Park City, UT – FIS World Cup sprint champion Kikkan Randall leads a talented group of 13 athletes named to the 2013 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. The announcement was made on Wednesday during a final pre-season training camp at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s (USSA) Center of Excellence in Park City, where the team has been mixing conditioning with roller skiing on the nearby Olympic trails of Soldier Hollow.

“I am really excited to build off the momentum from last season both for my individual goals and for what we can achieve as a team during this upcoming year,” said Randall, who resides in Anchorage, Alaska. “The confidence on the women’s team is at an all-time high and with the depth we’ve created, we are focusing on relay success at the World Championship in February. I have been impressed with the high level of preparation seen across the team this summer and fall, and I believe we can turn some heads this winter!”

Newcomer Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.), who had a stellar debut World Cup season last winter, moved up to the A Team to join Randall, as did Aspen, Colo.’s Simi Hamilton. The A Team also includes Liz Stephen (Montpelier, Vt.), Kris Freeman (Andover, N.H.) and Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.).

Diggins and teammate Sadie Bjornsen, of Winthrop, Wash., are coming off first time World Cup podiums, each of them pairing with Randall in team sprints last year.

“The Team is coming off a season of strong performance,” asserted Head Coach Chris Grover. “Kikkan Randall had six individual and two team podiums and was backed up by rookie Jessie Diggins and veteran Liz Stephen who each had breakout years. The men’s team is led by veterans Andy Newell and Kris Freeman who have both demonstrated that they will be entering the 2012-13 season in top form, plus rookie Simi Hamilton who broke through with several top-10 World Cup performances last season as well as U23 silver-medalist Noah Hoffman. ”

New to the team this year is Anchorage veteran Holly Brooks, a 2010 Olympian who had a breakout season on the World Cup.

A strong summer and fall of training focused on more frequent access to snow and partnerships with top World Cup national teams. A key camp for women on Alaska’s Eagle Glacier featured Olympic and World Championship medalists from Canada and Finland plus a camp in Sweden with the Swedish women’s team. The men’s team was on snow on Austria’s Dachstein Glacier and the indoor ski hall in Oberhof, Germany.

“The team had an excellent summer and fall of preparation focusing on more frequent access to snow and partnerships with top World Cup national teams in order to add value to our team that is emerging as a serious World Cup contender,” confirmed Grover. “Our focus for the winter is identifying individual athlete performance strategies for major championship events like this year’s World Championships in Val di Fiemme and the Olympics next year in Sochi. ”

The 2012-13 season, which opens Nov. 24-25 in Gaellivare, Sweden, features the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Val di Fiemme plus the team’s first look at the Sochi Olympic trails with a World Cup in February. The U.S. Cross Country Ski Team will send another full squad to the Tour de Ski stage race, Dec. 29-Jan. 6 at sites across Germany, Switzerland and Italy.