The Beijing Winter Olympics officially kick off this week, and several of the D.C. region’s winter athletes will be competing.
Meet the DC region’s 2022 Winter Olympians
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Maame Biney of Team United States looks on during a short track speed skating practice session ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Capital Indoor Stadium on Jan. 31, 2022 in Beijing, China.
(Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
Maame Biney, short-track speedskating (Reston, Virginia)
Biney, who was born in Ghana, was profiled by WTOP in 2018 when the then-18-year-old became the first Black woman to make the United States short-track speedskating team and the second African-born athlete to represent the U.S. in the Winter Games.
In 2022, Biney — and her alter ego, Anna Digger — heads to Beijing as one of the sport’s headliners thanks to her gold medal grin and her gold medal performances in the 2019 US Junior World Championships and the 2021 US Championships in which she swept gold in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m events.
Events:
Biney was eliminated from the 500-meter Short Track Speed Skating competition. She finished in 9th place in the Womens 1,000-meter. She was part of the U.S. team that ranked 8th in the Women’s 3,000-meter relay and the mixed team relay.
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Nick Cunningham, Hakeem Abdul-Saboor, Christopher Kinney and Samuel Michener of the United States watch fellow competitors run during the 4-man Boblseigh heats on day sixteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Olympic Sliding Centre on Feb. 25, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Hakeem Abdul-Saboor, bobsled (Powhatan, Virginia)
The University of Virginia alum is headed to his second Winter Games after posting top 21 finishes in 2018. This year, the 34-year-old former bodybuilder and gridiron great at Powhatan High School is one of eight pushers for Team USA.
Events:
Two-man bobsled: Finished in 13th place
Four-man bobsled: Finished in 13th place
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Ashley Caldwell practices before competing in the World Cup women’s freestyle aerials skiing event, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021, in Deer Valley, Utah.
(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Ashley Caldwell, freestyle skiing (Ashburn, Virginia)
Caldwell enters her fourth Winter Games in search of redemption. In 2018, she came up short on her jump and did not qualify for the final. Caldwell had finished in the top 10 in her previous two Olympic appearances and looks for her first medal in 2022.
Events: Finished in 4th place in Women’s Aerials; Part of gold-medal-winning U.S. team in Mixed Team Aerials
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Caroline Green and Michael Parsons perform during the Ice Dance Rhythm Dance event of the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn on Jan. 20, 2022. (Photo by Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
(Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images)
US Caroline Green and Michael Parsons perform during the Ice Dance Rhythm Dance event of the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn on January 20, 2022. (Photo by Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images)
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Ilia Malinin skates in the Men’s Free Skate during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Bridgestone Arena on Jan. 9, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee.
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Honorable mention
Ilia Malinin, figure skating (Fairfax, Virginia)
The 17-year-old is considered one of the rising stars in the sport, but was controversially left off Team USA and will serve as a first alternate.
Sidney Chu, speed skating (Washington, D.C.)
Chu isn’t exactly a local — he was born and raised in Los Angeles — but the George Washington student has been a staple at the famed Potomac Speedskating Club and will make his Olympic debut for Hong Kong in the 2022 Games.
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, figure skating, ice dance (Montgomery County, Maryland)
Born exactly eight years apart, Green and Parsons did much of their competing alongside their siblings until pairing up in June 2019, when they finished in the top three in two of their six competitions. The duo won the 2021 Lake Placid Ice Dance International and the 2022 Four Continents Championships. They were names first alternates for the Olympic team.
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