14 Team USA Female Athletes To Watch And Support At Beijing Olympics

February 2 may be National Girls and Women in Sports Day, but these Team USA female athletes dominate their sports year round, through World Cup and World Championship podiums even outside the spotlight of the Olympic cycle.

With competition officially kicking off at the Beijing Games on Wednesday even though the opening ceremony isn’t until Friday, it’s time to familiarize yourself with the Team USA women who are going to make headlines at the Olympics.

In freestyle skiing, snowboarding, speedskating and more, these are the American women to know and follow during the Beijing Games, along with when you can catch their events.

The full schedule of Olympic events can be found here.

Alpine Skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin

The most decorated U.S. alpine skier of all time, Shiffrin has already won two Olympic gold medals and one silver over the 2014 Sochi and 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Her 73 World Cup races are the second most by any American woman.

The Edwards, Colorado, native has had a heartbreaking journey to her third Games. Her father, Jeff, died two years ago in an accident at the age of 65. Shiffrin posted a touching tribute to him on Instagram Tuesday. The 26-year-old wasn’t sure she would ski again after her father’s death, but she’s had 13 victories over the last three seasons and is currently No. 1 in the world overall. She is defending her giant slalom gold medal from 2018 in Beijing.

Shiffrin will compete in giant slalom (Monday, Feb. 7), slalom (Wednesday, Feb. 9), super-G (Friday, Feb. 11), downhill (Tuesday, Feb. 15) and combined (Thursday, Feb. 17).

Bobsled

Kaillie Humphries

Canadian-American bobsledder Humphries competed for Team Canada at the 2010 Vancouver, 2014 Sochi and 2018 Pyeongchang Games, winning gold, gold and bronze, respectively. In 2019, Humphries began competing for the U.S., citing abuse and harassment by the Canadian bobsled federation. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen on December 2, 2021, and will make her first appearance for Team USA in Beijing.

The 36-year-old is the reigning world champion in the two-woman and the monobob, which makes its Olympic debut in Beijing.

Humphries lives in San Diego with her husband, Travis Armbruster, an American former bobsledder.

Sylvia Hoffman

Hoffman initially did not have much experience at all in bobsled.

The Arlington, Texas, native played college basketball for Louisiana State University Shreveport and participated in international competitions for USA weightlifting team. In 2018, Hoffman appeared on the second season of The Next Olympic Hopeful, which got her noticed by the U.S. Bobsled Team. Invited to attend the rookie training camp, she officially made the team after participating in national team trials.

In 2020, Hoffman and two-woman bobsled partner Humphries won the World Cup at Königssee, Germany.

The two-woman bobsled final is on Saturday, Feb. 19.

Figure Skating

Alysa Liu

At only 16 years old, Alysa Liu has become one of the most dominant female figure skaters in the world.

The Richmond, California, native is a two-time U.S. national champion (2019, 2020) and was a favorite to win in 2021, but had to withdraw from the competition after testing positive for Covid-19. Liu, however, is recovered and set to compete in her first Olympics as the youngest member of Team USA in Beijing.

Keep an eye out for Liu’s signature trick in Beijing; she is the first American female skater to successfully complete a quad jump in competition

The women’s singles event is Thursday, Feb. 17.

Mariah Bell

The corollary to Liu’s Olympic inexperience is U.S. figure skater Mariah Bell. At 25, Bell will become the oldest U.S. Olympic women’s singles skater since 1928 when she competes in Beijing.

Bell— the 2022 U.S. national champion, 2020 U.S. national silver medalist, and two-time U.S. national bronze medalist (2017, 2019)—is also the oldest U.S. national champion since 1927.

Bell trains with and is mentored by Adam Rippon, who made the 2018 Olympic team at 28, the oldest U.S. Olympic rookie singles skater since 1936.

Freestyle Skiing

Carly Margulies, Halfpipe

Margulies, 24, has been a member of the U.S. freeski team for five years. She made the Olympic roster for the Beijing Games after fighting back from multiple injuries, including seven separate knee surgeries. The most recent, this past December, was a torn meniscus that prevented Margulies from competing in any Olympic qualifying events.

Thankfully, Margulies had already accumulated enough points to rank No. 4 in the country among the U.S. freeski women, and she learned her spot on the Olympic team was secured on Jan. 18.

The women’s ski halfpipe final is set for Friday, Feb. 18.

Maggie Voisin, Slopestyle and Big Air

Beijing marks Voisin’s third Olympics, but she’s still looking for her first medal. The 23-year-old qualified for the Sochi 2014 Games at the age of 15, making her the youngest member of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team, but she broke her ankle during a training run and was sidelined. At the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, Voisin finished fourth in women’s slopestyle.

Now, in 2022, Voisin has a new event to compete in: big air, which debuted for snowboarding at the 2018 Games and makes its freeski debut this year. That means the Team ROXY athlete has two opportunities to make the podium in Beijing.

