Meet Mikaela Shiffrin, US Alpine Skiing Team at Winter Olympics – NBC Boston

A complete of 17 athletes – 11 ladies and 6 males – will signify america on the slopes of the Yanqing Alpine Snowboarding Middle on the 2022 Winter Olympics. The headliner of the group is, after all, two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin. She’ll be joined on the 2022 Video games by a combination of skilled veterans and younger up-and-comers on the lookout for their first style of Olympic motion. Get to know every of them under.

Girls

Mikaela Shiffrin
Age: 26
Earlier Olympics: 2014, 2018
Occasions: Slalom, large slalom, super-G, downhill, mixed

The worldwide face of Alpine snowboarding is again for her third Winter Olympics at age 26 and plans to be busier than ever. The three-time Olympic medalist (two gold) has by no means competed in additional than three occasions at any single Video games. This day out, she has sights set on all 5 particular person Olympic occasions, doubtlessly including the quickest disciplines of super-G and downhill. Historical past suggests Shiffrin will likely be among the many favorites in each competitors she enters, and if she manages a podium end in three of them, she’d tie the document for many Olympic medals gained by any feminine Alpine skier ever.

SEE MORE: Mikaela Shiffrin is all about the facts

Breezy Johnson
Age: 26
Earlier Olympics: 2018
Occasions: Tremendous-G, downhill

Following an encouraging Olympic debut in South Korea as a 22-year-old, Breezy Johnson encountered some main speedbumps firstly of the newest four-year cycle. She misplaced the complete 2019 season to a torn ACL and far of the 2020 season with one other knee damage. This season, although, Johnson is displaying what she’s able to when wholesome. The Wyoming native enters her second Winter Olympics ranked No. 2 on this planet within the downhill. Following Lindsey Vonn’s retirement in 2019, Johnson is certainly Staff USA’s high medal risk within the velocity occasions.

UPDATE 1/25: Johnson won’t compete in Beijing after a January coaching run crash resulted in a cartilage tear in her proper knee.

SEE MORE: Breezy Johnson, top U.S. downhill skier, to miss Winter Olympics

Paula Moltzan
Age: 27
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Slalom, large slalom

If it wasn’t for the brilliance of Shiffrin, who has extra profession World Cup slalom wins than anybody in historical past, Paula Moltzan would carry the Staff USA banner into the technical occasions in 2022. The previous NCAA champion Vermont Catamount was nonetheless competing in faculty throughout the PyeongChang Video games in 2018 and is primed for her Olympic debut in February. She’s coming off a 2021 season by which she completed a career-best eleventh in slalom and notched her first World Cup podium within the parallel large slalom. Though the PGS just isn’t included within the Olympic program as a person occasion, parallel slalom contains the format of the staff occasion, the place Moltzan might be an element for the U.S.

Nina O’Brien
Age: 24
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Slalom, large slalom

One other technical self-discipline specialist, Nina O’Brien completed the 2021 season seventeenth in large slalom, better of all Staff USA athletes other than Shiffrin. Though she has but to seize her first World Cup podium, O’Brien is an eight-time U.S. nationwide champion and a two-time top-10 finisher at World Championships.

Isabella Wright
Age: 24
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Mixed

The 24-year-old from Salt Lake Metropolis is a newcomer to worldwide competitors, being named to her first World Cup staff in 2021. Wright additionally competed on the 2021 World Championships, the place she impressively positioned 14th within the mixed competitors.

Jacqueline Wiles
Age: 29
Earlier Olympics: 2014
Occasions: Downhill

After putting twenty sixth within the downhill on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as a 21-year-old, Portland, Oregon native Jacqueline Wiles missed out on the PyeongChang Video games in 2018. Now, she lastly will get a crack at a second Olympic look. Wiles owns 5 profession top-10 World Cup finishes, together with two podiums.

Keely Cashman
Age: 22
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Big slalom, super-G

The Strawberry, California native secured qualification to the 2022 Video games in January with a top-25 World Cup lead to super-G. She can be a 2019 nationwide champion in large slalom and competed collegiately on the College of Utah.

