The United States expects to send the most athletes ever to a Winter Games this year, announcing Monday that 232 members of Team USA are set to compete at the Milan-Cortina Olympics that begin Feb. 6.
The list includes 17 athletes whose hometown is in Utah, compared to 30 from Colorado, 24 from Minnesota and 19 from California, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
A total of 32 states and Washington, D.C. are represented on the team, while three Team USA members have international hometowns: Kaillie Humphries, from Calgary, Canada; Vadym Kolesnik from Kharkiv, Ukraine; and Campbell Wright, from Wanaka, New Zealand.
The Utah Sports Commission said there are 81 Team USA members with ties to the state, including those who are currently living and training here, or who are attending or have attended school in Utah.
“These athletes represent the best of what Utah offers the world of Olympic and Paralympic sport,” said Jeff Robbins, commission president and CEO. “Whether training, studying, or growing up here, their journeys reflect the state’s Olympic and Paralympic heritage and its ongoing commitment.”
Utah’s Team USA role
Utah is considered a top winter sports training site largely due to the competition venues built for the 2002 Winter Games that will be used again when the state hosts a second Olympics and Paralympics for athletes with disabilities in 2034.
“We see Utah as a critical state for the future of Team USA, and actually for the team that’s competing right now,” Rocky Harris, the USOPC’s chief of sport and athlete services, told reporters. “We really appreciate the support that that state has given us for many years.”
Calling Utah “a strategic priority for us, for Team USA, for decades,” he cited the many national governing bodies for winter sports headquartered in Utah as well as the hundreds of elite athletes training in the state annually.
“It’s a place we believe really has the intention of growing winter sport, not only in their state, not only in our country, but across the world,” he said, adding Utah “gives currently competing and future athletes, with the home Games there in 2034, the opportunity to dream big.”
Harris, who’ll lead the American team in Milan-Cortina as “chef de mission,” said the Colorado Springs-based USOPC is “very proud” of the youth and grassroots programs in Utah that provide “a future pipeline to Team USA.”
He said the USOPC has “a lot of confidence in the 2026 team because our winter sports programs have made significant progress” since the last Winter Games, in 2022 in Beijing, when Team USA finished third in the medal count behind Norway and Germany.
There’s been significant investment in coaches, athlete stipends, technology, equipment, access to snow and ice for training “and so much more,” Harris said. He also expressed confidence in Milan-Cortina organizers, who are still finishing some facilities.
“It’s no secret they’re working overtime right now,” Harris said. “It’s a huge and very complicated process and we are extremely grateful. ... We have confidence in the organizing committee, the world-class venues and the people of Italy to deliver and unbelievable Games.”
What Team USA athletes say about the Olympics
Speedskater Erin Jackson, heading to her third Olympics after winning gold in Beijing, said she and her teammates are looking forward to the first post-COVID-19 Winter Games. Jackson said having fans back in the stands adds “a lot of spark, a lot of energy.”
Hockey player Brady Tkachuk, captain of Canada’s Ottawa Senators, told reporters about bringing his father Keith’s silver medal from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City to show-and-tell as a second grader.
Then, the St. Louis native said, he had no idea of its significance but recalled his classmates “thought it was the coolest thing ever.” Now, Tkachuk and his brother, Matthew, of the Florida Panthers, are following in their father’s footsteps as members of the U.S. Olympic hockey team.
“It’s more than a dream. I can’t believe that it’s soon to be real life,” Tkachuk said. Their father, he said, hasn’t offered much advice for their first Olympics. “He just wants us to go in open-minded and have our experiences be our own, and just take it all in and enjoy every second.”
Also joining Monday’s USOPC media call was alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who holds a record 108 World Cup wins including last weekend’s slalom race in the Czech Republic. Shiffrin said now is “just a real cool time for alpine ski racing. Our team is bringing big energy to Milan-Cortina.”
Each of the three Olympics Shiffrin has competed in, beginning with the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi where she won gold, has been different experiences. So Shiffrin said she’s going to Italy with “a really open mind.”
“I think the one thing you can expect from the Olympics is that things are just not really going to go according to your plan. So you’ve got to roll with the punches,” she said. “It’s so important to be able to enjoy whatever moments that you can and stay really solid with the team around you.”
Jackson and Shiffrin are among the 98 returning Olympians on the 2026 team. A total of seven have been to the Games four times; 10, three times; and 22, twice. Thirty-three members have medaled in past Games, with 18 winning a combined 22 golds.
