CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Rowland Hall’s Mary Bocock made her Olympics debut on Thursday in the women’s super-G at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Center. At 22, she is competing on the world’s biggest stage just four years after graduating from Rowmark Ski Academy, a feat she agrees is shocking.
“It’s amazing,” Bocock said. “This is a dream come true to be at the Olympics.”
The super-G, short for super giant slalom, is a single-run event that blends downhill speed with giant slalom turns. Allowing no training runs, athletes inspect the course for 90 minutes in the morning, then race it blind at full speed.
On Thursday, heavy fog in the mountains obstructed the view of cameras, crowds and skiers alike. For athletes, that meant managing high velocity into big, technical turns while also battling flat light and low visibility through the upper section of the course as warming temperatures softened the snow throughout.
Seventeen of the 43 starters did not finish, with five of the first nine disqualified after missing gates across multiple sections, making the super-G into a wild game, where anyone could end up on the podium with so much of the field out of contention.
Austria’s Cornelia Hütter, who had tied for fourth with American Jackie Wiles in Sunday’s downhill, seized bronze in the final Olympic race of her career after narrowly missing the podium with a fifth-place finish in Tuesday’s team combined. France’s Romane Miradoli took silver. And Italy’s Federica Brignone, less than a year removed from a triple leg break and ACL rupture, skied to gold.
The U.S. team, however, struggled significantly in the super-G. Downhill gold medalist Breezy Johnson did not finish after straddling a gate 20 seconds into her race and sending herself into the b-net, and Bocock fell after losing control on a jump on the second half of the course.
Wiles, who took bronze in the team combined, finished 13th overall, just ahead of teammate Keeley Cashman in 15th.
“On days like today, it’s kind of a chance when you could do really well, because some of the field goes out,” Bocock said. “Typically, I would like to use that to my advantage, but I also didn’t make it out.”
Bocock said the top section felt manageable, and she was happy with how she performed in the middle. But she took a hard fall after a tricky jump, which put her sideways in the air and set off the airbag in her suit upon landing. She got back up and skied down uninjured, though unable to cross the finish line in her first Olympic race.
“Well, there was a roll for which I had a plan, and I didn’t execute that plan,” she laughed. “And so that is where I went out. I crashed, my airbag went off, but I’m totally fine, which is lucky.”
Her parents, Amy and Alex Bocock, stood in the stands with friends from across the ski racing community in the Intermountain West, all people who have known the Olympian since she was 10 years old.
“You would never dream this would happen,” Amy said. “It’s incredible.”
What had previously felt like competing within the ski racing community now felt connected to a much wider audience. The scale of the audience and the sense of national representation gave her a clearer understanding that the Olympics carry a different weight — an experience she said she is grateful for, regardless of how the race ended.
“Everyone talks about the Olympics, but now that I’m here, I didn’t necessarily realize the magnitude of the effect and the outreach I might have,” said Bocock.
Bocock and her sister, Elisabeth, made history during the 2023-24 season when both debuted in the World Cup giant slalom in Sölden, Austria. They were the first pair of sisters to make their debut in the same race since 1999.
Bocock said her Olympic journey is far from done. Although she did not finish the race, she promised she’ll be back for more.
The next two Winter Games feel like a double home Olympics, she said — Salt Lake City, where she grew up skiing and racing, and the French Alps, where she lived for a year and built close ties within the ski community.
“I have strong connections to the next Olympics as well as in Salt Lake. So I’m really, really looking forward to the next eight years, the next two cycles and Utah in 2034,” said Bocock. “I hope next Olympics I make it down and do well.”
She said watching Brignone secure gold in front of a home crowd felt like a dream come true. Observing the connection between Brignone and the Italian fans, the celebration in the finish area and the constant energy in the stands, demonstrated what it means to win on home snow and only motivated Bocock further to do the same in 2034.
“I’m hoping to be there with my sister, that would be awesome. I want to be like Federica. She’s the home girl right now, and she’s winning and I hope to do that at home too,” said Bocock.
Bocock said guidance from veterans like Lindsey Vonn helped her navigate the scale of her first Olympic experience.
“Lindsey did tell me there are a lot of things to prepare myself for,” Bocock said. “That it’s going to be a little overwhelming, but it’s all really cool to just experience all that.”
Vonn, who has spent nearly two decades on the U.S. Ski Team, has offered an enduring presence for younger athletes coming through the pipeline. Bocock added that all the girls on the speed team have been there to support her through her Olympic debut.
“We have a good group, a younger group, coming up too and that’s so promising. It is so cool that we have so much depth with Breezy and Jackie, and we have some girls who aren’t even here, who are also really, really good. So it’s really exciting to have such a strong team to do this with,” said Bocock.
The super-G was Bocock’s only Olympic event, and she is already headed home to prepare for her return to the World Cup circuit.
The crash did not dampen Bocock’s outlook. She spent time walking through Cortina d’Ampezzo with friends from high school, stopping to take photos in front of the Olympic rings set up in town. The atmosphere with flags lining the streets, athletes moving between venues and fans gathering in team gear gave her a chance to absorb the scale of the event from outside the start gate.
Bocock has also thrown herself into pin trading, a long-standing tradition at the Games in which athletes, volunteers and spectators exchange small commemorative pins representing their countries or teams. Among her favorites is a pin from Snoop Dogg.
Overall, Team USA faced a difficult day on snow. But for Johnson, while she didn’t leave the finish corral with a gold medal, she did leave it with an engagement ring.
After crashing into the netting early in her run, Johnson stood up quickly and skied to the bottom uninjured, her helmet scraped but intact. The super-G marked her final race of the Games. Minutes later, still processing the result, her boyfriend, Connor Watkins, approached her in the finish area.
Johnson, who lives in Salt Lake City with Watkins, said she had long imagined being proposed to at an Olympic Games.
“It felt fitting to kind of combine two of my loves, and it’s a special place at the Olympics. I feel like there’s a lot of mystique around it. And, you know, also, you get free photography,” she joked.
Watkins had been planning the proposal for about a year, arranging the ring, coordinating family logistics and preparing for multiple scenarios depending on how the race unfolded.
But for Johnson, after completing her final race of these Olympic Games, being around the people she loves and celebrating anyway felt the perfect fit, she said.