United States Ski and Snowboard announced its team of 97 athletes for the 2024 Milano Cortina Olympics on Thursday, and it features some of the biggest names of the entire Games.
Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin headlined the group of 73 skiers, while Chloe Kim headlined the 24 snowboarders.
Vonn’s comeback to competitive skiing at 41 years old following a partial knee replacement is one of the biggest storylines of the event. These will be her fifth Games as she looks to add to a resume that includes four overall World Cup championships and a 2010 Olympics gold medal in downhill.
As for Shiffrin, she enters the Games as the most decorated Alpine skier of all time and a two-time gold medalist (slalom in 2014 and giant slalom in 2018). Whether she can bounce back after failing to win a medal in the 2022 Olympics is also a notable subplot at Milano Cortina.
Snowboarding will also be under the spotlight, and ESPN’s Alyssa Roenigk noted Kim is attempting to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic gold medals.
She will be joined in Milano Cortina by a men’s team that includes three-time Olympian and 2018 gold medalist Red Gerard and Olympic champion Nick Baumgartner.
There was at least one noticeable absence, as Roenigk pointed out Jamie Anderson’s comeback bid to reach the Games fell short. The three-time Olympian and two-time gold medalist suffered a broken right wrist in September and a concussion in January during the slopestyle finals at the Aspen Grand Prix.
The United States will instead send three first-time Olympians in Lily Dhawornvej, Hahna Norman and Jess Perlmutter in women’s slopestyle.
“In many ways, making this team is even harder than the Olympics themselves,” snowboard program director Rick Bower said in a statement. “The depth of our field is incredible, and selection truly came down to the wire.”
The press release from U.S. Ski and Snowboard pointed out that the team took home 15 of the Americans’ 25 total Olympic medals at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games.
