Olympic champion Evan Lysacek will still be at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships later this month. For the first time since 1998, however, it won't be as a competitor.

Lysacek said Tuesday that his role in the "Stars on Ice" 25th anniversary tour will prevent him from competing for the rest of the year. He left Tuesday for the "Stars" shows in Japan, and the U.S. portion of the tour kicks off Feb. 18 in San Jose.

"That's a huge honor to be part of the 25th anniversary tour," Lysacek said. "My parents took me to see it when I was 6 and 7 years old — before I started skating — and I loved it. Once I started skating and saw the show again, it had an inspirational role in my life. ... It's really an honor, and I think is going to fill the void of not competing the rest of the season."

Lysacek, the first U.S. man to win the Olympic title since Brian Boitano in 1988, will still be at nationals to promote "RISE," U.S. Figure Skating's movie on the 1961 plane crash that killed the entire U.S. world team, and the impact it has had on American skating. He'll also skate in the Jan. 30 exhibition.

Nationals begin Jan. 27 in Greensboro, N.C.

"Totally strange," Lysacek said of his role as a spectator. "I have no idea what it's going to be like. (But) I think it's going to be an exciting year."

Lysacek left open the possibility of returning for nationals when he announced he was skipping the Grand Prix series, and is "leaving his options open" about competing in the future. He is still training, doing run-throughs of his Olympic programs and even working on quadruple jumps.

But he couldn't pass up the chance to be part of the anniversary tour for "Stars," which was created by Scott Hamilton, a fellow Olympic champion and one of Lysacek's role models. "Stars on Ice" is now sponsored by Smuckers.

"That was a huge part of my decision," Lysacek said. "It's hard to express this, how he's helped me, but he obviously was a great mentor for me and gave me great advice as I went into the Olympics. That hasn't stopped. He's continued to give me great guidance with my life and where I go from here.

"A lot of opportunities come to everyone, and it's picking and choosing what's right for your own path," Lysacek added. "That's where I've had to learn and be a little smarter this year, because there are more decisions to make."

Lysacek's life has been a whirlwind of activity since he won gold in Vancouver. He was the runner-up on "Dancing with the Stars," and has crisscrossed the globe doing ice shows and promotional appearances. He hosted an event at New York's Fashion Week, and was a judge at the Miss Universe pageant.

He is the official spokesman for "RISE" and will be at the movie's premiere in New York on Feb. 17 — the night before the "Stars" tour opens across the country.

"My life is great," Lysacek said of his hectic schedule. "What was difficult for me, from a psychological standpoint, is there was no preparation for it mentally. I was getting ready for the Olympics and bam! My life changed in a flash. I mean completely changed: my sleep schedule, diet, training, the expectations on me, having to adapt on an hourly basis. I've had to learn as I go instead of preparing in advance.

"I have done just that, and I've learned a lot over the course of the last year. I've learned that I love to skate, I still love to train. If I have the option of getting two extra hours of sleep or training, I'll choose training every time," he said. "That's just a good sign I still really love it.

"I love other stuff, though, too."

Skiing

Schild claims fourth World Cup slalom win, Vonn skis out

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Marlies Schild of Austria claimed her fourth World Cup slalom victory of the season on Tuesday, while Lindsey Vonn slid off course in foggy conditions during the opening run.

Schild had a flawless second run to finish in a combined time of 2 minutes, 1.80 seconds. Olympic champion Maria Riesch of Germany was 0.75 seconds back and extended her lead over Vonn in the overall World Cup standings to 186 points. Manuela Moelgg of Italy was third.

"It's a great feeling to win again. This is a special place for me," said Schild, who also won in Zagreb in 2006 and 2007.

Schild has won every slalom race she has finished this season. She also won in Levi, Finland; Courchevel, France; and Semmering, Austria. She went out in her first run at Aspen, Colo.

Vonn never looked comfortable from the start. She was 1.62 seconds behind when she lost her balance on a right turn and skied off course. The defending overall champion also went out in previous slaloms in France and Austria.

Schild had the fastest time in the first run despite poor visibility caused by thick fog over the icy Crveni Spust course.

"I couldn't see much, just the next gate. It was like flying blind," said Schild, who has won 27 World Cup races, all but two of them slaloms. "I didn't feel like having a good run."

Conditions had vastly improved by the start of the final leg.

Riesch also called it a "very hard" first run.

"I could see just three gates ahead and I never was in a good rhythm coming down," she said.

American Sarah Schleper finished eighth. She said Vonn might be lacking of confidence in the technical races.

"She hasn't been training much with us lately, so hard to tell," Schleper said. "We've been training a lot on these conditions, on really icy courses. The coaches have done a good job in preparing us for these conditions."

