With John Steel Hagenbuch now one of five Sun Valley athletes who will compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, we thought it would be fun to rerun a video interview we did with Hagenbuch--then known as Johnny Hagenbuch—and his fellow Community School student Sydney Palmer-Leger in 2019.

It took place just after Hagenbuch had made American skiing history, winning America’s first ever under-20 cross country gold medal as part of the U.S. Men’s team in the 4x5-kilometer relay at the Junior World Championship in Lathi, Finland. It was just after he had become the first-ever male high school student named to the U.S. Ski Team’s Cross Country D team. It was just after he had placed third in the 34-K Boulder Mountain Tour, an -nnnth out of first place, and just before he would go on to win the prestigious race in 2020.