Meet 11 Teens Competing for Team USA at the Winter Olympics
What were you doing during your late teen years?While most teenagers in the U.S. are worrying [...]
What were you doing during your late teen years?
While most teenagers in the U.S. are worrying about midterms, getting a good score on their SATs and finding a date to the school dance, these teens are busy training and going for the gold during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea.
And many of them were were born after the new millennium.
Scroll through to see the young athletes aiming for gold medals during the Winter Olympics.
Nathan Chen, 18
He won the national title in 2017 and 2018, and has his eye on a medal in Pyeonchang.
Chen already won a bronze medal as part of Team USA, but his hunt for an individual medal hunt begins Feb. 15 during the short program.
Chen is best known for his daring programs, which include five different kinds of quadruple jumps, earning him the nickname "quad king."
Chloe Kim, 17
Already a gold medal winner in Pyeonchang for women's halfpipe, Kim is a force to be reckoned with. The athlete also has three X Games gold medals.
Though this is her first Olympics, she's been a top competitor for years. She even qualified for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, but was unable to compete because she was 13.
prevnextKaren Chen, 18
The 2017 ladies single national champion nabbed the bronze at this year's National Championships, lading her a spot on the Olympic team.
She'll have a famous fan rooting her on — 1992 gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, who has served as a mentor to Chen in their shared hometown of Fremont, Califonia.
prevnextTess Johnson, 17
Johnson has been skiing since she was two years old, and changed up to moguls at the age of 9.
Five years later she made the national team and after nearly four years of competition she made it on the Olympics team for the first time.
Finishing with a score of 75.33 on Feb. 11, Johnson advanced to the women's moguls final. She was ranked 10th in the World Cup standings coming into the Olympics.
prevnextVincent Zhou, 17
The youngest competitor on Team USA in Pyeonchang, Zhoi is a figure skater who finished third at the National Championships. He won a silver medal at the same event in 2017.
"The Olympics is …," Zhou told PEOPLE prior to the Games, "it's what I've been dreaming of."
prevnextHailey Langland, 17
Langland competes in slopestyle and big air snowboarding, and has won X Games medals in both disciplines.
She finished sixth place in slopestyle in Pyeongchang, and will compete for a medal in women's big air, with qualifying event on Sunday and the final on Thursday, Feb. 22.
prevnextMaggie Voisin, 19
Voisin, a slopestyle skiier, celebrated her 19th birthday in December, and is hoping for a shot at a medal in Pyeongchang.
She narrowly missed out on competing in Sochi when she broke her ankle while practicing on the course just days before the Olympics were set to begin. She'll compete Friday, Feb. 16.
prevnextRed Gerard, 17
Gerard's slopestyle gold-medal run came with a hilarious story. He reportedly overslept on the morning of the competition because he stayed up ate watching Netflix the night before.
The setback didn't stop him from making history as he became the youngest person to medal in snowboarding.
He started snowboarding at age two, and after he moved to Colorado, his family built a terrain park in their backyard.
prevnextMaddie Mastro, 17
Mastro is a halfpipe snowboarder who started in the sport at age 6 after skiing for the first four years beforehand.
She's in Pyeongchang with two of her childhood friends in the sport — Chloe Kim and Hailey Langland.
All three hail from Southern California. Mastro made headlines during her debut run for crashing out during her halfpipe run.
prevnextChris Corning, 18
Competing in slopestyle and big air, the snowboarder was the 2016 FIS World Cup champion in the former.
He's the first American to land the tricky backside quad cork 1800, though he hasn't yet landed the trick during competition. Pyeongchang, of course, could change that.
prevnextAlex Hall, 19
Hall has spent his life in the mountains: His early years in Alaska before a family move to Switzerland.
Now, the slopestyle skiier calls Utah home after moving to Park City to join the U.S. National Team.
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