The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are set to run from Feb. 4-20.
Here are some Team USA athletes with New York ties to watch:
Tricia Mangan
Hailing from Buffalo, New York, Tricia Mangan is competing in the Alpine combined at the 2022 Winter Games, which combines a downhill or super-G run with a slalom run, mixing the top technical skiers with the top racers. Mangan, 24, previously competed in the giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. In 2013, Mangan made her national debut in Nor-Am Cup and National Junior championships in Colorado. She qualified for the U18 National Training Group when she was a sophomore at Nardin Academy and trained with them for two years. Her senior year she was named to the U.S. Team D and then Team C. Mangan has an engineering degree from Dartmouth and skied for two years on the team, including a third-place finish in the giant slalom at the NCAA championships in 2019.
Kaitlin Hawayek
An East Aurora native, Kaitlin Hawayek spent last summer dealing with a concussion that she got in practice, unsure of when she would be able to join ice dance partner Jean-Luc Baker on the rink again to prepare for the Beijing Olympics. According to The Associated Press, Hawayek worked with Sarah El Queisi, a physiotherapist specializing in such injuries, and together they put a plan in place to get back to work. And now, the 25-year-old is headed to her first Olympic Games. Alongside Jean-Luc Baker, Hawayek is the 2018 Four Continents champion, 2018 NHK Trophy champion and four-time U.S. national bronze medalist.
Hunter Church
Going to the Winter Olympics in Beijing is a lifetime dream come true for Cadyville’s Hunter Church. The 2015 Saranac High School graduate saw his first bobsled race in Lake Placid at the age of seven. He started competing at 12, and has since risen to the ranks of the elite in the sport. Church was named as an alternate to the 2018 Olympic team. Just two years ago, Church and his team took a bronze medal in a World Cup event in Innsbruck, Austria. It was reportedly the first medal for a U.S. bobsled team since 2017. More recently, Church grabbed another bronze at an event in Winterberg, Germany.
Ashley Cain-Gribble
With her skating partner, Timothy LeDuc, Ashley Cain-Gribble is a two time U.S. national champion (2019, 2022), the 2018 Four Continents silver medalist, and the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb bronze medalist. Born in Carrollton, Texas, Cain-Gribble trained at the Skating Club of New York. She went on to compete in single skating, becoming the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medalist and the 2012 U.S. Junior silver medalist. And now, Cain-Gribble, 26, is competing in her first Olympic Games.
Devin Logan
Growing up in Baldwin and Oceanside, New York, Devin Logan was the youngest of five children in an athletic family. The freestyle skier earned a silver medal at the 2014 Games in Sochi. This year, Logan announced that Beijing 2022 will be her third and final Olympics. Fun fact about Logan: this will be the third time she will be celebrating her birthday at the Olympics. She turns 29 on Feb. 17.
Chris Lillis
Growing up in Rochester and Pittsford, New York, Chris Lillis -- an American freestyle skier -- is following his older brother’s footsteps into the Olympics. Jon Lillis, 27, now retired, competed in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. He placed eighth in men’s aerials in his Olympic debut. Chris Lillis could have joined Jon in 2018, but a serious injury delayed his Olympic dreams. The 23-year-old suffered setbacks, but gradually improved his strength to make another run at the Games, making podium appearances all across the world.
Dylan Walczyk
After four years in John Kroetz’s Bristol Mountain Freestyle program in New York, Dylan Walczyk’s family packed up and moved to Summit County, Colorado so he could pursue his skiing career. In 2013, Walczyk gained his spot on the U.S. Ski Team by winning at the U.S. Selections event. Soon after, he went on to earn a third-place finish in Lake Placid, the first World Cup event of his career. He rounded out the 2013 season ranked eighth in the world after a series of top 10 finishes. Walczyk’s success has continued over the years with multiple podium and top-10 finishes on the World Cup.
Savannah Harmon
Team USA forward Savannah Harmon is competing in her first Olympics this month, and she’s got something special to add to her trophy case, as she scored her first career goal in the competition on Feb. 5th against the Russian Olympic Committee. Harmon played her college ice hockey career with the Clarkson Golden Knights women’s ice hockey program in New York. Harmon, 26, captained Clarkson to consecutive NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship titles in 2017 and 2018.
Hayley Scamurra
Hayley Scamurra’s Olympic dream, born in a Getzville backyard and at rinks across Western New York, became a reality on Feb. 3rd in Beijing. The 27-year-old, an alumnus of the Nichols School, took the ice with the United States’ women’s hockey team for its opening game of the Beijing Olympics against Finland. Scamurra, a forward, has been an active member of Team USA since 2019, when she helped the country win its fifth consecutive gold medal at the IIHF World Championships. The women’s hockey portion of the Winter Olympics runs until Feb. 17.
Nick Abruzzese
One of Hudson Valley’s star athletes is representing the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Nick Abruzzese of Orange County joined the roster of the U.S. men’s hockey team in Beijing, where they will play their first preliminary round game on Thursday, Feb. 10 against China. The 22-year-old forward is a junior at Harvard University student and a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect.
Jonathan Gustafson
Jonathan Gustafson, who now lives in Lake Placid full time, has competed in four Luge World Championships but has yet to compete at the Winter Olympic Games. The 24-year-old is the only American men’s singles racer making his Olympic debut in Beijing. Gustafson’s two teammates have had plenty of Olympic experience. Tucker West and Chris Mazdzer have made a combined seven Olympic teams, with Mazdzer having four of those nominations.
Chris Mazdzer
Lake Placid’s Chris Mazdzer became the only American men’s single luger to medal at the Olympics after earning silver in the PyeongChang Games. The four-time World Cup champion and 10-time medalist is entering his fourth Olympic competition this winter. While he’s spent the last four years training for his Olympic return in Beijing, Mazdzer also competed on Dancing With The Stars with pro dancer Witney Carson, advancing to the third of four rounds in the season.
Sean Hollander
Sean Hollander started to luge when he was just 10 years old at an after-school program on the Lake Placid track with his siblings. Hollander and his partner Zack Digregorio are just 21 and 20, respectively, and have been a pair for only a year and a half. Beijing 2022 is both of their first Olympics.
Hagen Kearney
Born in Buffalo, New York, Hagen Kearney is an American snowboarder who competes internationally. The 30-year-old competed for the U.S. at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2017 in Sierra Nevada, Spain, where he won a gold medal in the men’s snowboard team cross, along with Nick Baumgartner.
>>Check back here for more on local athletes competing in the Beijing Games.
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