Screams of about 60 elementary-aged students erupted as Anna Gibson walked under the antler arches and into the Jackson Hole Airport, home from her Olympic debut at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games.
Harper Dickey, 9, mused on the van ride to the airport about meeting the hometown hero after watching Gibson’s two ski mountaineering, or skimo, races in which she claimed ninth in the women’s individual sprints and fourth with ski partner Cam Smith in the mixed-relay.
Dickey knew the professional trail runner’s dive into skimo started just months before her first international competition in December, but only after growing up downhill and Nordic racing for the Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club, just like her.
“She’s a role model to me,” Dickey said. “She shows us that even in a short time, you can do anything.”
Fellow teammate Maeve Abraham, 8, said she spent several days making her poster covered in hearts.
Gibson’s races made Abraham want to try the sport that’s new this year to the Games. Though she said that might happen “probably when I’m older, because I’m not good at skimo right now.”
The pair were among many waiting with hand-made posters, gift offerings of rubber-band bracelets and candy. After a few businesspeople squeezed past, the mob quickly had the 26-year-old surrounded, chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A.”
And Gibson’s warm welcome almost didn’t happen.
The Teton Village native nearly missed one of the last return flights from Italy to Jackson Hole. But quick coordination between Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club, at least one town councilor, Jackson Hole Airport and Delta airline officials and Customs and Border Patrol made for some memorable first steps home, according to Laura Paul, student-athlete success and communications director for the Ski Club.
After signing hats, posters and paper plates for the crowd, Gibson told KHOL that Dickey’s takeaway about possibilities in short timeframes was spot on.
“That’s exactly the type of impact that I want to have as an athlete and I hope that’s what my story says,” she said.
Gibson, whose parents were early adopters of the recreational version of the sport she competed in, has floated the idea of helping start a youth program.
Ski Club Director Ali Sehnert said that isn’t out of the question so long as there’s interest from kids and mountains where the club races, such as Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Snow King Mountain Resort.
“If we had interest I think it’s something we would heavily pursue with our partner mountains,” she said.
Dickey and Abraham raised their hands as possible future competitors. Dickey hasn’t done skimo racing so far.
“But I’ve hiked the Headwall, if that counts,” Dickey said, referencing an in-bounds bootpack at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
Abraham said she’s hiked to the top of Mt. Elly with skins on, though not as fast as she hopes she might in the future.
“It probably took me like three hours because there were some tears,” she said.
