Queenstown, New Zealand – Queenstown can now count the men of the U.S. Ski Team amongst the international ski racing elite training on the slopes surrounding the New Zealand South Island resort town.

The U.S. Men’s alpine ski team is currently based in Queenstown for a four-week summer training program, including Olympic gold medalist, World Champion and three-time World Cup giant slalom champion Ted Ligety, Olympian and World Cup podium finisher Nolan Kasper, and Olympic athletes Will Brandenburg, Tim Jitloff and Tommy Ford. The U.S. alpine women have also just completed their New Zealand training camp at Mt. Hutt.

“Queenstown provides excellent mountain facilities, Coronet Peak create a high quality snow surface for us to train on and there is also a fantastic mix of off-mountain activities,” says U.S. Head Men’s Technical Coach, Mike Day. “With the Winter Games New Zealand next year, being able to train on the courses is critical to our success at the event and the Winter Olympics a few months on.”

New Zealand occupies an important space during the northern hemisphere’s summer when the world’s elite snowboarders and skiers need somewhere to train and compete. In addition, the Queenstown Lakes’ ski resorts are on the World Cup competition circuits, and host an increasing number of prestigious international snow sport events each year.

Winter Games NZ 2013 is being staged at a crucial time for the athletes, six months out from the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. This will be one of the last chances for athletes to accrue important qualifying points. The event is expected to attract over 1,000 athletes.

“Having so many international teams and events at the southern resorts is testament to the world-class facilities and competitions we have available to snow sports professionals,” said Arthur Klapp, Winter Games NZ CEO. “Athletes are keen to train at the fields where prominent competitions are being staged and Winter Games NZ is no exception to this. It is set to be the premiere international sports event in New Zealand.”

International ski and snowboard teams training and competing in the region this season include the German, Slovakian, British, U.S., French, Korean, Belgian, Australian, Spanish, Chinese and New Zealand teams at Cardrona Alpine Resort, and the women’s Austrian ski team at Treble Cone. The Dutch, Polish, Italian and Finnish teams will be amongst those training at Snow Park NZ, and the Russian, Norwegian, German, Swiss, Canadian, Austrian, Swedish, New Zealand and Japanese national teams also at Coronet Peak.