U.S. swimmers have dominated competition thus far at the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia and will look to leave a lasting mark this weekend as competition comes to a close. U.S. swimmers have set eight world records, won 11 gold medals and have 19 medals overall. Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) has won four of those gold medals and owns three world records with two individual events and two relays remaining.

Other U.S. athletes and teams of significance in competition this weekend include:

Alpine Skiing
The calendar may say Spring but race course conditions are still mid-Winter at Alyeska Resort as the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships get underway for the second time in four years. New champions will be crowned in at least two events.

Versus will broadcast coverage from Alyeska at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 7.

Bode Miller (Bretton Woods, N.H.), with eight, is one national championship behind two skiers (Dick Durrance and Tiger Shaw) for the men's record while Olympic champion Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) has won two gold medals at each of the last two U.S. championships. Among the women, Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, Calif.) comes in with a streak of being on the podium 15 times in the last 16 U.S. championships races and has won seven titles.

The championships open Friday with the downhill. The schedule:

Friday - men's and women's downhill
Saturday - men's and women's super G
Sunday - men's and women's slalom
Monday - women's giant slalom
Tuesday - men's giant slalom

Curling
The U.S. men will begin their quest for gold when the 2007 World Men's Championship gets underway Saturday at the Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Leading Team USA is rookie Todd Birr (Mankato, Minn.), who helped his team to the national title last month defeating the Craig Disher (Rolla, N.D.) team in Utica, N.Y. Joining Birr is vice skip Bill Todhunter (Menasha, Wis.), who represented the U.S. in 2004 as part of Jason Larway's Seattle team that finished ninth. In the front end are worlds rookies Greg Johnson (Appleton, Wis.) and Kevin Birr (St. Peter, Minn.). Joining the team for the world championships as the alternate is 22-year-old Zach Jacobson (Langdon, N.D.) of the Disher team. The U.S. men will play in a 12-team round robin along with Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland to advance to the playoffs. The Page Playoff format will then be used.

Cycling
The United States Cycling Team opens the 2007 UCI Track World Championships Thursday as defending world champion Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) leads the medal hopes for a small but focused American squad that features six riders. Last year’s gold medalist in the women’s three-kilometer individual pursuit, Hammer looks to become the first American woman to successfully defend her rainbow jersey on the track since Rebecca Twigg accomplished the feat over twenty years ago at the 1984 and ’85 world championships, also in the pursuit. Hammer begins her quest in Friday morning’s qualifying session where one of the top-two fastest times in the race against the clock will send her to the gold medal final.

Team Handball
The U.S. Women’s National Team Handball Team began competition Thursday in the final 2007 Pan American Games Qualifying Event in Mexico City, Mexico. The U.S. must win the three team event, featuring Mexico, Chile and the U.S., to qualify for the 2007 Pan American Games which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 13-29.

Trampoline and Tumbling
All seven reigning men’s and women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline and tumbling world gold medalists are expected to participate in the World Cup USA, April 1-2, at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. In addition, 2004 Olympic trampoline gold-medalist Yuri Nikitin of the Ukraine and 2000 Olympic trampoline champion Irina Karavaeva of Russia highlight the field of 137 trampoline and tumbling gymnasts from 21 countries, which includes the 14 members of the U.S. Team announced last week.

Water Polo
The U.S. Women's Team advanced to the finals after a 10-9 overtime victory versus Hungary on Thursday. They will challenge 2006 World Cup champion Australia in front of their hometown fans Saturday evening in the final. This will be the third consecutive appearance for Team USA in a World Championship gold-medal round. While the two friendly rivals have gone head to head in several international events, this will be the first time USA and Australia have played each other in the finals of a World Championship. In 2003, USA defeated Italy to claim the Championship title. In their 2005 match-up against Hungary, USA returned with the silver medal.