According to a U.S. Snowboarding News Bureau release Friday, Chris Klug, of Aspen, Colo., and a part-time resident of Sisters, has been named to the two-member Alpine A team, along with Michelle Gorgone of Sudbury, Mass.

Klug, 34, is a two-time U.S. Olympian who won a bronze medal in the 2002 Salt Lake Games.

Adam Smith, 24, formerly of Bend and now of Tangent, was named to the six-member Alpine B team, which includes 2002 Olympians Lisa Kosglow of Boulder, Colo., and Pete Thorndike of Meredith, N.H.

The 2006 U.S. squad is composed of 31 men and 16 women. That group includes 17 snowboardcross riders, among them 26-year-old Leslee Olson of Bend.

Snowboardcross (SBX) is scheduled to make its Olympic debut in the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy.

”This is the largest and most talented group of riders U.S. Snowboarding has ever worked with,” said Jeremy Forster, U.S. Snowboarding program director, in Friday’s news release.

”It’s going to be exciting to see our SBX riders participate in the Olympics this year,” said Forster. ”After such a great showing last season, especially at the World Championships (gold medals by Ben Jacobellis of Bondville, Vt., and Seth Wescott of Farmington, Maine, and a bronze by Jayson Hale of Sierraville, Calif.), we expect to contend for medals in this new Olympic event.”

Klug is back in action after suffering a broken collarbone last January in the Winter X Games.

”Our Alpine riders are positioned to have another great year with Michelle Gorgone coming off her best season ever,” said Forster, ”and Chris Klug will be back and fired up after an injury last year. We are going to be focused and ready to put American riders on the Olympic podium this February in Torino.”