Park City’s Faye Thelen, Stacey Gaskill top Americans in snowboard cross in the Milano Cortina Olympics

Snowboarder from park City, Faye Thelen at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

CORTINA, Italy — Faye Thelen and Stacey Gaskill, both Park City residents, were the top two American athletes to finish in the Milano Cortina Olympic Womens Snowboard Cross. Thelen got seventh place making it into the small final, and Gaskill got 14th place.

These are the fifth Olympics for Thelen, who grew up in Salt Lake City and competed for Snowbird. Her husband, Jake came to Italy to cheer her on, and they’ve brought their 7-month-old baby and their toddler.

Following the race, in the finish area, when asked how her result felt Thelen said, “Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing.” She described her life and times in Park City saying that everyone’s so supportive, especially the friends in her “Mom world.” She said, “When I, just like, kind of, randomly at the library, let it slip that I might try to make the Olympic Team, the encouragement, energy, and excitement from them has been wonderful. It’s the perfect community for my family.”

Australia won gold, Czechia silver, and Italy bronze, with Switzerland in fourth making it into the big final.

In her small final, Thelen ended up 0.62 seconds behind the first-place athlete from Austria. The second place, from France, was 0.51 behind the winner. France came in fourth, 1.21 back from  the winner.

The 33-year-old was competing against a 20-, 24-, and 27-year-old in the small final.

Two-time Olympian Stacey Gaskill lives in Park City and is known around the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Center of Excellence as your favorite athlete’s favorite athlete. She told TownLift in the finish area of the race, “At the COE we all share this common drive that makes us stronger together. I definitely have built some incredible friendships in there, and now we all get to show what we work so hard for out here.” She attends C.U. Boulder online, in her home state of Colorado, and studies ecology and evolutionary biology. “My mom and her partner always spent their winters in Park City, so I was lucky to be able to move out there, train there, and live there now.”

Brianna Schnorrbusch and Hannah Percy, the other two snowboarders representing the USA, were eliminated after racing in the first rounds. All four women finished in the top 20.

TownLift caught up with six-time Olympics Hydroflask U.S. Snowboard Team Coach, Ricky Bower, at the Games venue minutes before the race started. The Park City native’s dad, John, was a three-time Nordic combined Olympian, two-time Olympic sport ski Team program director, and a founder and first executive director of the Utah Olympic Park. 

Bower said, “These venues have been really good, it’s a beautiful place to have an Olympics.” He added, “I am looking forward to having the Olympics coming back to Park City though.”

The above photo regarding the UOP stays relevant today as approximately 10 years ago, an athlete like Faye Thelen would have trained for this event on a course that was located at the Utah Olympic Park.

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All Photos: TownLift // Michele Roepke