Six ski jumpers will compete for the United States at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced Jan. 22, one of many breakthroughs earned by a young and rapidly-improving American squad over the last two seasons.

The roster, which features five Olympic rookies and three jumpers under age 21, was finalized following the closure of the qualification period Jan. 19. The International Olympic Committee awarded quota spots to each country primarily based on results earned on the 2025-26 World Cup circuit. 

Each country could qualify a maximum of four jumpers per gender. The United States qualified three in each: Kevin Bickner, Jason Colby, and Tate Frantz on the men's side, and Annika Belshaw, Josie Johnson, and Paige Jones on the women's.

“This is an extraordinary group of athletes. Every spot on this team reflects years of hard work and sacrifice, and being named to Team USA honors their goal of representing the United States on the Olympic stage," Anders Johnson, the program director for the U.S. ski jumping and Nordic combined team, said in a press release. They show up every day ready to work, challenge one another, and continue raising the standard. That mindset is exactly what it takes at the Olympic level, and this team is ready."

As the only member of the U.S. troupe with previous Olympic experience, 29-year-old Bickner will lead the young team in Italy, competing in his third Games. Bickner, who holds the national ski flying record, retired shortly after the Beijing Games but returned to the sport two years later. In the two years since, he’s not only returned to his peak but surpassed it, finishing the 2024-25 season as the second-highest ranked U.S. man on the World Cup circuit (28th) and the highest in the Grand Prix (19th), both personal bests. His performance also helped the U.S. men to an 8th-place finish at the 2024-25 Nations Cup — the country's highest placement since the 1984-85 season.

Frantz (20) and Colby (19) round out the U.S. men's team as two of the country's most promising ski jumpers in years. 

Three-time national champion Frantz finished last season as the World No. 22, collecting the most World Cup points in a single season of any U.S. man ever. 

Colby is in the midst of a career-best World Cup season, having earned his first two individual top-10 finishes in December and January. At the stop in Wisla, Poland, in late December, he leapt to 7th, the best placement earned by a U.S. man in over two decades. Two-and-a-half weeks later, he finished the Four Hills Tournament as the only American to crack the top 20, a feat he managed twice.

The three U.S. women heading to Italy have achieved a similar level of success so far this season.

At this year's Two Nights Tour, Johnson, 19, became the first American woman to compete in the KO Duals. In early January, she also posted two personal-best finishes at the World Cup event in Villach, Austria: 16th (Jan. 5) and 15th (Jan. 6).

Belshaw, who opened the season by winning her eighth national title, is the highest-ranked American woman on the World Cup circuit in 29th. At the Ljubno World Cup Jan. 10, the 23-year-old became the first U.S. woman to crack the top 10 since the 2016-17 season, jumping into 7th place.

Also in Ljubno, Jones, 23, secured her first-ever top-15 finish (14th), marking the third time this season that she has improved her career-best result.

Several of the top U.S. women jumpers retired in the years between the 2018 and 2022 Games, triggering a period of significant rebuilding. Anna Hoffmann was the only American woman to earn an Olympic berth for Beijing, though she didn't qualify initially. She was added to the roster following a lengthy quota reallocation process conducted by the IOC. 

The United States last found its way to the Olympic podium at the inaugural Winter Games in 1924. In the four years since Beijing, the American team has worked closely with longtime Winter Olympic giant Norway, sharing coaching staff and other training resources, and has gained substantial momentum on the international level since. 

Ski jumping at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics will take place between Feb. 7 and Feb. 16.