Fear, Flight & Fast-Tracking the Olympics With Quinn Dehlinger

Time is currency. And freestyle Olympic skier Quinn Dehlinger cashed in on an opportunity he earned last June.

That's when Quinn got a call from his coach that he'd made the 2026 U.S. Winter Olympic Team.

Quinn narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2022 Olympics. Qualifying eight months before the Olympics in Italy was a game changer.

"Going into the competitions this year, if I got sick or had a minor injury it lifted a little of the weight off the shoulders," says Quinn.

Aerial skiing is a freestyle discipline. Athletes are often compared to acrobats on skis.

The team trains year-round at its home base in Park City at the Utah Olympic Park where skiers spend all summer perfecting tricks in a pool.

But Quinn grew up in Cincinnati which has become a pipeline for aerial skiers. Four skiers on the Olympic team have ties to the Cincinnati area and they credit the smaller hill for high reps they did on rails and jumps.

On this Dying to Ask:

• The greatest advantage of making the Olympic team so early.
• How did Cincinnati become a pipeline for Olympic aerial skiers?
• Why fear is a good thing when you you're an acrobat on skis
• And what it's like to pursue an Olympic dream when your girlfriend is also an Olympian