Lincoln, NH (Saturday, January 25, 2003) - Team USA captured the attention of New England at the third race of the Jeep King of the Mountain Series held at Loon Mountain this afternoon. 1994 Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist Tommy Moe took third place in the Men's Ski competition, behind France's Romuald Licinio and champion Anders Wiggerud of Sweden. Chris Klug, 2002 Olympic Bronze medalist, took second place in the Men's Snowboard competition ahead of Sweden's Richard Richardsson and behind Mathieu Bozzetto of France. Bozzetto and Wiggerud will take the coveted Jeep King of the Mountain crown along with the black Paul Mitchell Leaders jerseys to the World Professional Ski and Snowboard Championships to be held in Aspen, Colorado next month.

Today's Jeep King of the Mountain Series held great excitement for both athletes and spectators, including tight turns, high energy, speed, and incredibly close finishes. Of the four skiers who advanced to the second round of the ski competition, Moe finally knocked out Open Qualifier Zach Crist, who is the overall individual points leader in Men's skiing and who took first place at last week's race at Boyne Mountain. Wiggerud took first place over Licinio in a suspenseful second run of the final race, beating Licinio by making up the 0.05 seconds he lost in the first run, and making up another 0.05 seconds. Wiggerud's victory helped move Team Sweden's skiers into first place in the team standings.

In the Snowboard competition, after repeating last week's final race, Richardsson lost his chance to retain his title when Klug beat him by 0.53 seconds in the semi-final. Richardsson took the third place seat from fellow Swedish National team member Daniel Biveson, who competed as an Open Qualifier this afternoon. In the final race, Bozzetto faced Klug down the Loon's Coolidge Street racecourse and won by 0.75 in the final run.

Bozzetto is currently ranked first internationally, having taken home a silver medal from last week's World Championships in Austria, and winning almost every World Cup he has competed in this season.

The team title for today's race was awarded to Team France, which consisted of Bozzetto and Licinio, who earned only 5 points more than Team Sweden, and only 10 points more than Team USA. Team titles are awarded based upon the number of points that each team member won based on their individual performances. All points earned by each individual athlete and each team for skiing and snowboarding will be totaled at the final race in the Jeep King of the Mountain Series February 21-22, 2003 in Aspen Colorado.

The next Jeep King of the Mountain Series' World Professional Ski and Snowboard Championships race will be the finals, which will take place in Aspen in February. Teams and athletes will be awarded double points at that race. All top amateur and professional skiers and snowboarders will again be welcome to attempt to qualify on Friday, February 21 for the Jeep King of the Mountain Series race to take place the following day.

Jeep King of the Mountain Series celebrates its 10th Anniversary Season in 2002-03.