Ask Julia Kern about her upcoming trip to Italy and she’ll talk up the appetizers and savory scenery. Then comes the main course — the one where she’ll compete alongside more than a dozen other athletes with Vermont ties at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Like a majority of the state’s qualifying skiers for Alpine, biathlon, cross-country and freestyle events, Kern has attended the games before. But this time, the 28-year-old member of Stratton’s SMS T2 elite Nordic training team will be able to partake of the host country more easily than in the past.
“The last one was in lockdown during Covid,” Kern recently told VTDigger about her 2022 Olympic debut in Beijing, China. “All of us agree that wasn’t a normal experience.”
Alpine skiing will offer Vermonters the best chance to see a familiar face ascend a podium at the games Feb. 6-22 in the Italian competition centers of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo:
- Mikaela Shiffrin, a 30-year-old graduate of Burke Mountain Academy, is aiming for a comeback after winning slalom gold in Sochi, Russia, in 2014 and giant slalom gold and alpine combined silver in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018, only to fail to medal in 2022 and fall during the 2024 Killington World Cup.
Shiffrin has told the press she won’t compete in all six Olympic races like she did four years ago, but instead will focus on her current strongpoints: going down and around the gates in the slalom, giant slalom and team combined events.
- Ryan Cochran-Siegle, 33, of Starksboro — whose mother, Barbara Ann Cochran of Richmond’s Cochran’s Ski Area, won slalom gold in 1972 — is returning to his third Olympics after scoring silver in the super-G (super giant slalom) in 2022.
- Paula Moltzan, 31, a former University of Vermont NCAA champion, will be competing in her second Olympics, having just purchased her first house in Waitsfield.
- Nina O’Brien, 28, a graduate of Burke Mountain Academy, will return to the games after scoring the sixth-fastest time in the first round of the 2022 giant slalom, only to crash and break her leg in the second run.
- And Mary Bocock, a 22-year-old Dartmouth College graduate, will be making her Olympic debut as the daughter of a member of the Sullivan family of skiers from the Mount Snow region.
In cross-country skiing, Kern will be joined by four other athletes with state connections:
- Jessie Diggins, a 34-year-old SMS T2 team member, is seeking to add to her medal count — she won U.S. Nordic’s first-ever gold in 2018 and a silver and bronze in 2022 — before wrapping up her racing career this March.
Diggins is expected to compete in all six Olympic cross-country events, which will require her to ski as little as 7.5 kilometers in one race and as many as 50 in another.
- Ben Ogden, a 25-year-old University of Vermont graduate, will be representing his Bennington County hometown of Landgrove, population 177, for his second games. He’s expected to focus on his sport’s shorter sprint races.
- Jack Young, 23, of Jay, will ski as part of Craftsbury’s Green Racing Project.
- And Lauren Jortberg, a 28-year-old Dartmouth College graduate, will participate as a member of the Mansfield Nordic Pro Team.
Biathlon — a sport mixing skiing and shooting — will see the most Vermont representation, with four of the team’s eight racers connected to the state, including three who belong to its Army National Guard:
- Deedra Irwin, a 33-year-old guard staff sergeant from Jericho, placed seventh in the 15-kilometer race during her first Olympics in 2022 — the best-ever finish for an American in an individual biathlon event.
- Sean Doherty, a 30-year-old guard member, will be attending his fourth Olympics.
Two biathlon teammates will be making their Olympic debuts:
- Margie Freed, a 28-year-old University of Vermont graduate, is a member of Craftsbury’s Green Racing Project.
- And Maxime Germain, 24, is a guard aviation operations specialist.
(Biathlon alternates are Jake Brown, 33, of Craftsbury’s Green Racing Project, and Chloe Levins, 27, of Rutland.)
And in freestyle skiing:
- Mac Forehand, a 24-year-old Stratton Mountain School graduate from Winhall, is set to offer acrobatic tricks, flips and spins in his second Olympics.
- And Olivia Giaccio, 25, will hit the moguls course, having grown up skiing at Killington.
After the Covid-confined 2022 games, many Vermont athletes are planning to travel to Italy with family and friends. Kern is ready to show them her top speed.
“Then I’ll make sure to slow down,” she said, “to appreciate and share this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
