How Team USA Skiers And Snowboarders Train For The Winter Olympics

Even if sports are our hobbies, not our careers, we understand how training and preparation can extend our ability to do the things we love, be it skiing, snowboarding, running, surfing, golfing or anything else. For Olympians on Team USA, then, it’s no surprise that to compete at the highest level of sport also requires the highest level of training.

A weekend warrior can get away with rolling out of bed and grabbing the first chair up the mountain with no stretching or time in the gym, but that’s not going to work for a moguls skier or big air snowboarder looking to land on the podium.

Here is a window into how those athletes’ minds and bodies work, as well as how they train when they’re not on snow.

Multiple skiers and snowboarders who will be competing on Team USA at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics broke down their specific training regimen as well as what they do to prepare mentally to compete at the highest level.

Training (on and off Snow)

For Olympians, training off the snow is just as important as what they do on their skis or board.

Before any skier or snowboarder takes a trick to the big air jump or the halfpipe, he or she will practice sending it into a foam pit or an airbag to dial in muscle memory and ensure it can be done safely.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard provides the national team members access to these resources. For 16-year-old Lily Dhawornvej, a slopestyle and big air snowboarder, that proved key in rapidly progressing her skills.

Dhawornvej joined the U.S. team in 2025 and trains at Copper Mountain in Colorado, which houses the Woodward Copper training facility.

“I definitely feel like this season I’ve started to progress, especially going to the airbag a lot more with the resources provided by the U.S. team,” Dhawornvej said. “That’s been huge for me.”

That time spent training with the airbag is easy to see in Dhawornvej ‘s riding. In mid-January, she earned her first career World Cup podium at the Laax Open, thanks in large part to her tricks on the jumps section, including a pair of 720s and a stylish tamedog (front flip).

In the summer of 2025, Wy’East Mountain Academy, located at Mount Hood in Oregon, debuted the largest airbag and dry slope in North America, 80 feet wide and 200 feet long.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, who spent his formative years training at Mount Hood, called the airbag “a game changer” for U.S. athletes. Previously, the only place in the world to train on a feature like this was Austria.

U.S. moguls skier Tess Johnson spends 60 percent of her training time on snow and 40 percent off it. It’s similar for her moguls teammate Olivia Giaccio.

“In the lead-up to the Olympics, we’re currently training four to six days a week, depending upon if we’re at an on-snow location or not,” Giaccio said. “If we’re on snow, we’ll train both on skis and in the gym most days.”

Johnson and Giaccio both incorporate Pilates into their off-snow work and use the NordicTrack Ultra 1 Reform RX-S reformer.

Training on the reformer “helps me focus on core strength, balance and control, all of which directly translate to how I ski on the hill,” Johnson said.

“Low-impact Pilates is especially valuable for me because it allows me to recover while still moving with intention,” said Giaccio. “The controlled resistance and smooth movement help me stay connected to my body without adding unnecessary strain during a high-volume training period.”

Recovery

Though Johnson is training four to five days a week with gym workouts in between, most of her priority is on recovery and maintaining her current fitness.

“This means generally lighter workouts and training sessions as the time to make substantial changes is long gone,” Johnson said. “Usually in-competition training looks like this, but the stakes are obviously much higher with an Olympic season, so I’m being as precise as possible.”

Johnson uses her Theragun and roller twice a day and has a thorough stretching routine. She never travels anywhere without them or her yoga mat, mini bands and a lacrosse ball for rolling.

Giaccio also incorporates stretching and foam rolling into her recovery process. “I tend to adjust my schedule based upon what my body and mind need relaxation-wise,” she said. “Listening to your body is so important and has been a crucial skill I’ve honed in on over the course of my career.”

Nutrition

“I’m so much hungrier when I’m at peak training,” Johnson said. “It’s very evident when my body is craving more fuel—sometimes I feel like I eat twice as much and sleep twice as hard.”

“I generally take an intuitive approach to my nutrition: the two biggest aspects I tend to pay attention to are keeping up with my hydration and making sure I get an ample amount of protein in within 30 minutes of the end of each workout,” Giaccio said.

Snowboarder Chloe Kim also prioritizes protein when she’s actively training, with a typical day including foods like a protein smoothie, eggs, avocado, bacon, berries, hummus and chicken pesto pasta.

Mental Readiness

“Mental readiness is just as important as physical preparation,” says Dr. Jessica Bartley, senior director, psychological services at the USOPC. “We know unequivocally that intentional focus on mental performance in the lead-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games directly impacts athlete outcomes.”

