Idaho’s Sammy Smith competes in first Olympic ski race. How did she finish?
Boise High grad Sammy Smith completed in her first Olympic race Tuesday, finishing 19th overall in the women’s cross country classic sprint in Tesero, Italy.
Smith navigated a field of 89 skiers and was one of 30 to qualify for the quarterfinals of the bracket-style event. Her time of 3 minutes, 59.07 seconds around the 0.9-mile course placed fourth in her heat, outside the top two that automatically advance to the semifinals.
A luckier draw would have sent her to the semifinals as that time was enough to advance in one other heat. But it was not fast enough to earn one of two lucky-loser, wildcard berths to the next round, ending Smith’s day in the quarterfinals.
The classic sprint stands as the 20-year-old’s best individual event in this year’s Olympics. She sits 36th in the sprint World Cup standings, and she captured national titles in the classic and skate sprints last month.
The U.S. Ski team has not announced who will compete in other cross country events later in this month’s Olympics. But Smith’s skills could translate to the team sprint scheduled for Feb. 18.
Smith did receive a special call-out for her path to the Olympics during NBC’s broadcast of the qualifying round. Play-by-play broadcaster Steve Schlanger noted Smith helped lead the Stanford women’s soccer team to a runner-up finish in the NCAA tournament in December, calling Smith “one of the best stories in cross country skiing right now.”
Smith didn’t compete in her first cross country ski race until Dec. 12 and competed in the national championships with just three weeks of on-snow training under her belt.
“To be able to transition seasons like that, from December before the Olympic games — that’s typically when athletes are putting in their top preparation, really getting onto the World Cup and mixing it up with the international field,” NBC color commentator Kikkan Randall said on Tuesday’s broadcast. “And she was still, literally, on the field.”
Sweden swept the podium in Tuesday’s sprint race with Linn Svahn capturing gold, Jonna Sundling silver and Maja Dahlqvist bronze. Julia Kern stood as the top American, finishing sixth and last in the final race.
Other American women included two-time medalist Jessie Diggins (17th) and Lauren Jortberg (30th).
The American men brought home a medal Tuesday with Ben Ogden winning silver. He’s just the second American man to win a cross country skiing medal and the first in 50 years, NBC reported.
This story was originally published February 10, 2026 at 12:38 PM.
