The 17-year-old Shiffrin became the third youngest female to win a slalom World Championship at the event in Schladming, Austria, and the youngest American woman to win a World Championship title since Diann Roffe won gold in the giant slalom in 1985.

Ligety had the honour of being the first male in 45 years to win three gold medals at the World Championships, taking gold in the super-G and super-combined, before retaining his gold from 2011 in the giant slalom to become the first man to complete this feat since legendary French skier Jean Claude Killy won four gold medals in 1968.

It was the second consecutive month that he been awarded the USOC prize. 

Jessie Diggins (left) and Kikkan Randall (right) have been named as the US Team of the Month after taking gold at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

Cross-country skiers Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins were awarded Team of the Month after winning gold at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, finishing nearly eight seconds ahead of their nearest rivals to win the first US cross-country world title.

Cyclist Sarah Hammer and ski-jumper Sarah Hendrickson came second and third respectively in the female vote, as biathlete Tim Burke and gymnast Jake Dalton took second and third respectively for the men's award.

In the team award, sailors Fred Strammer and Zach Brown were runners-up, with the US Junior Water Skiing Team coming in third.

Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline, with a voting panel selecting the winners from the pool of nominees, with online fan voting via Twitter accounting for 10 percent of the total vote.

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January 2013: Speedskater Richardson and skier Ligety named USOC Athletes of the Month