Rochester has three natives heading off to Milan to compete for the United States. Chris Lillis, Haley Winn, and Dylan Walczyk are all going for gold with the 2026 Winter Olympic Games taking the world by storm. Their stories from local rinks and slopes to the world stage show how far hard work can take you.
Chris Lillis is a freestyle skier, and he won his first FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) Aerials World Cup at age 17. Lillis was the youngest man ever to win the FIS Aerials World Cup.
Lillis competed in the 2022 Olympic Games, where he won gold for the Aerials Mixed Team Event. The skier was also the first American athlete since Jeret Peterson to complete a quintuple-twisting triple flip. His family has deep ties to the sport as all three of his brothers pursued a career in freestyle skiing as well.
Haley Winn is a defender on the USA women’s hockey team. Winn has competed in three World Championships, winning gold in two and silver in one. This year she has been a part of the USA women’s team which has only allowed one point through six games.
Winn’s hockey journey started young, as she would put on her brother’s pads. At the age of three, Winn played pickup games against her brothers in her back yard rink her dad built. The defender committed to Clarkson University where she was a First Team All-American. After her college career, Winn was drafted in the first round as the second overall pick in the 2025 Professional Women’s Hockey League Draft by the Boston Fleet.
Dylan Walczyk is a freestyle skier, and the first athlete ever to win the FIS NorAm Tour three times. The freestyle skier competed in the 2022 Beijing Olympics where he got 16th in the Moguls. Walczyk also won bronze at the Lake Placid 2013 World Cup.
Walczyk co-founded Steezy Joe Network as well, which is an instruction skiing social media platform. Walczyk is more than just an Olympic athlete; he explores many outlets like songwriting, guitar, and riding motorbikes.
Lillis will competed in the Olympic Aerial Freestyle Skiing Finals and finished eighth with a final score of 102.71. He also earned gold in the Mixed Team Aerials Skiing Finals with a score of 325.35. Winn and Team USA defeated Canada in a 2-1 overtime victory for its third gold medal. Walczyk finished 13th in men’s signal moguls with a score of 77.62 missing the top 8 by 2.30 points.
Lillis, Winn and Walczyk are just three names from the Rochester area that have achieved the greatest accolades some could ask for. We don’t know who the next name from Rochester we’re going to see, but it’s safe to say that we will definitely see another in the future ready to represent.
