COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The United States Olympic Committee today announced the finalists for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow, Best of January, which recognize the outstanding achievements of Team USA athletes from last month. Fans are invited to vote for their favorite athletes and teams at TeamUSA.org/Awards through midnight Tuesday, Feb. 5.
A total of 10 sports - including bobsled, fencing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, luge, Para alpine skiing, Para Nordic skiing, rugby, track cycling and wrestling - are represented among the 13 finalists across men's, women's and team categories. The finalists' collective accomplishments tell the inspiring story of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes year-round.
JANUARY FINALISTS
Male Athlete of the Month
Nathan Chen (Salt Lake City, Utah), Figure Skating
Won his third consecutive U.S. title in Detroit, smashing his own scoring records for short program, free skate and overall score, as well as the U.S. record for the highest margin of victory at 58.21 points.
Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colorado), Freestyle Skiing
Claimed his first X Games gold medal in superpipe in his hometown of Aspen, Colorado, scoring a 92.66 on his second run to best the competition by 2.33 points.
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, New York), Fencing
Secured two world cup medals in foil fencing with a silver at the world cup in Tokyo and a bronze at the world cup in Paris to retain his No. 3 world ranking.
Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minnesota), Para Nordic Skiing
Earned two silver medals in the men's sitting class of the middle-distance cross-country and biathlon sprint at the world cup in Ostersund, Sweden, marking his first career cross-country world cup podium finish.
Thomas Walsh (Vail, Colorado), Para Alpine Skiing
Won his first career world championship medals, earning two bronzes in the men's standing class of giant slalom and super combined in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia and Sella Nevea, Italy.
Female Athlete of the Month
Alysa Liu (Richmond, California), Figure Skating
At age 13, became the youngest skater ever to win a U.S. title, the first American woman to land two triple axels in a single performance and just the second woman in the world to land three triple axels in a single competition.
Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky), Para Nordic Skiing
Secured four medals in the women's sitting class at the world cup in Ostersund, Sweden, including golds in middle-distance cross-country and cross-country sprint, and silvers in biathlon sprint and biathlon individual.
Tamyra Mensah-Stock (Katy, Texas), Wrestling
Became the first American wrestler in any discipline to win three career titles at the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, widely considered the toughest open freestyle event in the world.
Elana Meyers Taylor (Douglasville, Georgia), Bobsled
Medaled in every women's bobsled world cup race in January, including a gold-medal-finish with Lauren Gibbs in St. Moritz, Switzerland, to end Germany's 24-race winning streak in world cup and Olympic bobsled races.
Emily Sweeney (Suffield, Connecticut), Luge
Secured the women's bronze medal at the world championships in Winterberg, Germany, marking her first career senior championship podium finish 11 months after a crash at the Winter Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018 in which she broke a bone in her neck and back.
Team of the Month
U.S. men's foil team, Fencing
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, California), Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Race Imboden (Brooklyn, New York) and Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, California) won the silver medal at the world cup in Tokyo, and added a bronze medal at the world cup in Paris, extending the team's streak to nine straight world cup podium finishes to retain its No. 1 world ranking.
U.S. men's team, Rugby Sevens
Won its third straight silver medal in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, defeating host and reigning world cup champion New Zealand to tie Fiji for the No. 1 ranking in the world.
U.S. men's team pursuit, Track Cycling
Eric Young (Geneva, Illinois), Colby Lange (Vail Valley, Colorado), Ashton Lambie (Lincoln, Nebraska) and Danny Summerhill (Centennial, Colorado) earned the silver medal in team pursuit at the world cup in Hong Kong, marking the best finish for a U.S. men's team pursuit squad in over a decade.
SELECTION PROCESS
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per sport discipline. An internal nominating committee selects finalists to advance to the voting round. Votes received from NGB representatives and select members of the media account for 50 percent of the final tally, with the other half determined by online fan voting via TeamUSA.org/Awards.
