KILLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Athletes just back from the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, are among those expected when Killington Resort hosts its first national championship ski event in two decades. Killington’s Bear Mountain will be the site of the 2006 Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships next March, hosting more than 200 of the top freestyle and “new-school” athletes from around the country. It will be the first time since 1986 that Killington has hosted such an event.

, and Killington officials are hoping to make it a celebration, predicting there will be parties or parades to get the public involved.

Killington spokesman Tom Horrocks said the event will feature “the best athletes of the freestyle sport in their first appearance post-Olympics.”

He added, “This is a two-year deal and, more than anything, this fits in with Killington’s initiative to bring more youth events and showcase more youth activities on the mountain, especially at Bear Mountain.”

Tao Smith, headmaster of the Killington Mountain School, said that because the event will be held shortly after the 2006 Winter Games, there’s an excellent chance that freestyle world champions will participate.

“The U.S. freestyle team is the strongest team in the world,” he said. “I predict we will have some Olympic champions or medalists competing (at Killington). There are any number of men and women who could easily win medals at the Olympics on the team.”

The newly built superpipe on Bear Mountain will also host the first national championship superpipe event – the first event of the four-day competition starting March 23.

Adding the superpipe to the competition is designed to open the doors for new athletes to compete at the national championship level, according to U.S. Ski Association freestyle program director Polly-Jo Clark.

“The interest from USSA clubs and programs has grown over the last few years,” Clark said. “The addition of the superpipe in the national championship program is an exciting opportunity for those athletes to show off their skills at the next level.”

AP-ES-07-23-05 1140EDT