By Hannah Wolke, Digital Communications Manager

The 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics wrapped up on Saturday, crowning Norway champions with 41 medals. The United States came second with 33, which included some stellar performances from three Cincinnati natives.

Nick Goepper, a freestyle skier, grew up 20 miles away from downtown Cincinnati. He trained freestyle ski for halfpipe at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, Cincinnati’s main ski facility. 

“It was the best place I ever could have grown up to learn how to ski. The repetitions that I was able to accumulate at this small hill in Indiana as a teenager were far, far more than a lot of my friends who may have grown up in more mountainous places,” Groepper said in an interview with TIME. 

At the 2026 Olympics in Milan, he was incredibly close to becoming the first American to place in four different Olympic Games. He has won in slopestyle skiing in Sochi in 2014, PyeongChang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022. Unfortunately, Groepper narrowly missed the podium after a hard crash on the halfpipe, leaving him with a sprained knee and a bone bruise.

A lot of people watching the Olympic Games this year have also noticed his choice of jeans in the snow.  

“It was a statement to allude to my Midwest roots of like, hey, anybody can do this sport,” Goepper said in an interview with South 6 Florida News. “Hey, I’m skiing in jeans and I’m skiing in the biggest events in the entire world, and you can do it, too.” 

Connor Curran made his Olympic debut in Milan, winning gold in freestyle skiing at the young age of 21. The Blue Ash native is highly regarded as “one of the greatest young talents in the aerials world,” an article from U.S. Ski and Snowboard stated.

Quinn Dehlinger from Anderson Township also qualified for the men’s aerial skiing at the Olympics this winter. 

At 14 years old, Dehlinger left the suburbs of Cincinnati to go to Lake Placid and train for skiing qualifiers. In 2022, he almost reached his goal of getting to the Olympics but suffered a torn ACL, ending his hopes. Now fully recovered, he was one of the first to grab a spot for Milan.

After a reaggravation to his knee, he was unable to compete for the 2026 Olympics.

“I’m devastated that I won’t get the chance to show the world what I’ve got, but life isn’t always fair, and I’m dealing with the hand I’ve been dealt,” he stated in an Instagram post on Feb. 20. 

Cincinnati will be a source of some winter Olympians come 2030, as Groepper, Curran and Dehlinger look to light up the French Alps.