Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) captured gold in the team sprint at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships on Feb. 24 in Val di Fiemme, France. The duo finished with a time of 20:24.44, nearly eight seconds clear of second place. The victory marks the first world championship gold for the U.S.

PUT THE HAMMER DOWN

Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) claimed her first world title in the omnium at the 2013 UCI Track World Championships on Feb. 24 in Minsk, Belarus. Hammer totaled 20 points in the two-day event and bested Olympic champion Laura Trott of Great Britain, who finished second. Earlier in the week, Hammer also took gold in the individual pursuit, marking her fifth world title in the event. In the finals, her time of 3:32.050 was more than eight seconds faster than Amy Cure of Australia.

BOWLING

Wes Malott (Pflugerville, Texas) finished second at the U.S. Bowling Congress Masters on Feb. 24 in North Brunswick, N.J. Malott advanced to the title match with a 202-185 victory over England's Stuart Williams, but fell to Austria's Jason Belmonte in the final, 258-245.

BOXING

Five U.S. fighters advanced to championship night at the 2013 Independence Cup on Feb. 22 in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Flyweight Shawn Simpson (Chicago, Ill.) and light welterweight Erickson Lubin (Kissimmee, Fla.) each won gold, while light flyweight Leroy Davila (New Brunswick, N.J.), lightweight Kenneth Sims, Jr. (Chicago, Ill.) and welterweight Rashidi Ellis (Lynn, Mass.) captured silver.

CURLING

The U.S. finished fourth at the Wheelchair Curling World Championships, which ran from Feb. 16-23 in Sochi, Russia. The U.S. won its first seven matches, but dropped its last two to finish with a 7-2 record.

FENCING

Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) grabbed her first world cup gold medal of the season at the Gent Saber World Cup on Feb. 24 in Belgium. Zagunis won her semifinal bout over three-time senior world team champion Dina Galiakbarova of Russia, 15-14, before edging two-time Olympic medalist Ola Kharlan of the Ukraine, 15-13, in the championship.

FIGURE SKATING

The U.S. earned a pair of podium appearances at the 2013 Challenge Cup on Feb. 24 in The Hague, Netherlands. Alex Johnson (Minnetonka, Minn.) finished second with a score of 228.54 en route to his first senior international medal, while Tarah Kayne (Fort Myers, Fla.) and Daniel O'Shea (Gurnee, Ill.) earned the silver medal in their international pairs debut.

LUGE

The U.S. capped the world cup season with a fifth-place finish in the team relay event on Feb. 24 in Sochi, Russia. Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.), Chris Mazdzer (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) and the doubles team of Jake Hyrns (Muskegon, Mich.) and Andrew Sherk (Fort Washington, Pa.) posted a time of 2.52.963. Individually, Hamlin finished seventh to pace the U.S. women, while Mazdzer's 12th-place finish led the men.

SKI/SNOWBOARD

Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) raced to third place at the world cup giant slalom event on Feb. 24 in Garmisch, Germany. He has now earned podium finishes in all six world cup giant slalom races this season with four victories. In the men's downhill, Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, Calif.) was the top U.S. finisher in 19th place.

Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, Calif.) powered through the soft snow in Meribel, France, to finish fourth with a total time of 2:01.00 in the world cup super combined event on Feb. 24. A day earlier in the women's downhill, less than a second separated the top-17 racers. Mancuso was the top U.S. racer, finishing 13th.