AJ Harm

Age: 21
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Slalom, large slalom, super-G

The Squaw Valley, California native bought her World Cup profession at 17 years previous. She is a two-time U.S. Alpine Champion and one of many Staff USA’s extra versatile prospects. She at present attends Dartmouth College.

Katie Hensien

Age: 22
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Slalom

The Denver College laptop science main owns one profession World Cup top-20, in addition to a U.S. Championships victory. She competed on the 2021 World Championships in Cortina, Italy.

Mo Lebel

Age: 23
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Downhill

Maureen “Mo” Lebel competes for the College of Utah. She gained the 2018 U.S. Nationwide Championship within the downhill. Her mom, Lori, was a ski teacher in Lake Tahoe.

Tricia Mangan

Age: 24
Earlier Olympics: 2018
Occasions: Big slalom

The Buffalo, New York native and Dartmouth engineering main heads to her second profession Winter Olympics in 2022. She beforehand competed within the large slalom and the staff occasion in 2018.

Males

Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Age: 29
Earlier Olympics: 2018
Occasions: Big slalom, super-G, downhill

With two top-15 finishes on the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and a pair of World Cup podiums – together with one win – within the time since, “RCS” arguably represents Staff USA’s finest medal risk within the males’s occasions. The Vermont native definitely has profitable genes; his mom is 1972 Olympic slalom gold medalist Barbara Ann Cochran, who taught Ryan the way to ski on the household’s mountain (Cochran’s Ski Space) in Richmond, Vermont. When taking breaks from coaching, Cochran-Siegle helps out on his household’ maple syrup farm the place they make “Slopeside Syrup.”

SEE MORE: Meet the Athletes: Ryan Cochran-Siegle

Bryce Bennett
Age: 29
Earlier Olympics: 2018
Occasions: Tremendous-G, downhill, mixed

The towering, 6-foot-7 California skied the run of his life December 18 in Val Gardena, Italy, capturing not solely the primary podium of his seven-year profession, however the first win. In doing so, he ended a close to five-year drought for U.S. males within the downhill, and likewise introduced himself as a darkish horse medal risk on the 2022 Winter Olympics. Bennett has Olympic expertise to attract on, scoring two top-20 finishes at PyeongChang 2018. Previous to changing into a professional ski racer, Bennett raced BMX.

SEE MORE: Val Gardena: Bennett wins downhill, ends U.S. men’s drought

Travis Ganong
Age: 33
Earlier Olympics: 2014
Occasions: Tremendous-G, downhill

The senior determine on the U.S. Alpine Snowboarding Staff at 33, Travis Ganong brings unparalleled expertise to his second Olympic look. At his first, in Sochi, he impressively positioned fifth within the downhill, lacking out on a medal by .31 and beating out six-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller as the highest American. A torn ACL price him a return to the Video games in 2018, however discovered good type as soon as once more as he heads towards the 2022 Winter Olympics. Ganong picked up a super-G podium on the World Cup occasion in Beaver Creek in December.

SEE MORE: World Cup Beaver Creek: USA’s Travis Ganong 3rd in super-G

River Radamus
Age: 23
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Slalom, large slalom, mixed

A former teen phenom and the primary three-time Youth Olympic Video games gold medalist in historical past, River Radamus is beginning to hit his stride as a professional. He notched top-10 finishes in three of the 5 World Cup large slalom races forward of the 2022 Olympics this season.

Luke Winters
Age: 24
Earlier Olympics: N/A
Occasions: Slalom

The appropriately named Luke Winters hails from snowy Gresham, Oregon. His senior-level World Cup expertise is restricted, although he surprisingly cracked into the top-10 on the first slalom race of 2022 in Adelboden. Winters additionally owns a bronze medal in super-G from the Junior World Championships in 2018.

Tommy Ford

Age: 32
Earlier Olympics: 2010, 2018
Occasions: Big slalom

The ultimate addition to the U.S. males’s squad can be the one American man heading to a 3rd Winter Olympics. Ford, an enormous slalom specialist, completed twenty sixth within the occasion as a 20-year-old in Vancouver, then cracked the top-20 in PyeongChang 4 years in the past. His finest World Cup outcomes have all come since then, nevertheless, together with three large slalom podiums and one win: 2020 in Beaver Creek.