and 2006 at Soldier Hollow were. These are outstanding venues,” Bodensteiner said, “and it’s good we have another opportunity to make use of them. They’re outstanding facilities for us in training and we use them constantly, so it’s thrilling to bring a major competition to them.”

In 2001, the last time the championships were held in Utah, Demong won his first two national titles and Van won both of the women’s competitions. Last season, Demong returned from the World Cup with another victory and from the World Championships with a silver medal. He swept both U.S. jumping titles and the nordic combined championship, while Van again won both women’s events. She has won four consecutive U.S. women’s crowns.

Bodensteiner noted the nordic combined skiers are more familiar this season with the trails at Soldier Hollow because of a new 1.5K paved, roller-ski loop. The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, in line with the Center of Excellence, a comprehensive national training and education center being built in Park City, helped fund the loop, boosting the paved trails to 7.5 kilometers.

The championships will be the second major competition at Utah Olympic Park for the 2008 season. The women’s ski jumping Continental Cup will complete its visit to North America with two contests on Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 1-2. The women’s tour features the finest women jumpers in the world including Van and Jessica Jerome (also Park City). The women also will compete Aug. 28-29 in Lake Placid, NY.

Women’s ski jumping will make its debut at the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in the Czech Republic.