Alpine World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and reigning X Games gold medalists Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO) and Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) have all been nominated for a 2008 ESPY Award. In its 16th year, the ESPY Awards will commemorate the most exciting moments, greatest achievements and top performances in athletics around the globe. In only it's fifth year of doing so, the ESPY Awards will be determined solely by the fans who can either vote online at
ESPYS 2008, or through text message at espn.mobi. Voting begins July 1 and runs through July 12.
Vonn is nominated in the category for Best Female Athlete, while halfpipe queen Bleiler and Jacobellis, the most dominant force in snowboardcross, will go head to head for the Best Female Action Sport Athlete.
Vonn's nomination comes on the heels of the greatest season for an American woman in U.S. Ski Team history. With five downhill wins Vonn became only the second American, male or female, to win the World Cup downhill title. The downhiller also landed podium finishes in super combined and super G to clinch the World Cup overall title, becoming the first woman to win the World Cup overall since Tamara McKinney in 1983.
Bleiler got the ESPY nod following an exceptionally successful season where she solidified her status as queen of the halfpipe with a win in the opening Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. She then followed it up with a huge performance in her hometown of Aspen, CO to earn her third X Games halfpipe gold in February. Bleiler also made her mark in ESPN Magazine history by becoming the first action sports female to ever grace the cover.
Jacobellis' nomination is the outcome of a season where she won the World Cup SBX opener in Chile and went on to enforce total domination of the sport at the X Games where she beat out an international field for her fourth X Games gold. From there, Jacobellis had three more World Cup wins to finish second in the snowboardcross standings, as well as two wins in the Jeep King of the Mountain series.
The 2008 ESPYs are hosted by pop star Justin Timberlake and will air July 20 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Vote! Vonn, Bleiler, Jacobellis for 2008 ESPY
Vote! Vonn, Bleiler, Jacobellis for 2008 ESPY
