Four U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athletes Make TIME's Inaugural 100 Most Influential People in Sports
TIME announced a list recognizing the 100 most influential figures shaping the global landscape of sports. Four athletes from U.S. Ski & Snowboard earned a place on the list, including Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn, Jessie Diggins and Oksana Masters. In the first list of its kind from TIME, athletes from across the entire sports landscape were recognized, including legends like Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Shohei Ohtani, Jannik Sinner and many more.
Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Shiffrin, who was named to TIME 100’s Most Influential People list in 2023, is the winningest skier of all time and showed the world how to meet the moment when she captured Olympic gold in the slalom – her fourth Olympic medal – in Milano Cortina 2026. Shiffrin won the race by 1.5 seconds, the largest margin in any alpine World Cup race since 1998. Throughout her storied career, Shiffrin has reset nearly every record in the sport. Four Olympic medals, including three golds and one silver, 15 World Championship medals, 18 overall FIS Crystal Globes, 110 World Cup wins, 121 World Cup podiums, and the status as the greatest alpine skier of all time.
“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by TIME on their TIME100 list as an Icon in Sports alongside so many inspiring people,” said Shiffrin, in an Instagram post. “To be honest, recognition like this always feels a little surreal. Even after all these years, there’s still a part of me that wonders, ‘Is this real?’”
For Vonn, the recognition comes after a year many would call one of the most remarkable comebacks in sports. At 41, the Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete went into her fifth Olympic Games following a remarkable return from retirement that included eight podiums and a lead in the World Cup downhill standings heading into Milano Cortina. Nine days before the Olympic downhill, a crash at the Crans Montana World Cup left her with a torn ACL, but she refused to give up on her Olympic dream and made her return to the women's downhill. Seconds into the race, she crashed. Yet the story of Vonn is not measured by results; it is measured by what it means to keep showing up.
“Honored to be named in the 2026 TIME100 Sports List!!” said Vonn in an Instagram post. “To be recognized alongside so many incredible athletes is truly humbling… Congratulations to everyone included. What an inspiring group of people to share this moment with. This past year has reminded me why I love this sport. Returning to the top of my sport and chasing a dream that so many thought was impossible has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”
Jessie Diggins is the most decorated cross country skier in American history and officially retired at the end of the 2025-26 season with four Olympic medals – including the sport’s first Olympic gold, won alongside her teammate Kikkan Randall at the 2018 PeyongChang Olympic Winter Games – four overall World Cup titles, 90 World Cup podiums, 30 World Cup wins, eight World Championship podiums and the most World Cup starts of any cross country skier in history. The Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team alumna’s inclusion on the TIME100 sports list is a fitting capstone to a career that elevated the sport to the masses, normalized the conversation about mental health in elite sport and reinforced the belief that there is always more to race for than a number on a results sheet.
“Really, really honored to be on the TIME100 sports list alongside these incredible athletes,” said Diggins.
The most decorated Paralympic athlete of all time, Oksana Masters has won 24 Paralympic medals, competing for the U.S. across cross country skiing, biathlon, cycling and rowing at both the Winter and Summer Paralympic Games. Masters was born in Ukraine with birth defects suspected to be caused by radiation poisoning from the Chornobyl disaster and at age 14, both of her legs were amputated. She was adopted at age seven and moved to the U.S. from Ukraine. She began with rowing, winning her first bronze medal at the 2012 Paralympic Winter Games in London. Then, she won two medals in the 2014 Games in Sochi in cross country skiing. In PyeongChang 2018, Masters won her first gold in the cross country 1.5k sprint and five medals in total. Next, cycling. She claimed gold at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. In the 2022 Beijing Games, she became the first American to win seven medals in one single Games. At the Paris Paralympic Games, she won two gold medals; in Milano Cortina, she won three.
“Being recognized by TIME as a TIME 100 Sports Honoree is an incredible honor – not just because of the company I’m standing alongside,” said Oksana, in an Instagram post. “This list includes some of the most iconic athletes, pioneers, and voices in sport and broadcasting. To be mentioned among them is something I never could have imagined.”
Read the full list and how athletes were nominated here. TIME will host the first-ever TIME100 Sports Gala on July 16 in New York City.
