Thelen Seventh in Olympic Final
Under bluebird skies and in front of an electric crowd, five-time Olympian Faye Thelen raced to seventh place in a stacked women’s snowboard cross Olympic final. Her teammates, including two-time Olympian Stacy Gaskill and Olympic rookies Hanna Percy and Brianna Schnorrbusch, all finished the day inside the top-20, taking 14th, 28th and 19th respectively.
After a relatively disappointing seeding time that placed her 21st in qualifications, Thelen worked her way up through the heats all the way to the quarterfinals, where she joined Gaskill for a chance in the top eight. The two Olympic vets were neck and neck throughout most of the race, but Thelen ultimately came out on top, knocking Gaskill out for the day.
Gaskill, an extremely close family friend of Thelen, took the result in stride, noting after the race that “Faye was racing in what may be her last Olympics and in front of her whole family, which is pretty special. If anyone had to beat me to the line, I’m glad it was her. She deserves to be in the semifinal more than anyone I know.”
Thelen, who decided to come back and attempt to make her fifth Olympics just six weeks postpartum, had her entire family at the bottom cheering her on, including her two young children- 2-year-old Theo and 6-month-old Scarlett.
“Being so recently postpartum I’ve had a lot of fear and up until this moment fear was holding me back. But showing up here and being able to put all of that fear aside and just have fun snowboarding or the first time in a while, it just felt really good.”
Olympic rookies Percy and Schnorrbush had great seeding runs at the top of the day, but early tough heats ended their chances of a spot on the podium. The two walk away with valuable experience in a sport where reps play a huge role.
“I’m just grateful to be here,” said Schnorrbusch. “I had an incredibly tough heat and just to be in the mix with those girls feels great. I’ve never had this many people watch my race, this whole experience has been amazing.”
“I’m definitely leaving here with a lot of positives,” Percy continued. I’m so impressed with all of my teammates, especially Faye. Her two kids are here watching and I couldn’t be happier for her.”
Australia’s Josie Baff stood atop the podium with the gold medal, Czechia’s Eva Adamczyková took silver and Italy’s Michela Moioli earned the bronze.
Snowboard cross action continues at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games with the mixed team event on Feb. 15th.
RESULTS
Women's snowboard cross
