The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympic Games is this Friday in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, with the Paralympics following after from March 6.
While it’s fun to cheer on Team USA as a whole while relearning what exactly skeleton is, it adds a little bit of pride knowing which athletes have ties to the region.
As with the Summer Games in Paris two years ago, we’ve gathered all Team USA Olympians from Pennsylvania and New Jersey (sorry, no Delawareans this time), as well as folks with school or other connections.
All live coverage and replays are on NBC’s family of channels and its Peacock streaming service, which can be found here.
Bobsled
Jasmine Jones is from Greensburg, Pa., out by Pittsburgh, and is part of the women’s bobsled team, specializing in the two-woman bobsled. This is her first Olympic Games.
Curling
Philly-born Taylor Anderson-Heide is from Broomall in Delaware County and attended Marple Newtown High School. Her twin sister, Sarah Anderson, is also a curler, and they won the 2019 and 2021 U.S. Women’s Curling Championships together. Taylor won a third national championship last winter, along with the U.S. Olympic curling trials in November, while Sarah took a step back from curling.
Anderson-Heide now lives in Minnesota, but still has Philadelphia Curling Club listed as her home club on the USA Curling website.
While the opening ceremonies are Friday, competition in curling begins Wednesday.
Figure Skating
Isabeau Levito was born in Philly and now lives in Mount Holly, N.J. She won gold in the singles of the 2022 World Junior Championships at age 14, followed by gold in the U.S. Championships a year later. Now 18 years old, this is Levito’s first Olympic Games.
Hockey
The U.S. men’s team has Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck, currently with the New York Rangers, and New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes, who’s from Canton, Mich. Both are making their Olympic debuts.
New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck skates during the second period of the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) 
New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes (86) controls the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
On the women’s team, there’s University of Wisconsin goaltender Ava McNaughton, who’s from Seven Fields, Pa., and Tessa Janecke, who is on the Penn State women’s team.
Wisconsin goaltender Ava McNaughton (30) deflects a goal attempt in the second period of an NCAA college women’s championship hockey game against the Ohio State, Sunday, March 24, 2024, in Durham, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) 
United States forward Tessa Janecke (22) celebrates during the third period of a Rivalry Series women’s hockey game against Canada, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Both the men’s and the women’s teams have their first game the day before the opening ceremony.
On the men’s Paralympic sled hockey team, there’s Josh Pauls, who’s from Green Brook, N.J., Jack Wallace from Franklin Lakes, N.J., and Declan Farmer, who’s from Tampa, Fla., but graduated from Princeton University. Wallace already has two Olympic gold medals in sled hockey, Farmer has three and Pauls has four going back to Vancouver 2010.
Declan Farmer, left, of the United States and Liam Hickey of Canada battle for the puck during their para ice hockey gold medal match between the United States and Canada at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, Sunday, March 13, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama) 
Jack Wallace of the United States celebrates after his team defeated Canada in their para ice hockey gold medal match at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, Sunday, March 13, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) 
Josh Paul, left, of the United States and Liam Hickey of Canada battle for the puck during their para ice hockey finals match at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, Sunday, March 13, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Luge
Summer Britcher, of Glen Rock, Pa. — not far from York — will be competing in her fourth straight Winter Olympics. She was first introduced to the sport when she was 11, at Liberty Mountain Resort in Fairfield, Pa.
Para alpine skiing
Kelsey O’Driscoll is from Caldwell, N.J., and is competing in her first Games. Though she’d been skiing since she was 2, she had to relearn how to ski fairly recently after a 2021 sledding accident. She is also a registered nurse, asthma care coordinator and ski patroller.
Skeleton
Dan Barefoot is from Johnstown, Pa., and attended Penn State, where he graduated with a degree in landscape architecture. According to the Team USA website, the 35-year-old participated in club baseball and fly fishing while at PSU, and got into skeleton in his mid-20s, after Googling “Olympic style sports people can pick up later in life.” Milano Cortina is Barefoot’s first Games.
Kelly Curtis hails from Princeton, and made her Olympic debut in Beijing 2022, where she became the first Black athlete to compete for Team USA in skeleton. Before skeleton, she competed in track and field for Springfield College in Massachusetts, where won the women’s heptathlon at the 2011 Penn Relays.
Snowboarding
One of the recognizable faces on Team USA is two-time gold medalist Chloe Kim, who briefly attended Princeton University in 2019, before returning to competitive snowboarding.
Speedskating
Short track speedskater Andrew Heo is from Warrington Township in Bucks County and is competing in his second Olympics, having competed in three events in Beijing. He got into the sport at the Potomac Speedskating Club and is going into the Games with some momentum, having won his first ISU Short Track World Tour gold medal in December, in the 500-meter race. Heo will be documenting his Olympic journey on his Instagram account.
