Team USA has added its newest member. Paula Moltzan officially qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, as announced by the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and Moltzan in an Instagram collab post.

The Minneapolis native joins Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and Lindsey Vonn (USA) on an already star-studded Alpine ski roster. 

Heading into the 2025-26 World Cup season, Moltzan emphasized the importance of developing consistency, an attribute that separates good skiers from the great ones. Aside from Shiffrin, she’s been the surest bet at a strong performance in giant slalom and slalom for an American. 

This weekend, she placed 3rd and 4th in two races at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia and in 12 starts this season, her six top-5 finishes already surpass the number she tallied last season, which she’s done in half as many races. Moltzan also secured a bronze medal in giant slalom at the 2025 World Championships.

Milan Cortina will be the 31-year-old’s second career Winter Games. Her first came in 2022 in Beijing where she competed in giant slalom (12), slalom (8) and the now defunct mixed team event (4).

Moltzan has to be considered a serious Olympic medal contender in both of the tech disciplines, and perhaps even the soon-to-debut team combined, given her prominent positions (sixth and seventh) on the Cup leaderboard.

Alpine ski events at the 2026 Winter Olympics start Feb. 7, airing on NBC and streaming on Peacock.