STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sun Valley has had a part in the Winter Olympics dating back to the first official Winter Olympics in 1928 at St. Moritz where Charley Proctor, who helped lay out Sun Valley’s ski trails, competed in ski racing and ski jumping.

Three-time Olympian John Heaton competed in cresta, medaling in skeleton and bobsled in later Olympics. And Audry Peppe competed in figure skating before going on to run the figure skating program at Sun Valley Resort.

Some might even count three-time Olympic champion Sonja Henie, a Norwegian figure skater who will be forever enshrined in Sun Valley lore due to her role in the 1941 movie “Sun Valley Serenade.”

Ryder Sarchett will make his Olympic debut in giant slalom. COURTESY: U.S. Ski & Snowboard

Sun Valley now can count 77 Olympians on its rolls, thanks to five competing in the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, which kicked off with its Opening Ceremony on Friday.

That’s pretty whack, Rick Kapala will tell you, given the area’s small population.

“This doesn’t just happen. It happens because of this amazing confluence of Sun Valley Company—they’re getting the World Cup back, families, coaches and a community of people who care about kids having great experiences on the snow and ice.

Kapala noted that people honk when they see Nordic racers John Steel Hagenbuch and Sammy Smith out on roller skis.

John Steel Hagenbuch—known as Johnny, then—easily won the Boulder Mountain Tour a few years ago.

“The ethos of this place is all about winter sports. We have statues in our town to celebrate winter sports—who does that? And we’re going to put more of them up.… if Sun Valley would just build a luge run, we’d be right there.”

NORDIC SKIING

Kapala, SVSEF’s director of Sport Development, was among those offering a preview of this year’s Olympics for a turn-away crowd at The Community Library organized by Kristine Bretall of the Wood River Museum of History + Culture.

Kapala recounted how the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Nordic program was started by Rob Kiesel in 1972 and the first Nordic competitors from Sun Valley were Jon Engen, who competed in both cross country and biathlong at Olympics in 1988, 1992 , 1994. Others included Alison Kiesel, Megan Gerety, Laura Wilson, Lars Flora, Chris Cook, Morgan Arritola, Simi Hamilton and Noah Hoffman.

Hilary Knight shows off her 2018 gold medal—she wants another one this year.

Rob Kiesel coached the 1980 Lake Placid team while former SVSEF Coach Chris Grover is at his fourth Olympics, serving as head coach of the 2026 U.S. Nordic Team.

This year’s U.S. cross-country ski team could have its strongest Olympic showing ever, thanks to Jessie Diggins, who raced here in 2011 at Lake Creek, and Gus Schumacher, Kapala said.

Diggins, the most decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history, is racing in her fourth and final Olympics. She’s ranked first overall and for distance on the World Cup circuit and helped the U.S. clinch its first cross-country skiing gold in team sprint at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

She won individual silver and bronze at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and Kapala favors her to win today’s freestyle/classic skiathlon, as she has greatly improved her classic skiing. She could also win the 10km freestyle.

Chase Josey signs the helmet of kids at Rotarun Ski Area following his first Olympics in 2018.

“Jessie has never won an individual gold at the Olympics so she’s gunning for it,” he said.

Schmacher, meanwhile has climbed the podium at three World Cup meets this season.

Joining them in their Olympic debut are Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Gold Team members John Steel Hagenbuch and Sammy Smith.

Smith will compete in the women’s sprint on Tuesday, and she could win, Kapala said.

“I like her chances because the course is really hard. She’s 20 in an old ladies’ sport, so making the team at 20 is whack.”

Hagenbuch will compete in the 10K and possibly the relay.

“Other teams are coming up and saying to us, ‘You guys got a hell of a squad for the relay,’” Kapala said.

SNOWBOARD

Andy Gilbert, who oversaw snowboarding for the SVSEF for 25 years, noted that there has never been a U.S. Olympic snowboard team without a member from Sun Valley since snowboarding was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998.

Sondra Van Ert competed at Nagano and Salt Lake City, and she was followed by Graham Watanabe and Aprilia Hagglof. Then, of course, there was Kaitlyn Farrington, who won a gold medal in halfpipe at the 2014 Sochi games.

Hailey’s Chase Josey will compete in his third Winter Olympics this year, having put down the run of his life at the Laax Open finals in Switzerland. Josey entered that competition last in points and jumped to first in the standings.

