U.S. Ski & Snowboard has named the 16 athletes to represent Team USA at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games, Feb. 6-22, 2026. The athletes were selected to Team USA based on pre-determined Olympic Winter Games selection criteria by U.S. Ski & Snowboard and will be officially announced to Team USA on Jan. 26, 2026.
Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center received 8 nominations out of the 16 skiers, making up 50% of the U.S. Cross Country Olympic Ski Team. For some APU skiers, this will be their first Olympic nomination, while for others this will be their 2nd or 3rd Olympic Winter games. 4 are born and raised Alaskans, where the other 4 have made Anchorage their home while training year-round with APU Nordic Ski Center.
The 2026 APU Nordic Ski Center Olympians Include:
APU Nordic Ski Center Men’s Olympic Team
- Gus Schumacher – 2022 Olympian, hometown Anchorage, Alaska
- JC Schoonmaker – 2022 Olympian, hometown Lake Tahoe, California
- Hunter Wonders* – hometown Anchorage, Alaska
- Zanden McMullen* – hometown Anchorage, Alaska
APU Nordic Ski Center Women’s Olympic Team
- Rosie Brennan – 2018 Olympian, 2022 Olympian, hometown Anchorage, Alaska
- Hailey Swirbul – 2022 Olympian, hometown El Jebel, Colorado
- Novie McCabe – 2022 Olympian, hometown Winthrop, Washington
- Kendall Kramer* – hometown Fairbanks, Alaska
*Notes first time Olympian
The Full U.S. 2026 U.S. Olympic Cross Country Team
(Hometown; Club; College; Birthdate; Past Olympic Teams)
Women
- Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University; Dartmouth College; 12/2/1988; 2018, 2022)
- Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN; Stratton Mountain School; 8/26/1991; 2014, 2018, 2022)
- *Lauren Jortberg (Boulder, CO; Mansfield Nordic Pro Team; Centre National d’entraînement Pierre-Harvey Team; Dartmouth College; 4/12/1997)
- *Kendall Kramer (Fairbanks, AK; Alaska Pacific University; University of Alaska Fairbanks; 6/26/2002)
- Julia Kern (Waltham, MA; Stratton Mountain School; Dartmouth College; 9/12/1997; 2022)
- Novie McCabe (Winthrop, WA; Alaska Pacific University; University of Utah; 12/15/2001; 2022)
- *Samantha “Sammy” Smith (Boise, ID; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; Stanford University; 9/22/2005)
- Hailey Swirbul (El Jebel, CO; Alaska Pacific University; University of Alaska Anchorage; 7/10/1998; 2022)
Men
- *John Steel Hagenbuch (Ketchum, ID; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; Dartmouth College; 10/1/2001)
- *Zak Ketterson (Minneapolis, MN; Team Birkie; Northern Michigan University; 4/2/1997)
- *Zanden McMullen (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University; 5/31/2001)
- Ben Ogden (Burlington, VT; Stratton Mountain School; University of Vermont; 2/13/2000; 2022)
- James “JC” Schoonmaker (Lake Tahoe, CA; Alaska Pacific University; University of Alaska Anchorage; 8/12/2000; 2022)
- Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University; University of Alaska Anchorage; 7/25/2000; 2022)
- *Hunter Wonders (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University; 8/7/1998)
- *Jack Young (Jay, VT; Green Racing Project; Colby College; 12/17/2
APU Nordic Ski Center’s Head Coach & Director, Erik Flora, will be on the Olympic Cross Country Ski coaching staff supporting the athletes throughout the Olympic races.
In total, APU Nordic Ski Center will have 9 athletes competing in the Olympic games with another hometown Anchorage skier who grew up in the APU Nordic Ski Center program, Peter Hinds representing the country of Slovakia.
The team will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals across six events: four individual races—20km skiathlon, Classic Sprint, 10km Interval Freestyle, 50km Classic Mass Start – and two team events: the team freestyle sprint and 4×7.5k relay.
APU Nordic Ski Center has had at least one skier in the Winter Olympics since 1972 and has become a powerhouse in U.S. cross-country skiing since. The list of Olympians can be found here: https://apunordic.com/programs/our-olympians/
APU Nordic Ski Center Alumni and five-time winter Olympian and Olympic Gold Medalist, Kikkan Randall, will be announcing the races live on NBC/Peacock.
All events will be streamed live on Peacock.
The full press release from U.S. Ski and Snowboard is here: U.S. Ski & Snowboard Names 97 Athletes to Represent Team USA at 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games