MONDAY, NOV. 5, 2001

OLYMPIC SEASON OPENS WITH COLORADO SWING
Biggest Early Season Lineup of International Ski Racing in Colorado
History

Colorado ski resorts will kickoff the Olympic season with the biggest
lineup of international ski races in state history with the
season-opening U.S. Ski Team Colorado Swing. The three weekend circuit
at Loveland, Aspen and Beaver Creek will attract most of the world's top
alpine ski racers to Colorado resorts for early-season training and
World Cup ski racing. The events will be seen nationwide on CBS Sports,
ESPN, and Outdoor Life Network with worldwide coverage of events in
Aspen and Beaver Creek World Cups.

"Colorado has always played a key role in the World Cup. Being able to
kickoff the Olympic season in Colorado is a big plus for the world's top
racers," said former Olympian and Aspen native Bill Marolt, now U.S. Ski
Team president and CEO, "thanks to the combination of what mother nature
provides and the technology of snow preparation at Colorado resorts."

The Colorado Swing will open Nov. 15-18 in Loveland with the Nature
Valley Alpine Cup. The opening event is expected to draw many of the
world's top slalom racers in a tuneup event for the World Cup a week
later. Americans Erik Schlopy (Park City, Ut.) and Bode Miller
(Franconia, N.H.) will headline the men's slaloms Nov. 15-16, while
Americans Sarah Schleper (Vail, Colo.) and Kristina Koznick (Burnsville,
Minn.) will lead the field in the women's slaloms Nov. 17-18 at
Loveland.

The Nov. 17 women's slalom at the Nature Valley Alpine Cup will take on
additional significance as a designated U.S. Ski Team Gold Cup event.
The top U.S. ski racer in the women's slalom will get a wild card spot
on the U.S. Olympic Team. (The men's Gold Cup slalom will be held in
late December in Utah.)

Action will shift to Aspen Nov. 22-26 for the stateside opening of the
International Ski Federation's Café de Colombia Alpine World Cup. The
five-race weekend will pit the world's best against a very strong U.S.
Ski Team. The women will open with a World Cup giant slalom on
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, with the men skiing GS the next day. The GS
field - with new stars rising in the absence of defending champ Hermann
Maier - will put the spotlight on Schlopy, the rising American star who
was third in the season-long World Cup GS last year, an 18-year best for
an American.

The women's slalom, which last year pitted young Croatian star Janica
Kostelic against American star Koznick, comes up on Saturday. The men
wrapup the weekend with back-to-back slaloms Sunday and Monday.

Action shifts to the world-reknowned Birds of Prey downhill at Beaver
Creek Dec. 1-2 where World Champion Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, Calif.)
and hometown hero Chad Fleischer (Vail, Colo.) point their skis downhill
at 75 mph in one of the steepest and technically-challenging courses on
the World Cup circuit. Rahlves, who beat all of the powerful Austrians
on their home course in last year's World Championships, comes into this
year's World Cup circuit with a huge confidence boost.

Spectator access at each stop of the Colorado Swing is free, with plenty
of activities in addition to seeing the best Olympic ski racers in
action.