Lindsey Vonn The dramatic comeback of ski racing in the 40s will culminate in the Milan Cortina Olympics, while the comeback bid of another American gold medalist, snowboarder Jamie Anderson, has failed.
Anderson, a two-time downhill skiing champion who returned to the sport after having two children, failed to reach the podium this season and will not join the US Ski Championships. & Snowboarding team in the mountains of Italy.
Mikaela Shiffrin She made her fourth Olympic team, while Figure skater Chloe Kim She is bidding for three gold medals at three Olympics – although her health is in doubt after injuring her shoulder in training earlier this month.
They’re making headlines as US Ski and Snowboard named its 97-person roster on Thursday. It contained few surprises, with almost all of the locations selected based on results over the past two years.
The 41-year-olds Vonn, Kim and Shiffrin, who have five Olympic gold medals between them, lead a short list of experience. There are 48 first-time Olympians.
In all, there are 50 women and 47 men, ranging in age from 15 (halfpipe freestyle skier Abby Winterberger) to 44 (snowboarder Nick Baumgartner, in his fifth Olympics, and the defending champion in the mixed event). The team is scheduled to be officially announced on Monday.
Skiers and snowboarders brought home 15 of the United States’ 25 medals at the Beijing Games four years ago. They will make up nearly half of the entire group the United States is bringing to Milan-Cortina.
“I am confident in the impact they will have in Italy” US Ski & said Snowboard President and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. “More than results, our athletes also provide some of the most engaging story lines for Milano Cortina.”
Vonn returned last season after a partial knee replacement and quickly began to show the form that made her a four-time World Cup champion. She has won two World Cup races this season – bringing her career total to 84 – and will be favorite in both speed events at Cortina. She may also pair up with Shiffrin as the team combined event makes its Olympic debut.
Shiffrin is trying to bounce back after going 0-for-6 in her medal attempt four years ago. She took gold in the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games and gold in the giant slalom four years later in South Korea. This season she competed in slalom, winning six races.
This will be the fourth and final Olympics for cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, Three-time Olympic medalistincluding a gold medal in the team race in 2018, which he plans to retire at the end of the season.
“Throughout this season, we have seen absolutely fantastic results from our athletes in all 10 of our sports,” said Anouk Paty, US Ski Federation chief sport officer. & On ice. “I know this is one of the strongest teams we have sent to the Games.”
It’s been a bumpy road back to the Olympics for Breezy Johnson, who tore her right knee a month before the 2022 Beijing Games. The 30-year-old Johnson competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Both Vaughn and Paula Moltzan once taught at Buck Hill in Minnesota under their tutelage The late coach Eric Seiler.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle was a silver medalist in the Super-G at the Beijing Olympics.
Eight years ago, Reed Gerrard lit up the Olympics by winning the gold medal in downhill at the age of 17. He’s back for his third Olympics, and now there’s another 17-year-old on the team. It’s Olly Martin, who is the first to land a pair of 2,160-degree spins in opposite directions and can be a threat in both slopestyle and big air.
The post-Shawn White era at the halfpipe begins with a roster full of underdogs. Chase Josey is back for his third Olympics, and Jake Butts is back after missing the Olympics in 2022. Neither finished higher than sixth.
Nick Gober, who has won two silver medals and a gold in downhill skiing, moves to the halfpipe in his fourth Olympics. He will join him there Alex FerreiraWhich has silver and bronze on the half pipe.
David Wise, who won two gold and silver medals, did not participate in the team after failing to reach the podium during the qualifying period. Also missing is the senior air silver medalist Colby Stevenson.
In slopestyle, Alex Hall returns to defend his slopestyle title.
Jaylen Cove is an Olympic silver medalist in the Moguls, while Chris Lillis He will try to add to the gold medal he won with Ashley Caldwell and Justin Schoenfeld in the mixed team air events in China four years ago. Winter finicki She has a fitting first name and is competing in her second Olympics.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics