Skeleton World Cup team named, Tristan Gale jumps on board the race towards 2034 with Jason Kelce

(L-R) Bree Schaff, Katie Demong, Carl Roepke, and Noelle Pikus-Pace at the Utah Olympic Park's Skeleton national race. Photo: courtesy of USABS

PARK CITY, Utah — Seven sliders were named to the Skeleton team on Monday which will represent USA in the World Cup Circuit in this, an Olympic year.

Austin Florian is the top-placing man in team-selection-style races held at the Utah Olympic Park over the weekend. Watch him in the above video starting down the track.

Below, Florian told TownLift in Park City before thr results were announced, about what he did over his his pre-Olympic year summer, how this track is so far this season, and what he’s looking forward to as the winter goes forward.

Following the conclusion of the Skeleton Selection Races, the Selection Committee named the athletes who will represent the U.S. for the first half of the season on the World Cup circuit. The committee will reconvene halfway through the season to review the roster. Selections were made in accordance with the criteria established by the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) to fill the full team quota spots.

Mystique Ro received a bye through the Selection Races and was automatically added to the 2025–2026 World Cup Team based on her second-place finish in Women’s Skeleton at the 2025 IBSF World Championships earlier this year.

Women’s Skeleton Team:

• Mystique Ro
• Sara Roderick
• Kelly Curtis
• Kendall Wesenberg

Men’s Skeleton Team:

• Austin Florian
• Dan Barefoot
• Nick Tucker

The athletes competing on the Europe Cup (EC) and North American Cup (NAC) circuits will be determined by the coaching staff and announced in the coming days.

“We are excited to have this talented group of athletes represent Team USA on the world stage this season,” shared Curt Tomasevicz, Director of Sport Performance for USA Bobsled/Skeleton in a statement.

As reported in the Associated Press (AP) Katie Uhleander not making this team leaves her further Olympic hopes uncertain.

Skeleton supporters came from far and wide to be a part of this event as illustrated in the cover photo included; 2010 Olympian Bree Schaaf, Katie Demong, skeleton athlete from 2000 – 2005. she competed on the World Cup circuit from 2002 through 2005 and placed fourth at a world cup race in Calgary in 2003. Demong competed in three world championships for the USA in 2003, 2004 and 2005; Carl Roepke, nine-time Olympics announcer which includes Skeleton; and two-time Olympian and silver medalist Noelle Pikus-Pace.

Not pictured is Tristan Gale Geisler who won an Olympic gold medal in the 2002 Games on her home track of Park City, she met her husband, John, while working at the Utah Olympic Park, and their 9 and 11 year old children tried skeleton for their first time while this event was going on. 

That’s also when Gale, who is a part of the Utah 2034 planning Committee, personally coached both Flavor Flav on both the skeleton and bobsled rides the new sponsor took down the icy track, and NFL star Jason Kelce in his public passenger bobsled ride as well in conjunction with U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton.