Quick Read
- Avery Krumme, 17, is competing for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
- Her Olympic performance has renewed attention on her 2024 decision to switch from representing Canada to the United States.
- Krumme finished fourth in slopestyle qualification and 7th, 8th, and 11th in the final runs.
- She holds dual citizenship through her mother, Rachel Krumme, who is from Texas.
- After joining Team USA, she achieved three NorAm Cup podium finishes and strong World Cup results in the 2024-25 season.
ITALY (Azat TV) – Seventeen-year-old freeski prodigy Avery Krumme is currently making her mark at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, where her impressive performance for Team USA has cast a renewed spotlight on her decision two years ago to switch sporting nationality from Canada to the United States. Krumme, who grew up immersed in Canada’s vibrant winter sports culture, has achieved significant competitive success since her transition, prompting discussions about the strategic choices athletes make on the global stage.
Krumme secured her place in the freeski slopestyle final at the ongoing Olympics after ranking fourth in qualification. She then went on to finish 7th, 8th, and 11th respectively in her three runs in the final, demonstrating her skill and competitive spirit on the world’s biggest stage. This Olympic debut underscores the impact of her 2024 decision to join the U.S. Freeski Team’s rookie roster for the 2025–26 season, a move that has quickly yielded high-level results.
Avery Krumme’s Rapid Ascent with Team USA
The transition to Team USA in 2024 marked a pivotal moment in Krumme’s burgeoning career. While no official detailed explanation for the move has been publicly disclosed, her dual citizenship, inherited through her mother Rachel Krumme, who hails from Texas, provided the pathway for this change. News.Az reports, citing foreign media, that Krumme’s competitive performance rapidly accelerated following her switch.
According to her U.S. Olympic team biography, Krumme delivered strong results in the 2024–25 season, securing three NorAm Cup podium finishes and demonstrating consistent performance across North American competitions. She later made her World Cup debut in Stubai, Austria, where she finished 20th in slopestyle. Throughout that season, her performance continued to improve, notably placing sixth in slopestyle at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen and achieving fourth in big air at Steamboat Springs, which was the best result by an American woman in those critical selection events.
Canadian Beginnings and Family Support
Born in Vancouver, Canada, in August 2008, Avery Krumme was raised in Squamish, British Columbia, a town nestled among high mountains with a deep enthusiasm for winter sports. It was in this environment that she developed her passion for skiing, starting ski school at just three years old. Her junior career, however, was not without challenges, including multiple injury setbacks such such as two broken collarbones in 2022.
Her parents, Ray and Rachel Krumme, have played pivotal roles in supporting her career. Ray Krumme, a dentist and health enthusiast, and Rachel Krumme, an actress and fitness enthusiast, stood by their daughter through her challenges. Ray Krumme, in an interview with Pique News Magazine following Avery’s double gold sweep at the 2024 Freeski Canadian National Championships (representing Freestyle Whistler), emphasized the life lessons learned through sport and the importance of travel and new experiences for his daughter. This achievement at the Canadian Nationals occurred just prior to her formal switch to represent the United States internationally.
Implications of the Nationality Switch
Krumme’s decision to switch nationalities highlights a growing trend in competitive sports where athletes leverage dual citizenship or residency rules to seek optimal training environments, competitive pathways, or increased sponsorship opportunities. For Krumme, the move appears to have provided a direct route to the Olympic stage and accelerated her international profile. Her current participation in slopestyle, an event judged on difficulty, execution, and overall flow of technical tricks on rails and jumps, positions her as a promising young athlete to watch in the global freeski scene.
The swiftness of Avery Krumme’s success after her 2024 nationality switch underscores the strategic advantage such decisions can offer, demonstrating how an athlete’s choice of national representation can significantly impact their competitive trajectory and international visibility.