American Julia Mancuso straddled a gate after 8 seconds into the first run. Schleper, who started 30th, had a near-perfect run opening run that put her fifth.

"I didn't feel that good coming down. My skis were sliding a little bit," Schleper said. "I was actually very surprised to see where I ended up. Maybe if I can clean up a couple of turns, I can be right there with the best girls."

-- Eric Willemsen

Cortina to host rescheduled women's super-G race

OBERHOFEN, Switzerland (AP) — The International Ski Federation says a World Cup women's super-G race that had been twice postponed will be run at Cortina d'Ampezzo on Jan. 21.

The federation chose the Italian venue after the race was abandoned because of strong wind at St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Dec. 11 and called off six days later after heavy snowfall at Val d'Isere, France.

The rescheduled race will open a three-day race weekend at Cortina on that Friday, followed by a Saturday downhill and another super-G the next day.

Lindsey Vonn of the United States leads the super-G standings after winning the only completed race — last month at Lake Louise, Alberta.

The next super-G is Sunday at Zauchensee, Austria.

Speedskating

Bradford earns victories in women's 500 and 1,000

KEARNS, Utah (AP) — Rebekah Bradford can finally celebrate.

Not only is the 27-year-old Olympian from Apple Valley, Minn., spending a belated holiday week with her family opening gifts, she's thrilled with some changes she's made with her approach to speedskating.

"This weekend was great," Bradford said after capping the U.S. sprint championships Tuesday with victories in the women's 500 and 1,000.

Bradford said much of her fall World Cup schedule didn't go as well as she had hoped because she had forced some very high expectations on herself. "It really inhibited my performance and I got really frustrated with that," she said.

After meeting with her sports psychologist, Bradford was able to focus. "I was my own worst enemy ... it really short-circuited me on the ice," Bradford said.

Her time of 38.48 gave her a comfortable margin of victory Tuesday in the 500 and she sailed to another solid win in the 1,000 with a time of 1:16.79. Lauren Cholewinski was second in the 500 at 39.11, while Brittany Bowe finished at 1:17.73 in the 1,000.

Shani Davis picked up another victory with a time of 1:08.18 in the men's 1,000, beating Jonathon Kuck's personal best of 1:09.25. Joey Lindsey won the 500 with a time of 35.08, edging Davis and Tucker Fredricks, who skated to identical times of 35.15.

Davis, who added a U.S. sprint title to his U.S. allround title from a few days earlier, said he was pleased with his performance over the four days of racing at the Utah Olympic Oval.

"I'm not as fresh and young as I used to be," he joked. "But I'm happy with it. I'm extremely satisfied with my racing this week."

Bradford, who placed second in both races Monday behind Heather Richardson, is likewise pleased with the improvement she made over the four days of racing at the U.S. long track championships.

Following the Olympics in Vancouver, Bradford said she may have set her goals a little too high for the 2010-11 World Cup season and as a result, she just couldn't find satisfaction in her results.

She met with the team sports psychologist and has a different outlook as she trains.

"Once you're able to give it a name," Bradford said, "you're able to give it away."

By being a little more forgiving to herself, Bradford said she is able to skate more freely. Still, she put aside most distractions — including Christmas and New Year's Day — to stay focused on the events she skated in over the past week.

With the second half of the World Cup season approaching, Bradford said she's taking a little break to spend time with family that came to visit.

"I can kick back," she said, "open up Christmas gifts and just hang out."

And enjoy the title of U.S. sprint champion she earned as well.

Swimming

Michigan wins men's Orange Bowl Swim Classic

KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Michigan won its third consecutive men's Orange Bowl Swim Classic in the Florida Keys on Tuesday, while Kansas captured the women's division.

Michigan finished the sprint-style competition with 372 points, while second-place George Mason had 187 points.

Wolverines coach Mike Bottom said the win wasn't as important as the opportunity to have some serious competition entering the Big Ten collegiate swimming season.

"This is a proving ground, before we go back and start our racing season," Bottom said. "What makes this exciting is that we have guys that get a chance to win an event who have never won before."

Kansas won 11 of 12 women's events for 297.5 points. George Mason was second with 87 points.

Snowboarding

Austrian snowboarder Fuchs out with knee injury

VIENNA (AP) — Austria's Mario Fuchs has been ruled out of the world snowboardcross championships and the rest of the World Cup season after injuring his left knee in a training crash.

The Austrian Ski Federation said Tuesday that Fuchs tore ligaments and damaged the knee joint capsule while preparing in Grasgehren, Germany, for the Jan. 14-23 world championships in La Molina, Spain.

The 34-year-old Fuchs has won three career World Cup titles and finished seventh at the Vancouver Olympics snowboardcross event last year.