Courtesy of Gregory Bull/AP
The 2026 Winter Olympics are taking place in northern Italy and feature athletes from over 90 countries. Only four hail from Oregon, representing the U.S. in snowboarding and skiing. Not only are these athletes incredibly talented, they also represent the Pacific Northwest, where they learned the skills that brought them to the Olympic Trials.
Jackie Wiles
This alpine skier from Portland is competing in her third Olympic Games and has already earned a bronze medal for Team USA. According to her website, she began skiing at just two years old at Mount Hood. In January, she placed third in the World Cup for downhill skiing, her second podium finish at a World Cup — and her ticket to the Olympics. This year, the Olympics introduced the team combined event, in which one skier participates in the slalom and the other in a downhill run, and their times are combined for a final score. On Feb. 10, Wiles competed in the downhill portion of the event with her teammate Paula Moltzan, and the two earned a bronze medal. This is her first Olympic medal, which came a few days after she placed fourth in women’s downhill skiing, missing the bronze by about three tenths of a second. She competed in her last event on Feb. 12 — the super-G, which combines downhill and slalom skiing. While she placed 13th, she was the top American competitor. She told KGW that she anticipates that this will be her last Olympics after a 13-year long professional skiing career.
Alessandro Barbieri
At just 17 years old, Barbieri is the youngest member of the U.S. Snowboard Pro Halfpipe Team. Also from Portland, he has already earned a silver medal at the 2024 Winter Youth Games for halfpipe and placed third in the 2025 World Cup, sending him to his first Olympics. The snowboarding halfpipe involves a U-shaped course where athletes demonstrate incredible aerial tricks. Barbieri has already made a name for himself by being the first American to land the triple cork 1440, an impressive, yet risky trick involving four dizzying rotations. He placed fourth in the qualifying round on Feb. 11 and competed in the finals on Feb. 13. However, he placed 10th overall after missing the landing of two of his tricks.
Sean FitzSimons
Known by his nickname “Bon,” Hood River native FitzSimons is competing in his second Olympic Games in the big air and slopestyle snowboarding events. Like Wiles, he began skiing at a young age at Mount Hood, but eventually switched to snowboarding. He won first place at the Snowboarding World Cup in 2022, sending him to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and placed third this year, securing his spot to Milan Cortina. On Feb. 5, he participated in the snowboarding big air qualifier. In this event, snowboarders have three chances to drop off a tall ramp and perform a trick in the air to earn the highest score, with the top 12 moving on to the final. Unfortunately, FitzSimons placed 25th overall, but he continued on to compete in the snowboarding slopestyle qualifier on Feb. 15. In this event, athletes have two chances to complete a course filled with different types of structures and perform tricks, which are judged on originality, scope and quality, with their best run counting. Again, FitzSimons needed to fall within the top 12, but was unable to qualify after placing 26th.
Hunter Hess
Hailing from Bend, Hess started skiing at Mount Bachelor as a toddler and now competes in the freeski halfpipe. He has earned four World Cup podiums and two bronze medals at the X Games, but this is his first time competing in the Olympics. Like the snowboarding halfpipe, skiers use a halfpipe to do aerial tricks, usually around five in a single run. While the qualification round happened Feb. 19, Hess previously gained attention for his comments about the U.S. According to CBS News, when asked how he felt about representing the U.S. at the Olympics, he said he had “mixed emotions,” prompting President Donald Trump to call him “a real loser.” Hess is just one of many athletes from the U.S. to vocally criticize the administration’s policies.
The official Olympic website will post the results as events occur, with Feb. 22 being the last day of the Olympics.
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