LAKE PLACID, N.Y. --- Many of the world's best winter athletes will be back in Lake Placid, N.Y. when World Cup action returns this winter. Several of the same athletes who competed in last February's winter games in Vancouver, Canada will also be competing in the World Cup bobsled and skeleton racing, Dec. 13-19, and World Cup freestyle skiing, Jan. 17-23.

American Steve Holcomb is expected to headline the World Cup bobsled field when the world's top drivers, sliders and teams return to the one-mile long Mt. Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex track. Last February, Holcomb broke a 62-year U.S. gold medal drought when he raced to glory in the Olympic four-man bobsled competition. Holcomb's teammates, Erin Pac and Elana Meyers, are also expected to race in Lake Placid. The two women enter the 2010-2011 World Cup season as Olympic bronze medalists.

Other sliders in the field could include men's skeleton Olympic champion Jon Montgomery, of Canada, and American John Napier, who won his first-career World Cup race last season on the 1,455-meter long course. Napier is now serving in Afghanistan as a member of the Vermont National Guard's 86th Infantry Mountain Combat Brigade.

The World Cup aerial and mogul field promises to be just as deep. Hannah Kearney and Patrick Deneen will headline the U.S. mogul team lineup, while Ryan St. Onge will lead the U.S. aerial squad. Kearney is the reigning Olympic women's moguls gold medalist, while Deneen carries the title of 2009 world champion into the event. St. Onge has won five-career World Cup aerial events and is also the 2009 world champion.

The Lake Placid event is the only World Cup in the United States and will also serve as a qualifier for the U.S. ski team's world championship squad. The 2011 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships are slated for Feb. 2-5 at Deer Valley Resort, in Park City, Utah.

Also on tap this winter, America's Cup bobsled and skeleton racing, Jan. 9-16 and March 27-April 2. InterContinental Cup Skeleton racing also returns, Jan. 24-29, and the FIBT bobsled drivers' school is slated for March 21-25.

Other sporting event highlights this winter include the Eastern Synchronized Skating competition, Feb. 3-6, the Lake Placid Loppet, Feb. 5, and the annual Empire State Games, Feb. 18-20.

For a complete list of events, visit lakeplacid.com.