TEAM USA athletes with Utah ties
Alpine skiing
- Bryce Bennett | Westminster University
- Mary Bocock | Salt Lake native, Rowmark Ski Academy
- Keely Cashman | University of Utah
- Ryan Cochran-Siegle | Westminster University
- Katie Hensien | Rowmark Ski Academy
- Breezy Johnson | Rowmark Ski Academy
- Sam Morse | Utah resident
- Lindsey Vonn | Utah Royals investor, Utah resident
- Jacqueline Wiles | Westminster University, Utah Valley University
- Isabella Wright | Salt Lake native, Snowbird Sports Education Foundation, Utah resident
Bobsled
- Caleb Furnell | Utah Valley University Track & Field (2019-2024), Utah resident
- Kaysha Love | Herriman native
Cross-country skiing
- Rosie Brennan | Park City native, Park City Ski & Snowboard
- Novie McCabe | University of Utah Ski Team (2020-2023)
Freeski halfpipe
- Alex Ferreira | Westminster University
- Nick Goepper | Westminster University, Utah resident
- Hunter Hess | Salt Lake Community College, Utah resident
- Birk Irving | University of Utah
Freeski slopestyle and big air
- Mac Forehand | Utah resident
- Alex Hall | Winter Sports School; Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Marin Hamill | Park City native and resident, Winter Sports School, Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah
- Rell Harwood | Park City native, Winter Sports School, Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Grace Henderson | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Troy Podmilsak | Park City native and resident, Park City Ski & Snowboard
- Konnor Ralph | Salt Lake Community College, Utah resident
Freestyle aerials
- Connor Curran | Park City Ski & Snowboard, Utah Valley University, Utah resident
- Quinn Dehlinger | Salt Lake Community College, Utah resident
- Kyra Dossa | Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Derek Krueger | Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Kaila Kuhn | Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Chris Lillis | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Tasia Tanner | Salt Lake native, Rowmark Ski Academy, Winter Sports School, Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Winter Vinecki | Park City Ski & Snowboard, University of Utah, Utah resident
Freestyle moguls
- Olivia Giaccio | Utah resident
- Tess Johnson | Utah resident
- Jaelin Kauf | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Charlie Mickel | Wasatch Freestyle, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Nick Page | Park City native and resident, Winter Sports School, Wasatch Freestyle
- Landon Wendler | Wasatch Freestyle, Utah resident
Hockey
- Clayton Keller | Utah Mammoth, Utah resident
Luge
- Ashley Farquharson | Park City native and resident, Wasatch Luge Club
- Matt Greiner | Wasatch Luge Club, Utah resident
Nordic combined
- Ben Loomis | Winter Sports School, Park City Ski & Snowboard, Utah National Guard, Utah resident
Short track speed skating
- Clayton DeClemente | Utah resident
- Andrew Heo | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Brandon Kim | Utah resident
- Eunice Lee | Utah resident
- Julie Letai | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Kamryn Lute | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Kristen Santos-Griswold | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Corinne Stoddard | Utah resident
Ski jumping
- Annika Belshaw | University of Utah
- Kevin Bickner | Utah resident
- Josie Johnson | Park City native and resident, Winter Sports School, Park City Ski & Snowboard
- Paige Jones | Park City native, Park City Ski & Snowboard
Snowboard cross
- Stacy Gaskill | Utah resident
- Hanna Percy | Utah resident
- Brianna Schnorrbusch | University of Utah
- Faye Thelen | Salt Lake native, Westminster University, Utah resident
Snowboard slopestyle
- Sean FitzSimons | University of Utah
Speed skating
- Giorgia Birkeland | Salt Lake Community College, Utah resident
- Brittany Bowe | Utah resident
- Ethan Cepuran | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Casey Dawson | Park City native, Park City Speed Skating Club, University of Utah, Utah resident
- Erin Jackson | Salt Lake Community College, Utah resident
- Emery Lehman | Utah resident
- Mia Manganello | Utah resident
- Conor McDermott-Mostowy | Utah resident
- Cooper McLeod | Salt Lake Community College, Utah resident
- Greta Myers | University of Utah, Utah resident
- Zach Stoppelmoor | Utah resident
- Sarah Warren | Utah resident
International athletes with Utah ties
Austria
- Avital Carroll, Freestyle moguls | Wasatch Freestyle, Utah resident
Czech Republic
- Karel Vejmelka, Hockey | Utah Mammoth, Utah resident
Finland
- Olli Määttä, Hockey | Utah Mammoth, Utah resident
Germany
- JJ Peterka, Hockey | Utah Mammoth, Utah resident
Great Britain
- Zoe Atkin, Freeski halfpipe | Winter Sports School, Park City Ski & Snowboard, Wasatch Freestyle
- Joe Davies, Cross-country skiing | University of Utah Ski Team (2023-2025)
Phillippines
- Tallulah Proulx, Alpine skiing | Winter Sports School, Park City Ski & Snowboard, Utah resident
- Republic of Guinea-Bissau
- Winston Tang, Alpine skiing | Park City Ski & Snowboard, Utah resident
Saudi Arabia
- Fayik Abdi, Alpine skiing | University of Utah
Note: The athletes with Utah ties competing in the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games will be announced in mid-February.