“The kid’s clutch. He was so locked in and focused that night,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said that Josey started snowboarding with SVSEF when he was 8.

“We slow-balled him. Maybe that’s why he’s had the longevity he’s had. The kid knows what to do. To count him out would be foolish.”

Sean FitzSimons, who has spent a lot of time in Sun Valley, has got tricks no other snowboarder does. Ollie Martin, who has relatives in Sun Valley, is a threat in big air. And Jess Perlmutter might be the future of women’s slopestyle---she does stuff on the rails some guys are afraid to do, Gilbert said.

HOCKEY

Hilary Knight has been to the Winter Olympics before—actually four times not counting this  year. The forward was the youngest member of the team during her first Olympics and is now the oldest at 36. Her five Olympic appearances are the most by any American hockey player and her 10 world championship medals, the most by a hockey player of any gender.

Her mother recounted how a teammate was asked if she remembers Hilary’s first Olympics at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

“Yes,” she said, adding that she was 2 at the time.

Knight, the team captain, and her team opened this year’s Olympics with a 5-1 win over Czechia on Thursday. Hilary scored along with Alex Carpenter, Joy Dunne and Hayley Scamurra, who scored twice.

She is going for her fifth Olympic medal and her second gold. Canada has won five of the last six women’s Olympic Games, beating the U.S. in four of those finals. But the United States swept Canada in pre-Olympic Rivalry Series, winning four games 24 points to 7.

The U.S. women play Finland Saturday and Switzerland on Monday. The quarterfinals will be on Friday, Feb. 13; the semifinals on Monday, Feb. 16, and the medal games on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Considered the GOAT of women’s hockey, Hilary joined other players in 2019 boycotting the existing women’s hockey league to form the Professional Women’ Hockey Players Association, which led to the well-funded professional Women’s Hockey League.

Ironically, that league has elevated competition from other countries because of other countries’ women playing in it.

“So. you might not see Canada and the U.S. in the championship game,” said Cynthia Knight.

Hilary conducts hockey camps at Sun Valley Resort every summer.

“This community has been great in supporting Hilary,” Cynthia Knight said. “She owns a place here, she loves Sun Valley. The quality of hockey hasn’t come up to snow sports yet, but it’ll get there.”

ALPINE SKIING

Ryder Sarchett, 22, qualified for the Olympics with a 20th place finish in Val d’Isere, France, in December 2025. He’s the first giant slalom skier from Sun Valley to score World Cup points since Sun Valley Olympian Pete Patterson in the 1970s, noted Steve Porino, a Sun Valley resident who will cover Alpine skiing for NBC Sports.

The men’s team—at six—is the smallest team the United States has ever fielded--Ben Ritchie missed out qualifying by 1/100th of a second. But Ryan Cochran-Siegel got a silver in Beijing.

The women’s team, meanwhile, is the best ever to go to the Olympics after the 1980 team coached by Michel Rudigoz that included Sun Valley’s Christin Cooper and Maria Maricich. Seven of its skiers have placed in top six in competition this year.

“Get that close and you’re a threat,” Porino said.

Breezy Johnson, who hails from Victor, Idaho, is a threat; so is Nina O’Brien and Paula Moltzan, who trained on the same 310-foot Buck Hill in Minnesota that Lindsey Vonn did.

One thing that haunts other countries is how Americans like Debbie Armstrong, who won a gold medal in 1984, can come out of nowhere to win medals at the Olympics, said Porino.

Then there’s Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, who have 192 World Cup podiums between them. If they were a nation, they’d be ranked fourth, just a few wins behind Germany.

Porino was bullish on Vonn noting that, even though she is 41 and retired for five years, she has skied the downhill race course in Cortina six times. No training can replicate experience, he said.

Unfortunately, just a couple days after Porino talked her up, Vonn ruptured her ACL. But she completed a training run a day ago and appears on course for the downhill on Sunday.

“Her card on injuries is a whole page single spaced,” he said.

Porino noted how this is the first time Alpine skiing has gone back to a legacy venue—that is, an established venue that has hosted dozens of ski races over the years, rather than a newly built course.

The men’s downhill is one of the most dangerous there is, he added--it’s nicknamed “Fear and Loathing.”

WATCH PARTY COMING UP:

A watch party is planned for Ryder Sarchett’s giant slalom race on Valentine’s Day. The party will be held at 2 a.m. at the Sun Valley Community School.