Nearly 20 Athletes with Vermont Ties Tapped for Italy Winter Olympics

Vermont is often called the "Brave Little State" due to its rugged individualism that mirrors its craggy landscape. After all, Vermont was its own defiant country in the beginning of our big exit from England, only finally agreeing to get with the United States program and become the 14th state in 1791. While Get On Snow is a global juggernaut organization, our World Headquarters is still right here in Vermont, population 650,000 but boasting the country's 4th biggest ski state behind snow giants Colorado, California and Utah.

With our ski history and best-in-the-East terrain (we have ten ski areas with at least 2,000' of vertical - more than Maine, New Hampshire and New York combined) we often have a slew of athletes with Vermont ties who make the winter Olympic team each year, and this year's trip to the slopes and trails of Cortina, Italy is no different with nearly 20 Green Mountain warriors competing in the alpine, Nordic, biathlon and freestyle events.

At the top of the mountain is Vermont's most famous and accomplished gate ripper, Mikaela Shiffrin, a 30-year-old graduate of Burke Mountain Academy - one of Vermont's several storied ski academies and the oldest in the country. With her record-setting World Cup career of 108 wins and counting to date, her Olympic accolades are also impressive: slalom gold in Sochi, Russia in 2014 and giant slalom gold with a silver in the alpine combined in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018. Although she failed to medal in 2022, her monster World Cup season with a podium spot nearly every race so far shapes her momentum for a big comeback next month when she will focus on just the slalom, giant slalom and team combined - her best events. The rest of the alpine Vermonters shape up as follows:

• Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who hails from the most prominent ski racing family in Vermont, the Cochrans of Richmond's Cochran's Ski Area and whose mother Barbara Ann Cochran won slalom gold in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan, will be back for his third Olympics after grabbing a silver in the Super-G in 2022.

  
  

• Paula Moltzan is a former University of Vermont NCAA champion who lives in Waitsfield, VT and will be traveling to her second Olympics. She has seen several World Cup podiums so far this season, and her shared podium with Shiffrin in 2022 marked the first double-podium for the U.S. Women since 1971.

  
  

• Nina O’Brien is another graduate of Burke Mountain Academy and will return to the gates after scoring the sixth-fastest time in the first round of the 2022 giant slalom, only to crash and break her leg in the second run.

  
  

• Mary Bocock is a native of the Mount Snow region and will be making her Olympic debut.

Michaela Shiffrin and Paula Moltzan on one of several shared World Cup Podiums

The Vermont Nordic athletes will once again be heavily represented by the fabled Stratton Mountain School, the state's premier training ground for all disciplines of cross-country skiing. Jessi Diggins will lead the pack as the most decorated US Nordic racer of all time, having won Team USA's first-ever gold in 2018 and taking the silver and bronze in 2022. Jessi will be joined by Stratton teammates Julia Kern and Ben Ogden. Kern will compete in her second Olympic outing after her debut in 2022 and Ogden, a University of Vermont grad and Landrgrove, VT native, will also be in his second games, focusing on the shorter sprint events. Lauren Jortberg, a multi-year Stratton Mountain School disciple and a member of Vermont's Mansfield Nordic Pro Team, will be heading to her first Olympics along with Jack Young of Jay, VT, another first-timer representing the Craftsbury Green Racing Project.

Jessi Diggins, the most decorated U.S. Nordic skier of all time

You might know that Vermont is proud to have the state legislature formally designate skiing and snowboarding as the Official State Sports, but many would claim that the unofficial state sport is probably deer hunting. With biathlon, you have the best of both worlds, combining skiing and rifle marksmanship - rooted in the Scandinavian reverence to Ullr, the Norse god of both skiing and hunting - quite the resume. The Olympic Biathlon platoon will see the most Vermont representation with half of the Team USA members:

• Deedra Irwin, a Vermont Army National Guard Staff Sergeant from Jericho, VT will be in her second Olympics after placing 7th in the 15K in 2022 - the best-ever finish for Team USA in an individual biathlon event.

  
  

• Sean Doherty, another Army National Guard member, will be in his fourth Olympics.

• Maxime Germain will make her Olympic debut as a Vermont Air National Guard aviations operations specialist.

• Margie Freed is a University of Vermont graduate in her first Olympics as a member of Craftsbury's Green Racing Project.

• Biathlon alternates are Chloe Levins of Rutland and Jake Brown of Craftsbury's Green Racing Project.

Deedra Irwin takes aim at Olympic glory

Although Team USA's snowboarding squad won't feature any Vermonters despite our state's iconic connection to world-leader Burton Snowboards and past athletes like Kelly Clark, we will have two on the Freestyle Skiing posse doing similar tricks and rips on two planks. Mac Forehand of Winhall, VT is yet another Stratton Mountain School alum and will be doing his big air acrobatic best in his second Olympics. Olivia Giaccio will be Team USA's mogul maven, having earned her bumps chops on Killington's notorious Outer Limits minefield, just like the legendary Donna Weinbrecht did before earning gold in 1992 in Albertville, France.

Olivia Giaccio rips the bumps for Team USA

The Green Mountain State will be bringing its best to Italy next month and we can't wait to cheer them on - Go Team USA and Go Team Vermont!