Featured Image: Matt Powers | Skier: Svea Irving
The Stifel U.S. Freeski Team has announced the athlete nominations for the 2026 Winter Olympics. This includes the men and women skiers nominated to represent the red, white and blue in Slopestyle, Big Air and Halfpipe.
To be clear, these are just athlete nominations determined by established judging criteria based on “international rankings and head-to-head competition,” according to the U.S. Team website. “The athletes are formally nominated to the teams in May. Pending their acceptance of the nomination and adherence to the team expectations outlined in team criteria, athletes will be officially announced to the team in September 2025,” stated the press release on May 15, 2025.
While we’ll have to wait several more months until we get to see the official roster, this first look leads us to think that we’re in for a hell of a year for Team U.S.A. Notable names include Alex Hall, Rell Harwood, Svea Irving, Aaron Blunck, Mac Forehand… we could go on and on, but you get the point.

There are a lot of takeaways and too many way-too-early predictions we could make, so we’ll keep it to our top few for now. Watching Nick Goepper, Alex Ferreira and Hunter Hess on the same team is going to be surreal, and a huge congrats to Goepper. The three-time Olympic medalist is looking to keep his streak alive, this time in the pipe.
It will also be interesting to see how the judges lean in Big Air. This is just the second Olympics Big Air has been a discipline in. Will spins to the future dominate, or will we see an even blend of tricks in this highly contested field?
Rell Harwood and Grace Henderson will have some steep competition in the Slopestyle field, but the duo has a true shot at stacking the podium for the U.S. But perhaps the most exciting reveal from all of this is… we’re getting MAGMA Olympic content now that Hess and A Hall are likely headed to Italy.
Check out the Stifel U.S. Slopestyle and Halfpipe Freeski team nominations below!
HALFPIPE
Women’s Pro Team 2026 Nominations
Hanna Faulhaber – Carbondale, CO
Svea Irving – Winter Park, CO
Riley Jacobs – Oak Creek, CO
Men’s Pro Team 2026 Nominations
Aaron Blunck – Crested Butte, CO
Tristan Feinberg – Aspen, CO
Alex Ferreira – Aspen, CO
Nick Goepper – Lawrenceburg, IN
Hunter Hess – Bend, OR
Birk Irving – Winter Park, CO
Matt Labaugh – Rye, NY
Dylan Ladd – Lakewood, CO
David Wise – Reno, NV
SLOPESTYLE
Women’s Pro Team 2026 Nominations
Ella Andrews – Northampton, MA
Marin Hamill – Park City, UT
Rell Harwood – Park City, UT
Grace Henderson – Madbury, NH
Jay Riccomini – Port Matilda, PA
Men’s Pro Team 2026 Nominations
Mac Forehand – Winhall, VT
Alex Hall – Salt Lake City, UT
Hunter Henderson – Madbury, NH
Cody LaPlante – Truckee, CA
Troy Podmilsak – Park City, UT
Konnor Ralph – Helena, MT
Colby Stevenson – Park City, UT