By Emmanuel Bobby

To understand how Abby Winterberger became the youngest member of Team USA at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics at just 15 years old, it helps to understand one defining trait that has shaped her entire life: fearlessness.

Her father, Jim Winterberger, recalls a moment from a family vacation that perfectly captured Abby’s personality. The family had stopped at a water park, where Abby, still very young and small, begged to ride a towering water slide that sent four riders spinning around a massive funnel before dropping them into a pool below. When an attendant told her she was too short to ride, Jim expected tears or disappointment.

Instead, Abby stunned everyone.

“Without hesitation, she dives headfirst into the funnel — without a raft,” he recalled. Abby tore around the giant bowl at an incredible speed, blasting past adults in inflatable tubes as the stunned attendant looked on in disbelief.

“He looks at me like he’s just seen a ghost and says, ‘Holy s—. I’m probably getting fired … and that kid is a psycho,’” Jim said with a laugh.

That fearless kid would go on to become an Olympian.

From Backyard Jumps to the Olympic Halfpipe

Winterberger didn’t expect to make the Olympics when she started her first professional season last fall. She’s still too young to hold a driver’s license in her home state of California. Yet this month, she will launch herself into the halfpipe in the Italian Alps, competing against athletes she once idolized on television.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in fully,” she said.

While Maggie Voisin remains the youngest American freestyle skier ever to qualify for the Winter Olympics at age 15 in 2014, Winterberger is only a few months older than Voisin was at the time. At Milan Cortina, she stands as the youngest American athlete across all sports.

Her coach, Cooper Davidson, who has trained her since she was 7 at the OVFree club near Lake Tahoe, said the goal for her Olympic debut is simple: absorb the experience.

“We’re going on a really sick ski trip, and we’re going to learn a lot from our peers, and just try to really take it all in,” Davidson said.

This will also be Winterberger’s first time visiting Italy, let alone skiing there.

A Rising Star With Medal Potential

Winterberger’s recent performances suggest she could reach the finals and emerge as the top American competitor. However, medaling will require her to push the technical difficulty of her runs to match competitors known for bigger amplitude and more rotations.

Even so, her coach believes there’s no clear ceiling on her potential.

“I really don’t know if I see a ceiling for her long-term potential,” Davidson said. “For an athlete at her age to be at the level she is, the sky’s the limit. There’s no telling what she’s going to do.”

A Childhood Built on Snow and Determination

Winterberger grew up in Truckee, California, close to the ski resorts around Lake Tahoe. By age 2, she had already learned to ski to keep up with her older brother, Mack. Davidson recalls that from the beginning, she displayed an unusual level of discipline and drive.

She also pursued gymnastics seriously starting at age 5, training until she was 13 and once believing she would make the Olympics as a gymnast. That background gave her exceptional aerial awareness, which later translated seamlessly into skiing tricks and backflips on moguls runs.

Her path shifted during the pandemic in 2020, when her gymnastics gym shut down. With limited options, she and her brother started building homemade jumps in their backyard and skiing them repeatedly.

Watching the 2022 Winter Olympics pushed her further toward freeskiing. Seeing skiers from around Tahoe compete made the Olympics feel achievable.

“They were just normal people,” she said. “And then seeing them going to the Olympics, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m a normal person. Maybe I could go to the Olympics.’”

A Breakthrough Season

This season, Winterberger finished 18th overall in the World Cup rankings and seventh in freeski halfpipe. Her consistency, especially in difficult weather conditions, helped secure her Olympic spot.

The night before her final Olympic qualifier in Aspen, Colorado, the pressure hit her.

“I was kind of freaking out,” she said. “Like, ‘If I do well tomorrow, this could actually happen.’ I didn’t really believe it. But yeah, then it happened.”

U.S. freeski sport director Skogen Sprang said the qualification system can open doors for young breakout athletes who deliver standout performances.

“The door is wide open to an up-and-coming athlete who performs well against the World Cup field,” Sprang said. “Abby capitalized on her first age-eligible year and posted some amazing results.”

Balancing Teen Life With an Olympic Dream

Competing alongside women she once watched on TV feels surreal, Winterberger said. Despite her growing global profile, she tries to maintain some semblance of a normal teenage life. Constant travel to chase snow year-round forced her to switch to fully remote schooling, while most of her friends attend a traditional high school.

She considered joining them but felt it would hold her back.

“This is the life that I want to be living,” she said.

And so, true to form, she dove in headfirst—just as she did on that water slide years ago.

“She’s always given everything she has,” her father said. “Full send, every time.”