WINTER OLYMPICS COUNTDOWN 57 DAYS UNTIL THE GAMES

Alpine skiing: Janica Kostelic of Croatia, last season’s slalom and overall World Cup champion, returned last weekend from her third knee operation in nine months. Kostelic had the 37th-best time in a World Cup slalom race at Sestriere, Italy, 1.88 seconds off the lead. She didn’t qualify for the second run.... A women’s slalom event planned for Megeve, France, later this week was moved to Maribor, Slovenia.

Biathlon/Cross-Country: Norwegians dominated World Cup cross-country events last weekend in Cogne, Italy. Anders Aukland won the men’s 10K classic event, and Bente Skari won the women’s 5K classic. Winners of the first cross-country World Cup sprint events were Katarina Neumannova of the Czech Republic, the 1998 Nagano gold medalist, and Cristian Zorzi of Italy.

Bobsled-Luge-Skeleton: Todd Hayes clinched a spot on the U.S. Olympic team as a four-man bobsled driver after guiding the USA I sled to a silver medal at a World Cup event in Igls, Austria. He must qualify his two-and four-man crews later this month.... Nagano gold medalist Silke Kraushaar led a 1-2-3 sweep for Germany in a women’s World Cup luge event Wednesday at Igls. German women have won 30 consecutive World Cup events since November 1997.

Curling: The U.S. Olympic team trials will end Sunday at the Ice Sheet in Ogden, Utah. One women’s team and one men’s team will qualify, based on results of this week’s double-round robin tournament. Mike Peplinski, who had a kidney transplant three months after the 1998 Nagano Games, is vice-skip of the Paul Pustovar team, which was seeded first. The Patti Lank team is seeded first among the women.

Figure Skating: Team Hamill--Dorothy Hamill, Matt Savoie, Michael Weiss and Michelle Kwan--won the Hershey’s Kisses pro-am event last weekend in Auburn Hills, Mich.... Todd Eldredge scrapped the “Band of Brothers” long program he was working on in favor of a program to “Lord of the Rings.” ... U.S. ice dance champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev skated an exhibition program at the Hershey event. They pulled out of their Grand Prix assignments this season because Tchernyshev was hampered by shin splints.... Yuka Sato defeated 1992 gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi in a pro-am event at Washington, D.C.

Freestyle Skiing: The World Cup circuit moves to Steamboat Springs, Colo., for single and dual moguls at the Park Smalley Freestyle Complex. Two-time World Cup champion Ann Battelle and 2001 U.S. mogul champion Ryan Riley will be competing in their hometown.

Hockey: USA Hockey officials confirmed they will name the remaining eight players on the 23-man roster on Wednesday. Finland will announce its men’s Olympic roster today. Sweden and the Czech Republic are expected to wait until the Dec. 22 deadline and Russia hasn’t said when it will fill out its squad, a spokesman for the International Ice Hockey Federation said. Canada will announce its Olympic selections Saturday in a news conference at the Hockey Hall of Fame.... Seven NHL officials will officiate in the men’s tournament. Referees Bill McCreary, Stephen Walkom and Dennis LaRue were chosen, as were linesmen Tim Novak, Dan Schachte, Jean Morin and Mike Cvik.... The U.S. women’s hockey team routed Sweden, 11-1, Tuesday to improve its pre-Olympic record to 18-0-0. Team USA will be in Pittsburgh tonight for the second game of a four-game series against Sweden.

Nordic Combined-Ski Jumping: Defending World Cup champion Felix Gottwald of Austria won his first Nordic Combined World Cup event of the season last weekend in Zakopane, Poland. Todd Lodwick of Steamboat Springs finished fourth after falling on the landing of his final 120-meter ski jump. In Strbske Pleso, Slovakia, the next day, Lodwick finished fifth in a nordic combined sprint event.... U.S. athletes will compete in a Gold Cup event in Steamboat Springs on Wednesday, with the prizes of an Olympic berth and $10,000....

Ski jumper Adam Malysz of Poland won his third World Cup meet in five tries, winning both rounds on a 90-meter hill in Villach, Austria. He was second in the meets he didn’t win.

Snowboarding: Tommy Czeschin of Mammoth Lakes won his first event of the season, a halfpipe contest at Whistler, Canada.... The Grand Prix season began Wednesday at Mammoth Mountain. Several countries, including the U.S., Sweden and Norway, will use the results as part of their Olympic selection process.

Speedskating: The U.S. short track Olympic trials begin Friday at the Utah Olympic Oval. Apolo Anton Ohno of Seattle, Rusty Smith of Sunset Beach and Maria Garcia of Carson are among the skaters to watch. The long track trials start Tuesday. Both end Dec. 22.... U.S. long track skaters have won 11 World Cup medals: Casey FitzRandolph of Verona, Wis., has four silvers and one bronze, Jennifer Rodriguez of Miami has one gold and three silvers, and Derek Parra of San Bernardino has a gold and a silver. Chris Witty, who won silver and bronze at Nagano, was 20th in each of two 500-meter races last weekend at Calgary.