Let these Minnesota Olympians be your guide

Before the 2026 Winter Olympics, the Minnesota Star Tribune asked athletes headed to the Milan Cortina Games about the best advice and most influential voices of their careers. Their responses have been edited for clarity.

Throughout her decorated cross-country skiing career, Diggins had stressed the importance of sports psychology and mental health practices. She repeated the advice below after winning the bronze medal in the women’s 10km last week.

My very first coach was Kris Hansen. I got to work with her since I was 13 or 14 through when I graduated from [Stillwater] high school. I would say the best advice she gave me was my intro to sports psychology. After you finish the race, she would tell me, don’t look at the results. Think back on your race. Think about the goals that you set for yourself during the race and think of three things you did really well and then three opportunities for improvement. Like, how do you want to do this better next time? No matter if you win or if you’re last, you’re going to have things you did well and you’re going to have things you want to improve on. And that way, you take ownership of your race. You don’t let the result board tell you how to feel.

Vonn started training with Erich Sailer at Buck Hill in Burnsville when she was 7. She said she continued to seek his advice later in her Alpine skiing career, when he was in his 90s. Sailer died last year.

Erich was just always a coach that demanded the best of you, but also encouraged you. He was always my biggest supporter, but wasn’t afraid to tell me what I was doing wrong. Definitely never afraid to tell me what I was doing wrong. And I think his advice to me, to be myself, to not change my skiing — I took that as don’t change myself — that has always resonated with me throughout my whole life.

Moltzan, of Prior Lake, started skiing at age 2 at Buck Hill, where her parents were instructors. Two influential voices in her career are Erich Sailer and her husband Ryan Mooney, who is her ski technician.

At Buck Hill, I learned some grit and determination and a lot of hard work. Erich Sailer doesn’t really let you get away with just being mediocre and for me, that’s something that’s going to stick with me. He also has always treated me like an adult. I was 10, 11, 12, when I was working with him and he always spoke to me like I was an adult, not like a child. And I think that’s something I am trying to carry on into the next generation of not babying people, that they’re just an adult too.

Anderson, of Golden Valley, only picked up biathlon in the summer of 2024. She’s competing in her first Olympics.

To trust my process. And to not worry about what other people are doing around you. This applies in biathlon to shooting on the range. Usually in a race you’ll come in and there will be like two or three other people around you shooting. Since I just started, I’m shooting slower, so I need to block out the noise of the people shooting around me. I know that they’re gonna shoot faster than me, so if I just get stressed, I’m gonna miss targets and then it’s just gonna be worse down the road.

Freed, of Apple Valley, won a Nordic skiing state championship for Eastview. She was encouraged by her dad to attend a U.S. Biathlon camp to learn to sport.

Each shot is another opportunity. ... Even if I miss the first one, just go back. Do the same process for the next four and I’ll hit those ones. Kind of be like a goldfish. A lot of coaches have said that, but I’ve carried that over into kind of the skiing side of things and the rest of my life. If one thing doesn’t work out, I can still move on to the next thing and focus on that, and that’s another opportunity.

From Lino Lakes, Myers, 21, played hockey for the first 12 years of her life and switched to speedskating after learning at the Roseville Oval.

A defender for the Frost, Stecklein starred at Roseville High School and was a three-time national champion for the Gophers.

It was from my high school coach Vic Brodt. It was about playing my style and doing what I do well. I didn’t need to change who I was, a defensive defenseman, in order to be successful.

Sturm, a center for Germany in the men’s hockey tournament, is one of 10 players from the Wild organization at the Games.

My second year juniors actually here, in Austin, Minnesota, Chris Tok and Jamie Huffman, they were instrumental for my development. Not even so much as a hockey player, but as a human being and growing up and taking responsibility for taking care of things in your life, and that eventually translated to how I approach the game of hockey. I always say this: Those two guys are a massive reason why I’m here, and they were there at the probably most important [juncture] of my career, the fork in the road where it’s like you can go either way, and they steered me in the right direction.

Casper skipped his rink to its first Olympics at age 24, winning the U.S. curling trials and a qualifying tournament over more veteran teams. He has leaned on veterans based in Minnesota as mentors since he moved to the state from New York.

Dropkin, a silver medalist in mixed doubles curling who lives in Duluth, grew up at Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland, Mass., where his parents, Keith and Shelley, and older brother Stephen also curled.

One of the big things that my dad always told me was get the reps in and, in general beyond just curling, there’s no time like the present. He always told me there’s no time like the present and so that’s been very relevant in my life in terms of getting things done and preparing for things and making sure I’m giving everything in terms of how I prepare for everything.

Curlers Tabitha Peterson Lovick and her sister Tara Peterson got their start at the St. Paul Curling Club when their parents joined and signed them up as well.

Swing for the fences. From my mom.

Curling is easy; don’t make it hard. From our coach Cathy Overton-Clapham.