The Whitefish, Montana, native (no, she hasn’t watched Yellowstone yet) is fresh off X Games Aspen, where she finished just off the podium in fourth in women’s ski big air and in sixth in slopestyle.

Women’s ski big air finals are Tuesday, Feb. 8, and slopestyle finals are Monday, Feb. 14.

Ice Hockey

Abby Roque

Roque, who played college hockey for the Wisconsin Badgers, is making history at the Beijing Games as the the first Native American to play for the women’s U.S. hockey team, and one of the few Indigenous people ever to compete for the U.S. at the Winter Olympics.

She’s also one of the best women’s hockey players in the nation, aiming to help her team defend its 2018 gold medal. The 24-year-old is one of eight new members of the team, with the other 15 other women having played in a prior Olympics.

Hilary Knight

One of those women with prior Olympic hockey experience is, of course, Hilary Knight, who is one of eight members of Team USA competing in their fourth Olympic Winter Games.

A fellow former Badger, Knight has won seven gold medals at the IIHF World Women’s Championships. But much of her impact has been made off the ice. She works with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association to promote the creation of a viable North American professional league and she was a leader of the strike against USA Hockey, boycotting the world championships until coming to an agreement for better wages and equitable support.

The women’s gold medal game is Thursday, Feb. 17.

Snowboarding

Chloe Kim, Halfpipe

The defending women’s halfpipe Olympic gold medalist, Kim became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal when she won at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Since then, Kim took a year away from snowboarding to attend her first year of college at Princeton. When she recommitted herself to the sport, she immediately soared back to its highest peaks, winning every contest she entered between January 2021 and January 2022.

Kim is the only woman who has back-to-back 1080s in her halfpipe run, making her the clear gold-medal favorite in Beijing.

Having moved from sponsor Burton to ROXY, Kim has also launched her own collection of outerwear with the brand.

The women’s snowboard halfpipe final is Thursday, Feb. 10.

Read more about Chloe Kim.

Jamie Anderson, Slopestyle and Big Air

Competing in her third Olympic Games, Jamie Anderson is the only woman to ever win Olympic slopestyle gold. She won when the discipline made its debut at the 2014 Sochi Games and successfully defended her gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Now 31, Anderson has suggested Beijing will be her final Olympics. And taking her third straight gold will be a challenge; in the last couple years, 20-year-old Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand has emerged as the new generation of women’s snowboard slopestyle, recently edging out Anderson to take gold at X Games Aspen. The two finished one-two again at X Games big air.

For Anderson to three-peat in Beijing, she’ll likely have to add a 1260 into her run, which she attempted for the first time at X Games.

The women’s snowboard slopestyle final is Sunday, Feb. 6 and the big air final is Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Read more about Jamie Anderson.

Lindsey Jacobellis, Snowboardcross

Jacobellis is one of four U.S. athletes who will be competing in their fifth Winter Olympics in Beijing. (Shaun White, Katie Uhlaender and John Shuster are the others, in snowboarding, skeleton and curling, respectively.) Her best Olympic finish was her silver at the 2006 Turin Games, though she finished just off the podium in fourth at the 2018 Games.

The Roxbury, Connecticut, native is a ten-time X Games snowboard cross champion.

The women’s snowboardcross final is Wednesday, Feb. 9.

Speedskating

Erin Jackson, Long Track

Jackson, an Ocala, Florida, native, has been inline speed skating since 2002 and began her roller derby career in 2012. She didn’t start skating on ice until the age of 25—and here she is now, training for her second Olympics.

The 29-year-old made Team USA after only four months of training as a speed skater and competed at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games, becoming the first Black woman to compete for the U.S. Olympic long track speed skating team.

This season, Jackson is the top-ranked woman in the world in the 500 meter event. But when attempting to lock down her spot on the Beijing 2022 team during U.S. Olympic trials in Milwaukee, she slipped; the two available spots went to winner Brittany Bowe and second-place finisher Kimi Goetz.

But teammate Bowe, who also grew up in Ocala, defined sportsmanship when she gave up her qualifying spot in the 500 meter, allowing Jackson to take her place. Bowe will still compete in Beijing in the 1,000 and 1,500 meter events.

The women’s long track 500 meter final is on Sunday, Feb. 13.

Read more about Erin Jackson.

Maame Biney, Short Track

Biney, who was born in Accra, Ghana, moved to the U.S. at the age of five to live with her father in Northern Virginia. After initially taking up figure skating, she switched to speed skating at age six.

Fast-forward 16 years, and Biney is a favorite to take gold at the Beijing 2022 Games, which will be her second Olympic appearance. At the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, she became the first Black woman to compete for the U.S. in Olympic short track speed skating.

Now 22, Biney finished first at the U.S. short track Olympic trials in December. In the lead-up to these Games, she has worked with sponsor Red Bull on a pioneering speedskating technology that uses motion sensors and pressure technology to capture her performance in 3D.

The women’s 500 meter short track speedskating final is Monday, Feb. 7.