Olivia Giaccio is one of 41 athletes representing Utah at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
She grew up skiing at Killington Resort in Vermont. Though both Giaccio’s parents are snowboarders, they enrolled her and her younger brother in a moguls ski program when she was a kid.
“My mom just signed us up for a random program. It happened to be moguls, and I loved it,” Giaccio told KPCW in the fall. “I love the balance of turn, speed and jumping, and in order to be the best in the world at mogul skiing, you have to be really, really good at all three.”
She has shown her skill with all three; Giaccio has multiple World Cup podium finishes and placed sixth in the 2022 Olympics.
However, she’s hoping to do better in Italy this year, especially after a young mogul skier spoke to Giaccio and her teammate Jaelin Kauf and coach Bryon Wilson about their Olympic experiences.
“He asked each of our results, and Jaelin and Bryon had both medaled at the Olympics in 2010 and 2022, and when it came to me, and I had to say, ‘Sixth,’ he was like, ‘Oh, that's kind of sad,’” she laughed. “Not just because of that kid, but hoping for a medal this time around.”
Giaccio is also the first woman to attempt a cork 1080 in a World Cup competition and the first woman to win a World Cup using the trick, which involves two off-axis flips and three full spins.
She said she grew up skiing with her brother and his friends and originally wanted to learn the advanced aerial trick because it’s commonly competed on the men’s side of mogul skiing.
“It was never a question in my mind whether or not I could keep up with the boys,” Giaccio said. “That was something for me that always really drove me and motivated me, and I wanted to kind of keep that trend going throughout my mogul skiing career.”
Outside of skiing, Giaccio is studying to get her master’s degree in social work at Columbia University. Before that, she earned a bachelor’s in psychology at the same university, which she said provided a unique insight into skiing.
That’s because even though mogul athletes are on one Olympic team, it’s still an individual sport where teammates compete against each other for spots.
“Naturally, tensions can be pretty high, and I think navigating that for a lot of people can be quite difficult, but I really enjoyed seeing the behind-the-scenes of that and like, kind of the neuroscience-related underpinnings as well,” Giaccio said.
Giaccio said every athlete responds differently to the pressure, but with the right mindset, skiers can get better at their sport.
As for the Olympics that start Feb. 6, Giaccio said she’s most excited to be able to hug her parents after competing. It’s something she missed out on in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
