The countdown is on! This week, the world’s attention turns to the Italian Alps for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games taking place February 6-22. Many of the athletes headed to Italy have their roots in the Colorado Rockies.
Whether you’re skiing or riding Steamboat, Vail, or Breckenridge, you're on the training grounds where legends are made. From Nordic skiers and jumpers in Steamboat, to the speed demons in the alpine disciplines in Vail, to the snowboarders in Breckenridge, each area has carved out a unique niche in the realm of Olympic winter events.
Colorado is the ultimate pipeline for Team USA. Steamboat, Vail, and Breckenridge have long been the hometowns for winter athletes and have helped shape Olympic history like few other places in the world can match.
Steamboat has produced more Winter Olympians than any other town in North America. As of 2026, with 9 local athletes being named to compete in this year’s Games, Steamboat has officially surpassed the 100-Olympian milestone. This legacy began at Howelsen Hill, the oldest continuously operating ski area in the United States. From demanding racecourses to the largest and most complete natural ski jumping complex in North America, Howelsen has turned local kids into world champions.
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With the ski jumps at Howelsen, it's no wonder Steamboat turns out strong contenders in ski jumping and this year is sending Annika Belshaw and Jason Colby to Cortina, along with fellow athlete Niklas Malacinski in Nordic combined.
The other locals off to Italy are mogul skiers Jaelin Kauf and Olivia Giaccio. Cody Winters and Maddy Schaffrick are snowboarders; and Riley Jacobs and Landon Wendler will be competing in the freestyle skiing halfpipe and moguls, respectively.
If Steamboat’s legacy is producing the most Olympians, Vail is the hometown of the GOATs (Greatest of All Time) – Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn, two of the most dominant alpine skiers in history.
Entering these 2026 Games, Shiffrin is the winningest World Cup alpine skier in history and is a favorite for gold in the slalom in Italy.
After a historic comeback that captured the world's attention in 2024, Vonn is the overall leader in the World Cup downhill standings this season and is a medal favorite in the Olympic downhill and super-G.
River Radamus is a top contender for the U.S. men’s alpine team as a giant slalom specialist.
Vonn, Shiffrin, and Radamus will be joined in Cortina by fellow local alpine skiers Paula Moltzan and Kyle Negomir.
Rounding out the rest of the roster of 13 2026 Olympians with ties to the Vail Valley are Tess Johnson, Liz Lemley, and Dylan Walczyk, all competing in moguls.
And the snowboard contingent consists of Ollie Martin, Lily Dhawornvej, Hahna Normal, Faye Thelen, and Jake Pates, seen here, qualifying for his second games.
Breckenridge’s Olympic connection is a blend of history and progression. Two of the resort's founders, Trygve Berge and Sigurd Rockne, both Norwegian Olympians brought their expertise to these peaks in 1961.
Breckenridge also holds a special place in history, and in the hearts of snowboarders, as becoming the first Colorado resort to allow snowboarding in 1984, and then hosted the first-ever Snowboard World Cup in 1986. This paved the way for local gold medalists like Red Gerard, who grew up riding the parks here, and who made history in 2018 by becoming the youngest snowboard Olympic gold medalist at the age of 17.
This will be Gerard's 3rd Olympics and is expected to be a top contender in the snowboard slopestyle event in Cortina. He'll be joined by two other local athletes, Jake Canter in snowboard slopestyle and Chase Blackwell in the halfpipe.
- The U.S. Nordic combined team (Bill Demong, Johnny Spillane, Todd Lodwick and Brett Camerota - ALL with ties to Steamboat) ended an unprecedented 2010 run at the Olympics in Vancouver with a silver medal in the team event, a typically European-dominated sport.
- Nordic skier Todd Lodwick from Steamboat was the first U.S. athlete to compete in six Olympic Winter Games and was the flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.
- Steamboat Olympian Jim “Moose” Barrows’ spectacular Alpine downhill crash was the featured "agony of defeat" on ABC’s Wide World of Sports for many years.
- You'll find former Nordic skiing Olympian Johnny Spillane casting flies in the Yampa River these days, as the owner of the Steamboat Flyfisher.
- The Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail features exhibits that explore the rich history of competitive skiing in Colorado.
