Courtesy: United States Olympic Committee
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Standout performances during December earned swimmer Caeleb Dressel (Green Cove Springs, Florida), alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colorado) and the ice dance team of Madison Hubbell (Sylvania, Ohio) and Zachary Donohue (Madison, Connecticut) Best of December honors for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow, the United States Olympic Committee announced today.
Dressel led U.S. swimmers with nine medals – including six golds and three silvers – at the 2018 FINA Short Course World Championships in Hangzhou, China. In addition to helping claim six relay medals, he won gold in the men’s 100-meter freestyle, and took silver in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. He set American records in the 50 freestyle (20.43) and 100 freestyle (45.62) and was part of four world-record-setting relays.
Shiffrin won six world cup races across four different disciplines, bringing her season win rate to 70 percent through December. With these victories, Shiffrin became the first athlete – male or female – in the history of alpine skiing to win world cup races in all six disciplines, and the first to win 15 world cup events in one calendar year. Her December victories improved her world cup win total to 51, helping achieve the seventh-most points in world cup history (through Dec. 31, 2018).
Hubbell and Donohue claimed their first Grand Prix Final medal, winning the ice dance title in Vancouver, British Columbia. The reigning world silver medalists became just the second U.S. ice dance team to be crowned Grand Prix Final champions, and they helped continue the 12-year streak of U.S. ice dancers earning medals at the event. The duo scored a season-high 205.35 total points, the second-highest overall score in the world so far this season.
About the Team USA Awards
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. An internal nominating committee selects five nominees from both the male and female categories, and three from the team category 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.