The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics are set to begin Friday, Feb. 4 in China.
Of the 223 athletes competing for Team USA, more than a third have been or are associated with Utah. Many of these winter athletes have relocated to northern Utah to have access to ski resorts and competitive rinks.
Figure skating Olympian Nathan Chen was born in Salt Lake City. Chen is a three-time world champion and a 2018 bronze medalist in the team event.
Chen began figure skating at three years old. After a close loss in the 2018 games, Chen is one of the most anticipated athletes to bring home a gold medal.
Olympian Freestyle skier Alex Hall was born in Switzerland but calls Park City home. Hall attended the Winter Sports School in Park City during his highschool years.
Hall is currently ranked No. 2 in the world in slopestyle. The 2022 Olympics will be Hall’s second appearance in the Olympic Games.
Speed skater Erin Jackson moved to Salt Lake City to train for the 2018 Games.
“I lived and trained in Salt Lake City, which is the fastest ice in the world, so realistically if you’re not going to get the time in Salt Lake City, you’re not going to get it in Milwaukee, which is where we had the Olympic trials,” Jackson said.
Jackson recently earned an associate degree in computer science from Salt Lake Community College in 2020.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, “Not a single day of the Games will go by without a Utah athlete participating in at least one event.”
The Games will be aired on NBC and its televised partners. Due to the time difference, the live events will be aired between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. MST
Article by: Lexi Hamel
Photo courtesy of: Vytautas Dranginis on Unsplash