What does mental readiness entail? Think stress management, sleep hygiene, visualization and goal setting.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has 15 full-time psychological services providers to serve the mental health and mental performance needs of Team USA athletes. It has also contracted with a nationwide call center to create a confidential mental health support line that is available to Team USA domestically and internationally at any time.

“The pressure will intensify once we touch down in Italy,” Bartley said. “But many of the same licensed psychological service providers from the USOPC who’ve built trust with athletes will also be on the ground to continue care. With the right support systems and tools in place, pressure can transform from a threat to a motivator.”

Bartley’s words are certainly true for Chloe Kim and fellow halfpipe snowboarder Maddie Mastro. In the last year, both athletes have talked about how changing their mindset and snowboarding for themselves first has allowed them to remove external pressure and enjoy competing again.

“I’m viewing snowboarding a lot differently,” Mastro told me. “I’ve gotten back to doing it for myself and doing it when I want to. I’m going to do the tricks I want to do, and I’m going to do them 100 percent for myself.”

“Two seasons ago, I thought I was done,” Kim told me at the end of last season. “I started going to pretty intensive therapy and just talking through things with my therapist, getting all my demons out, and a lot of it just stems from putting so much pressure on myself and having super high expectations and kind of only focusing on winning because I thought that’s the only thing that brought value to my life. And I eventually realized that it doesn’t really matter. Funny enough, now that I’m having fun, I think I’m riding the best I ever have.”

Team USA athletes also have access to apps such as Headspace Plus for meditation and sleep and Optimize Mind Performance (OMP), a sports-focused mental skills training app that helps develop and strengthen mental performance skills. Topics covered include motivation, concentration, confidence, resilience, visualization, breathwork and more.

Pay attention next time you watch a skier or snowboarder standing at the top of a course, freestyle or race. You’re likely to see her practicing her body position and visualizing her run in her mind, such as turning around bumps, carving around gates or spinning forward or backward.

“For me, mental preparation is built over the accumulation of days, weeks, months and even years of both consistent physical preparation and usage of mental techniques such as meditation and visualization,” Giaccio said. “At this point of my career, I have visualized my Olympic finals run thousands upon thousands of times!”

Downtime is also important. Johnson and Giaccio both love to read, knit, spend time with friends and get outdoors in ways other than skiing. Johnson plays ukulele, while Giaccio loves to explore coffee shops in her current hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mastro, another ukulele player, also spends time thrift shopping and walking her beloved rescue dog, Pippy.

Kim keeps her mind sharp through gaming sessions with her boyfriend, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.

Supportive Team Atmosphere

In some events, like mixed team relays, Team USA athletes compete alongside one another.

But more often, even if athletes are all under the U.S. Ski Team or U.S. Snowboard Team umbrella, at the Olympics, they’re competing against one another.

Sometimes this takes the form of competing in different heats in the same final where the best run counts, such as with freeski events. In alpine or freestyle events, athletes may be trying to top one another’s best times. And in some events, like dual moguls, which is making its debut at Milano Cortina 2026, skiers are literally racing head to head.

But in international competition, even when U.S. athletes are competing as individuals, they rely on the support of their team to do their best.

Take the U.S. women’s alpine team, one of the most talented units Team USA is sending to Italy. It includes Olympic medalists Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn, returning Olympians Keely Cashman, Katie Hensien, AJ Hurt, Breezy Johnson, Paula Moltzan, Nina O’Brien, Jacqueline Wiles and Isabella Wright and talented up-and-comer Mary Bocock.

“Over the years, we’ve helped to cultivate the team atmosphere that promotes being successful as an individual athlete while also supporting your teammates at the same time, and that’s a tough balance to strike in an individual sport,” Shiffrin said.

When Shiffrin missed nearly two months of competition in the 2024-25 season following a puncture wound to her abdomen she suffered in a crash, she credited her teammates’ success as keeping her motivated and driven in “low moments” when she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to return.

“At the end of the day at the start gate, we’re all competitors, but to train as a team you really need to be able to live and breathe a supportive environment and be able to balance the competitive edge with the supportive team spirit,” Shiffrin said. “I feel like that’s been a really incredible atmosphere this year, and it’s been so cool to see my teammates achieving such incredible things.”

Watch these Team USA skiers and snowboarders reap the benefits of their training and mental preparation when the Milano Cortina 2026 Games kick off with the Opening Ceremony on February 6.