PARK CITY, UT (Jan. 6, 2016) - Six young Americans have been nominated to the freeskiing team slated to compete in the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway February 12-21. The International Olympic Committee’s Youth Olympic Games offers a competitive venue for young athletes to not only compete, but also participate in a Learn & Share program designed to inspire and empower youth. The 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Team will be formally named by the United States Olympic Committee in late January.
Leading the 2016 U.S. freeskiing team are Birk Irving (Winter Park, CO), who will be competing in halfpipe and Alex Hall (Salt Lake City, UT), who will be a contender in slopestyle.
Modeled after the Olympic Games, the Youth Olympic Games debuted its winter event in 2012 at Innsbruck, Austria. Held every four years, the Winter Youth Olympic Games will feature over 1,100 athletes, aged 15 to 18, from around the world. Freeskiing events will include halfpipe, slopestyle and skicross.
Coupled with the competition, the Learn & Share program will offer young athletes the opportunity to become ambassadors of their sport through workshops and exercises based around five major themes: Olympism, Social Responsibility, Skills Development, Expression and Well-Being and Healthy Lifestyles.
Birk Irving was nominated to the U.S. Youth Olympic Team.
2016 U.S. YOUTH OLYMPIC TEAM FREESKIING NOMINEES
Slopestyle
Men
Alex Hall (Salt Lake City, UT, 17, Team Park City United)
Hall is a member of the U.S. Freeskiing rookie team and has been a stand out on the Revolution Tour. The Park City, UT local also skied to a seventh-place finish at the Dumont Cup in 2015.
Women
Nikita Rubocki (Boise, ID, 16, Team Park City United)
Sixteen-year-old Rubocki is currently ranked 22nd overall in the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP). She has racked up a handful of podium finishes on the Revolution Tour over the last couple of years and grabbed 11th in slopestyle at the 2015 FIS Freestyle Ski Junior World Championships in Valmalenco, Italy.
Halfpipe
Men
Birk Irving (Winter Park, CO, 16, Winter Park Competition Center)
Irving is fresh off a ninth-place finish at the Dew Tour in Breckenridge. The 16-year-old Colorado native is a double threat, competing regularly in both halfpipe and slopestyle, and nabbed both the halfpipe and slopestyle overall titles in last season’s Revolution Tour. He is a member of the U.S. Freeskiing rookie team.
Women
Paula Cooper (Vail, CO, 16, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail)
Cooper hails from Vail, where she grew up ski racing. She was drawn to freeskiing in sixth grade when she began to attend the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy. She logged two top-10 finishes at the Copper Mountain stop of the 2015-16 Revolution Tour and was eighth at the 2015 Junior World Championships in Valmalenco, Italy.
Skicross
Men
Russell Malm (Mammoth Lakes, CA, 17, Carrabassett Valley Academy)
Seventeen-year-old Malm grew up racing alpine, but switched to skicross five years ago. He is the 2014 men’s age 13-15 skicross national champion, competed at the FIS Junior World Championships last year and is a regular on the NorAm tour.
Women
Abigail Zagnoli (Kingfield, ME, 17, Carrabassett Valley Academy)
Zagnoli had a highly successful season in 2015, with four podium finishes in NorAm Cups and she competed at the FIS Junior World Championships. She attends Carrabassett Valley Academy.
Included in the YOG nominations is Alex Hall, a strong contender in slopestyle.
Highlights
- The 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held in Lillehammer, Norway, February 12-21.
- It is the second installment of the Winter Youth Olympic Games and will feature over 1,100 young athletes aged 15-18 competing in winter events.
- Alongside competition, the teens will also learn the spirit of the Olympic Games, so that they may become strong ambassadors of their sports.
- The USOC will formally name the 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Team in late January.
