Heather McPhieHeather McPhie is formerly a competitive gymnast who began competing in freestyle skiing events at age 12. She soon discovered that jumping was one of her favorite things to do, which she credits to her gymnastics background. Heather is the youngest of three children, and attended Bozeman High School.
She is now 25-years-old, and participated in her first World Cup in 2006, at age 21. She got her first World Cup win at Deer Valley in January, along with a second- and third-place finish, and locked in her spot on the Olympic team. She competed in the Moguls competition Saturday, February 13th and was ranked third going into the finals. However, she fell in her final run knocking her out of medal contention. She finished 18th but has tons of potential to medal in the next Winter Olympics.
Bryon WilsonBryon Wilson started skiing at age three and worked his way up to freestyl
e at age 12 when a coach invited him and his brother Brad to join the Bridger freestyle program. Now 21-years-old, Bryon graduated with honors from Butte High School and went on to participate in his first World Cup in 2007 at age 18, where he placed 27th in moguls. At the 2009 World Cup Bryon got a chance to start after a teammate went out with an injury, and stunned spectators with two second-place finishes making him a new member of the U.S. freestyle ski team.He was excited to get lunch and travel expenses paid for as part of the U.S. freestyle ski team. Now he's an Olympic medalist. Sunday, February 14th Bryon won the Bronze Medal in the Men's Mogul competition.
Not even Wilson could have expected that in two months he could have propelled himself past the other talented members of the men's moguls team to win a bronze medal and finish as the top American man in the event at the Vancouver Olympics.
"A year ago, I was just hoping to make the Olympics. That was my first goal going into this year," he said. "It was a long shot. But I'm glad I'm here."
"I'm stoked. It's super surprising but, you know, I've been skiing well."
Wilson, who competed in his first World Cup race in Finland in December after a teammate got injured, went on to post two second place finishes and was promoted to the "A" team.
In the men's final on Sunday, Wilson earned the highest marks for aerial tricks as he performed the two jumps with the highest degree of difficulty. His air trick score was higher than Canada's Alexandre Bilodeau, who won the gold.
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