Whether it’s a long flight to an Austrian glacier for an extended training camp or a quick commute to Copper Mountain, Ollie Martin — from the time he was a kid — has always passed the travel time fiddling around with a miniature snowboard figurine.

Twisting. Flipping. Creating.

The toy wasn’t about to get left behind for the Olympics.

“My mom made me bring it,” Martin said at a press conference in Livigno, Italy on Tuesday. “Honestly that toy was really helpful for me. I could use it to visualize. I was able to come up with some tricks with that toy. Sounds silly, but it was actually really helpful.”

The trailblazing Martin is one of three Colorado snowboarders with medal potential in the slopestyle events beginning this week in Milano Cortina. The 17-year-old — who won two world championship bronze medals last March — joins 2018 slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard of Silverthorne as well as Aspen’s Jake Canter and Oregon native Sean FitzSimons on the U.S. big air and slopestyle squad. While Gerard is the household name on that list, even he can’t help but look up to Martin, who became the youngest athlete to win a World Cup slopestyle event in Calgary last winter.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

“Ollie is his own beast — I look up to him,” said Gerard, who was also on the Snow Rodeo podium in Canada on Feb. 22, 2025. “I mean, I look at what Ollie does and I’m like, ‘Yo how do I do that — that’s insane.’ I think it’s a friendly push off each other.”

Martin is the youngest rider to ever land a 2160 and the only athlete to stomp both a frontside and backside 2160. At the Steamboat Springs big air world cup, he uncorked the first cab 16 pullback to claim his second-career podium.

“I had that idea this spring and went to Austria to try it on the air bag. Got it a few times pretty consistent so I felt pretty comfortable to do it on snow,” Martin said. “Steamboat was just a perfect jump — pretty poppy, a lot of air time and an impactful landing, which is actually pretty good for that trick. So, (I) felt comfortable to do it there and it paid off.”

Gerard, who burst onto the scene when he won the slopestyle gold in 2018 but missed the medals in Beijing four years later, said he’s trying to reclaim his teenage magic in his third Games.

“I think I’m just trying to get back to that 17-year-old self. I know what it takes, I feel like I’m riding the best I ever have in a lot of ways,” he said. “I’m just kind of going back to doing the tricks I know how to do and not worrying about the judges. Literally just trying to land runs and go from there.”

The 25-year-old prequalified for the 2026 Games by finishing as the top American — and second overall — in the World Snowboard Points List. That meant he didn’t have to stress while the rest of the team sorted itself out at qualification events in December and January.

“It was cool to see how it all panned out and our whole slope team is so good,” Gerard said. “Could have been anyone up here, but I’m happy to be up here with these four guys, and yeah, we’ll bring home some medals.”

Jake Canter qualified for the team by winning the U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen last month. On his winning run, the 22-year-old opened with a frontside 50/50 to lipslide 270, followed that up with a backside 270 on the second rail section and went right to a switch backside 1260 nosegrab. He closed with a backside 1980 melon and a switch noseslide 630 for a score of 85.16 to secure his first World Cup win and second-career podium.

“It was amazing. I spent so much time as a kid riding at Snowmass, so to be able to do it there in front of old coaches and friends and family — it was super special,” Canter said. 

The Colorado trio will compete in the big air qualifier beginning on Thursday; the first of three runs starts at 11:30 a.m. MST, with the final slated for Feb. 7. The men’s slopestyle qualification and finals are Feb. 16 and 18, respectively.

While Martin’s strengths are obvious, his perceived weaknesses aren’t. The Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy senior said he realized he doesn’t always thrive when the lights are brightest and his nerves are highest.

“For the last two years, I’ve been putting excess pressure on myself at smaller, less important comps,” he said. “That’s really just to prepare myself for the Olympics because there will be a lot more pressure.” 

Knowing what’s at stake over the next two weeks, Canter echoed Billie Jean King’s mantra, stating, “pressure is a privilege.”

“(I’m) so lucky to be in this position, to be here, represent the United States, to be able to snowboard and hopefully inspire others to snowboard,” he said. “So, that in and of itself is a win to me, but at the same time, yeah, I want to do the best run I possibly can and I would love to win.”

Gerard has won before. But he isn’t about to let past results — or the expectations of future ones — impact his mindset.

“I never really go into a contest like, ‘oh I want to get on the podium.’ It’s like, ‘I want to do that run that I came here to do and if that ends on the podium, great,’” he said. “I’m here to snowboard, do that run, and hopefully it’s good.”

For Martin, the goal is to be creative, stay safe and perform his best. To some degree, just being in Milano is already victory enough.

“It’s been an amazing last year and a half,” he said. “Everything I’ve ever wanted as a kid is coming to fruition.”