The United States Olympics and Paralympic Committee announced the official Team USA roster of 232 athletes for the 2026 Winter Games on Monday, Jan. 26. Of those 232 athletes headed to northern Italy next month, 37 have ties to Minnesota.
Fifteen players with Minnesota connections, including three players from the Wild and six from the Frost, were named to the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams.
All 11 curlers on Team USA are based in Minnesota. Six were born in the state, while others moved to Minnesota to further their curling careers.
Cross-country skier Jessie Diggins (Afton), a former gold medal winner who announced she will retire after this season, qualified for her fourth Olympics. Fellow Minnesotan Zak Ketterson (Bloomington), a two-time Nordic skiing state champion, was named to his first Olympic team.
Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn (Burnsville), who came out of retirement last season, qualified for her fifth Olympics at age 41 and will compete on the Cortina d’Ampezzo course she calls a second home. She will be joined by fellow Buck Hill alum Paula Moltzan (Prior Lake), who qualified for her second Olympics.
Two Minnesotan long-track speed skaters — Greta Myers (Lino Lakes) and Giorgia Birkeland (White Bear Lake) — qualified for the Team USA at the Olympic trials in Milwaukee in January, as did 2024 Macalester graduate Conor McDermott-Mostowy. And two former high school cross-country skiers, Margie Freed (Apple Valley/Eastview) and Luci Anderson (Golden Valley/Armstrong), are going to their first Olympics in biathlon, while Paul Schommer, an All-American for the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, is headed to his second.
Snowboarder Iris Pflum of Minneapolis qualified for her first Olympics in the parallel giant slalom two days before earning her first World Cup podium, with a third-place finish in the team event with Walker Overstake in Simonhöhe, Austria, on Jan. 24.
The following Minnesota-connected athletes are on Team USA for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will be held Feb. 4-22.
