There’s no one way to achieve a dream, just ask Tahoe/Truckee’s own 15-year-old Olympic freeskier Abby Winterberger. Qualifying to compete in halfpipe, she is the only skier to make the Milano-Cortina Games straight from a club team.
“Usually an athlete makes it onto the U.S. team, the U.S. rookie team,” Winterberger said, “and then they perform in World Cups and eventually move to the pro team and then have the chance to qualify for the games. But for me, I have not made the U.S. team yet, so I am still riding with OV Free.”
OV Free is the Olympic Valley Freestyle Freeride Team, whose alumni include Olympic medal-winning names like Jonny Mosely and Shannon Bahrke, and from which Winterberger catapulted, leapfrogging other more likely candidates who had years of experience on the U.S. team.
Winterberger — who is also the youngest member of the 232-person U.S. team — came out of relative international obscurity to make such a statement in her first World Cup events late in 2025 and early in 2026 to garner the selection. Her making the 2026 Olympic Team was not on most people’s radar — myself included, even after doing research for Moonshine’s December 2025 article, Local Athletes Vie for a Spot on the U.S. Olympic Team where Winterberger received only half a sentence of ink. Indeed, perhaps only Abby herself truly believed in her chances.
“I knew I had it in me this year,” she said. “I knew I could do it.”
Of her selection to the XXV Winter Olympiad, Winterberger went on to say, “I’m just so overwhelmed with excitement, and I’m so proud to represent OVFree, my family, and my country in Italy.”
Tahoe/Truckee is proud of her too, as evidenced by the wall-to-wall turnout for her send-off party at the Tahoe Sports Hub on Jan. 27. Abby’s family was in attendance, including her older brother Mack — also among the nation’s best freeskiers, most notably in the halfpipe, who shines on the World Cup and is a contender in any event he enters.
“We’re just so proud of Abby,” said her mother, Rosemary. “We always knew that she had this potential, but the fact that it’s all happening at 15 is just amazing. Being able to see our two older kids together … pursuing their passion has been amazing, and we’re all just so excited to support Abby at the Olympics.”
Abby will get to ease into the games, with the qualifying rounds of women’s halfpipe not taking place until day 13, on Feb. 19, and the women’s final two days later. Look for area viewing parties for your opportunity to cheer on Miss Winterberger.
“Going to the Olympics has always been a dream of mine,” she said. “When I was little I … originally I wanted to go for gymnastics. Then I found the love for skiing.”
The 2026 Olympics run from Feb. 6 to 22.
