The Washington Huskies almost didn't have any Olympians in the field in the 2026 Winter Olympics. If it weren't for a sport change, from the lone athlete, there would be no Huskies in the field. The good news is that Milano Cortina will host Anna Gibson, who ran cross-country for Washington. She qualified and will compete for Team USA in the Ski Mountaineering event.
Her unlikely journey from cross-country at Washington to ski mountaineering at the 2026 Winter Olympics has a few stops, including a moment at the 2024 US Olympic Trials and a bronze medal at the World Mountain and Trail Running World Championships.
Gibson was an elite high school runner from Jackson, Wyoming, where she won an insane number of state titles or was part of the team that did. She has won 17 Wyoming state titles across three sports: track, cross country, and Nordic skiing.
Anna Gibson was an elite track and field athlete at Washington and now she's an Olympian
She was then recruited to Washington to compete in track and field for the Huskies. And she continued her elite athleticism, she became an NCAA Record-Holder in Distance Medley Relay, was voted into the 2022-23 CSC Academic All-America First Team and 2023 Second Team All-America (Mile, Indoors | DMR, Indoors) and Honorable Mention (1,500m, Outdoors), and she won a Pac-12 1,500m bronze medal in 2022.
Her path to the Olympics always felt like it was going to be in track and field. That's her speciality, and that's where she excelled at the University of Washington. However, 13-time national champion Cam Smith recruited her to join him in a mixed-relay ski mountaineering team because of her background in Nordic Skiing and track and field."
They then immediately won that event in the World Cup, becoming the first American team to do so. This qualified her and Smith for the new event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, "SkiMo," and will allow them to compete for a gold medal.
The path wasn't clear all along, but Gibson is an Olympian, and Husky fans should be watching to see if a Dawg can stand on a podium and raise the gold medal.
The mixed relay SkiMo that Gibson will compete in won't happen until February 21st, and it will be an immediate opportunity for a medal.