After a nearly four-year wait, the excitement in Park City for the return of the Winter Olympics is building.
The 2022 Beijing Games are just a month and a half away, and many Parkites are no doubt looking forward to catching as much of the competition on TV as possible and rooting on the many athletes with Park City ties who will be hoping to return home with an Olympic medal around their necks.
But we don’t have to wait until February to get in on the action. The weeks leading up to the Olympics are littered with high-stakes competitions, in all sorts of events ranging from alpine skiing to bobsled racing, that will determine which U.S. athletes qualify for the Games. For sports fans, it’s an opportunity to be entertained, as well as show support for the local athletes chasing their dreams.
While this will be the first Winter Olympics since the 2002 Games that won’t feature the most decorated winter sports athlete to come out of Park City, Ted Ligety, shredding down the slopes, there are plenty of other hometown heroes to get behind in the lead up to Beijing.
Take, for example, Colby Stevenson. Stevenson overcame a near-fatal car accident a few years ago to establish himself as one of the top freestyle skiers in the world and is trying to break through for his first Olympic medal. Or there’s Rosie Brennan, a cross-country skier who has persevered through a career of ups and downs and is seeking redemption after a bout with an illness led to a disappointing performance at the Games four years ago. Or how about speedskater Casey Dawson, who earlier this month was part of a team that set a world record in the men’s team pursuit at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns and has his sights set on racing for the first time on the world’s biggest stage.
The list of athletes — and the unique stories each of them carry — goes on. Parkites should embrace the opportunity to rally around them this winter, even if it’s merely from in front of a television.
They have more than earned our admiration and support. And hopefully, when the Beijing Games conclude in February, they’ll have plenty of hardware to bring back to Park City and show off to the Parkites who’ve been cheering them on.
Parkites can watch many of the competitions this winter on TV or streaming services. U.S. Ski and Snowboard, for instance, offers a rundown of opportunities to watch its athletes compete on its website, at usskiandsnowboard.org/latest.