Lake Placid’s Tate Frantz takes flight during the qualification round of the men’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Lake Placid in February 2025. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

United States Ski and Snowboard named its 97 athlete nominations on Thursday to represent Team USA at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games, from Feb. 6 to 22. The athletes, which include Lake Placid native and New York Ski Education Foundation ski jumper, Tate Frantz, were selected to Team USA based on pre-determined Olympic Winter Games selection criteria by U.S. Ski & Snowboard and will be officially announced to Team USA on Jan. 26.

The Milano Cortina Games will take place across Italy, becoming the most geographically widespread Games in history. Athletes will compete across 25 venues in four main clusters: Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme, with 116 medal events on the schedule. For ski and snowboard events, Bormio will host men’s Alpine, Cortina will host women’s Alpine, cross country, ski jumping and Nordic combined will all take place in Val di Fiemme and freestyle, freeski and snowboard will be in Livigno.

U.S. Ski and Snowboard will send these athletes to the Olympic Winter Games, including 73 athletes from the U.S. Ski Team and 24 athletes from the U.S. Snowboard Team. At the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, U.S. Ski and Snowboard accounted for more than 40% of Team USA’s delegation and brought home 15 of the 25 total Olympic medals won. Of these 97 athletes, 48 are first-time Olympians.

Frantz is among the newcomers as he is set to lead the men’s U.S. Ski jumping team. The others on that team include fellow first-timer and Steamboat Springs, Colorado native Jason Colby, who’s father Scott grew up in Lake Placid and two-time Olympian Kevin Bickner of Wauconda, Illinois.

The women’s ski jumping roster is made up of all newcomers. They include Annika Belshaw of Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Park City, Utah natives Josie Johnson and Paige Jones.

“This is an extraordinary group of athletes,” said Anders Johnson, the program director for the U.S. ski jumping and Nordic combined teams. “Every spot on this team reflects years of hard work and sacrifice and being named to Team USA honors their goal of representing the United States on the Olympic stage. They show up every day ready to work, challenge one another and continue raising the standard. That mindset is exactly what it takes at the Olympic level, and this team is ready. I’m incredibly excited to see what they’re capable of in Val di Fiemme. The potential of this group is limitless. We’re proud to share this milestone with everyone who has supported these athletes on their journey to Milano Cortina.”

There are also several athletes headed to Milano Cortina who are multiple-time medalists and Olympians. The Alpine team is led by two-time Olympic champion, three-time Olympic medalist and most decorated alpine skier of all time Mikaela Shiffrin, Olympic champion, three-time Olympic medalist and winningest speed skier in history Lindsey Vonn and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, an Olympic silver medalist. Jessie Diggins, an Olympic champion and three-time Olympic medalist in cross country, will compete at her fourth and final Games — she is set to retire in Lake Placid during the FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals in March.

Freestyle moguls is led by Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf, while Chris Lillis, who won an Olympic gold medal in 2022, returns for the aerials team. Olympic champion Alex Hall, two-time Olympic medalist Alex Ferreira and three-time Olympic medalist Nick Goepper, who is headed to his fourth Games, are leading the way to Italy for freeski.

On the snowboard side, Chloe Kim, a two-time Olympic champion and the youngest Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding history, returns, alongside Olympic champions Red Gerard and Nick Baumgartner. Baumgartner is entering his fifth Olympic Winter Games.

“The athletes we are sending to the Games represent a large portion of Team USA and I am confident about the impact they will make in Italy,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard President and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. “More than the results, our athletes are also bringing some of the most captivating story lines to Milano Cortina, and we are so excited to see the impact they will have while representing their country in February.”