Olympian Gus Kenworthy Returns to Team USA After Years Spent With Great Britain

After competing for his mother’s home country, Great Britain, during two Winter Olympics, halfpipe skier Gus Kenworthy is returning to the team where he got his start, the U.S., and apparently considering another run at Olympic glory, ESPN reported. 

Born in the U.K. but raised in Telluride, Colorado, Kenworthy shot to prominence after participating in an all-American sweep of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics slopestyle podium alongside Nick Goepper and Joss Christensen, later coming out and becoming one of history’s first openly gay action sports athletes with a landmark ESPN cover.

Kenworthy made the switch to Great Britain’s Olympic team in 2019, telling ESPN that with the move, he wanted to honor his mom, adding that it was a strategic play for qualifying and would open another slot on the U.S. team. 

He also thought it would be his last Olympics, and announced his retirement after the 2022 Games. In the interim, he worked on breaking into acting, participated in real estate projects, and invested in a few companies, including Nomadica, a wine label.

Kenworthy, though, still had some in the tank. In the summer of 2025, he mounted a self-funded comeback as a member of Team GB and placed sixth in halfpipe at the latest Winter Olympics. Despite nearly making the podium, he felt unsatisfied.

“I only gave myself nine months to train after taking years off,” Kenworthy said, per ESPN. “And I wasn’t too far out of the mix. I thought, ‘I’m healthy and skiing well, so why would I stop?'”

He met with Great Britain’s team and told ESPN that they couldn’t commit to funding. Still, Team GB offered to grant Kenworthy a release so he could continue skiing as an athlete for the U.S.

A spokesperson for the team called Kenworthy a “model professional,” ESPN reported.

“Gus has never been afraid to celebrate both his British heritage and his American life, and we feel he has earned the opportunity to compete for the nation of his choosing,” they said.

U.S. Ski and Snowboard welcomed him back, but a 2025 rule change created by skiing’s governing body, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), was in the way. The change barred athletes from switching countries more than once. 

In paperwork sent to FIS, U.S. Ski and Snowboard argued that because he was returning to the country that nurtured the early phase of his career—not jumping to a third—and he switched to Team GB before the 2025 rule change, Kenworthy should be granted an exception. 

FIS thought the points were reasonable. They granted the request and ultimately reconsidered the 2025 rule. 

The organization now plans to change the rule for everybody, but with some restrictions: while athletes can return to their original country after at least four years, they cannot switch to a third country. The caveat is meant to prevent “competitive tourism”—that is, changing nations to gain an advantage in qualifying.

Kenworthy will be the first athlete to return to his home country under the newly updated rule, which, according to FIS, will be added to the rulebook after an upcoming council meeting.

In returning to the U.S., Kenworthy may gain access to more institutional support from U.S. Ski and Snowboard than he would have had otherwise. He won’t, however, have an easier time qualifying for the Olympics from a competition standpoint.

The roster for the U.S. team is deep, and only the very best athletes earn one of the limited spots on the Olympic squad. Notably, last winter, Olympic medalists and American freeskiers Colby Stevenson and David Wise did not make the Games in Italy, highlighting the stiff selection process.

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