Olympic Hopeful: Riley Jacobs
01/20/2026 12:53PM ● By Sophie Dingle
Photo courtesy of Riley Jacobs.
Riley Jacobs loves being in the air – this made her decision to pursue her halfpipe dreams easy. “I think it’s so much fun to not have to worry about gravity for a couple of seconds,” she says. “There’s a lot of freedom to it.”
The Oak Creek native trained with Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club before being named to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Women’s Halfpipe Pro Team in 2024. At the time, with several
high-profile finishes, her sights were set on Italy in 2026. “For the last few years, I’ve been working really hard,” she says. “I knew that the last Olympics in China weren’t really worth pushing for; I’ve always thought that 2026 is what I would shoot for.”
Then – injury. When Riley was training in Austria last November, she tore her ACL. She flew home, had surgery and spent the subsequent months recovering. Finally, she was cleared to go to New Zealand 10 months after the injury. “It was my first time back on skis in months,” Riley says. “My feet weren’t allowed to leave the ground for the first 10 days.”
That was a feat that was difficult for the skier, whose email prefix reads“flyingriley.” But this winter, she’s determined to do what she’s been doing all along: flying ... and landing on her feet. “My mindset is to keep my feet under me,” Riley says. “I want to keep it clean and do what I know how to do and what I’ve been doing. No need to be super risky.”
Riley Jacobs loves being in the air – this made her decision to pursue her halfpipe dreams easy. “I think it’s so much fun to not have to worry about gravity for a couple of seconds,” she says. “There’s a lot of freedom to it.”
The Oak Creek native trained with Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club before being named to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Women’s Halfpipe Pro Team in 2024. At the time, with several
high-profile finishes, her sights were set on Italy in 2026. “For the last few years, I’ve been working really hard,” she says. “I knew that the last Olympics in China weren’t really worth pushing for; I’ve always thought that 2026 is what I would shoot for.”
Then – injury. When Riley was training in Austria last November, she tore her ACL. She flew home, had surgery and spent the subsequent months recovering. Finally, she was cleared to go to New Zealand 10 months after the injury. “It was my first time back on skis in months,” Riley says. “My feet weren’t allowed to leave the ground for the first 10 days.”
That was a feat that was difficult for the skier, whose email prefix reads“flyingriley.” But this winter, she’s determined to do what she’s been doing all along: flying ... and landing on her feet. “My mindset is to keep my feet under me,” Riley says. “I want to keep it clean and do what I know how to do and what I’ve been doing. No need to be super risky.”