Six Tahoe/Truckee Athletes Qualify for Olympics
January 27, 2026 | Member Submitted
Originally published in Moonshine Ink, 1/22/2026, Staff Report
The final U.S. Ski and Snowboard team rosters for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics were released on Jan. 22. Six athletes from Tahoe/Truckee made the cut for alpine skiing, nordic skiing, and snowboarding.
The U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team includes Carnelian Bay’s AJ Hurt, 25, on the women’s and Tahoe City local Bryce Bennett, 33, on the men’s. Both Hurt and Bennett are former Olympians and world cup podium-finishers. On the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team is another Tahoe Olympian, 25-year-old JC Schoonmaker.
Tahoe/Truckee also has debuting Olympians. Olympic Valley Freestyle Freeride (OVFree) Team’s 15-year-old Abby Winterberger joins the freeski team for the Freeski Halfpipe as the only club-level freeski athlete to qualify directly to the Olympics. Winterberger began on OVFree at eight years old and bypassed the traditional route of making it onto the U.S. pro team before the Olympics.