Pete Fenson won't get the chance to return to the Olympics. But John Shuster, who teamed with Fenson to win the bronze medal in men's curling at the 2006 Winter Games, remains in the hunt.
Shuster's rink was among six Minnesota-linked teams to qualify last weekend for the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials in Broomfield, Colo. Four men's teams and four women's teams advanced from last weekend's challenge round, joining six qualifiers in each gender who had won their spots at regional qualifiers last month. The trials will be Feb. 21-28, and the men's and women's winners will represent the U.S. at the 2009 world championships and the 2010 Olympics.
Shuster, of Duluth, now skips his own team and finished 8-1 to win the men's challenge round. Duluth's Aileen Sormunen skipped her team to a 4-1 record to win the women's challenge round. Teams led by Amy Wright of Duluth and Margie Smith of Shoreview also made the field, as did the teams of Craig Brown and Greg Romaniuk, which include Minnesotans.
Fenson, of Bemidji, led the U.S. to its first Olympic curling medal in 2006 but finished with a 5-4 record in the challenge round and failed to qualify for the Trials. All five Minnesota women on the 2006 Olympic team -- Cassie (Johnson) Potter, Jamie (Johnson) Haskell, Maureen Brunt, Jessica Schultz and Courtney George -- will compete in the trials.
Seven of the 10 teams in the men's Olympic Trials field include Minnesotans, as do five of the women's teams.
RACHEL BLOUNT
Etc. • St. Louis Park native Steve Fisher won the halfpipe competition at last weekend's U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in Boreal Resort, Calif.
• Karin Friberg of Roseville has been named to the U.S. team that will compete at this week's Junior World Championships for ski jumping and nordic combined in Slovakia.
