winter wonders

How seven Olympic and Paralympic athletes find motivation and keep their cool on the road to the 2026 Games.

- By Addison Aloian,

Ask an Olympian or Paralympian the key to maintaining a decades-long career and you'll probably hear a myriad of answers. Some might say it's all about recovery; others would answer that it's balancing their training with the real world. No matter what, they would all agree that longevity in sports—and in life—takes both strategy and self-love, a hunger for the next level fueled by appreciation for what it took to get them this far. Ahead, seven of Team USA's top competitors share how they fire up the motivation (and still keep their cool) on the road to the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Jamie Anderson » Snowboarding

For Jamie Anderson, staying at the top of her game means self-care. “It's underrated,” the 35-year-old snowboarder says. It's not just helping her physical body recover in the sauna or ice bath, doing pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, or sleeping—though all those are important too. Self-care also means “taking care of your spirit and your energetic body,” she says, through journaling, meditating, and walking in the forest without her phone.

Jamie followed in the footsteps of her older siblings and started snowboarding at 9 years old. By 13, she qualified for her first X Games, and in her early 20s, she competed in her first Olympics. She's since become the first woman to win two gold medals in snowboarding, and she has three medals total. Naturally, her training and recovery look different than they used to—especially with a 9-month-old and a 2-year-old running around.