Gus Kenworthy comes out… of retirement! Eyeing 2026 Olympics
Olympic athlete Gus Kenworthy is dusting off the skis and heading for the slopes after announcing he's coming out of retirement. In a new interview, the 33-year-old freestyle skier told ESPN that he started training again and hopes to compete at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
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Kenworthy said, "After taking a step away, I realized I miss skiing, and I really want to compete again. I didn't know if I would be able to come back after three-and-a-half years, but I knew I wouldn't be able to after seven and a half. So, it's this Olympics or nothing. I'm never going to have this opportunity again."
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Though Kenworthy considered coming out of retirement before, he suffered two major concussions and contracted COVID-19 that put him through extensive recovery time and prompted an overall hiatus from skiing. Kenworthy revealed that, at the time, he experienced a bit of an identity crisis.
Eyeing the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, Kenworthy believes that this is the right time to get back on the slopes. "I don't feel like I'm going back into it because I don't know who I am otherwise," Kenworthy said. "I'm going back into it because I can still do it, and because I want to."
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Given that Kenworthy was born in the UK and moved to Colorado when he was two years old, he will be representing Great Britain again at the 2026 Olympics.
The athlete, actor, model, and social media influencer announced his retirement from sports after a crash during the men's final.
"The final hurrah. My swan song. I'm done. I'm done competing. I've had a career that I'm really, really proud of," Kenworthy told Olympics.com at the time. The athlete also told BBC Sport: "I know that there's an expiration date, and I'm at that date."
Kenworthy, one of the first out gay athletes to become a household name, took home the Slopestyle silver medal with Team USA in 2014 (and came out as gay the following year). Then, in 2018, he was one of two out gay men to represent the USA at the PyeongChang Olympics.
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