Switzerland leaves 44-year-old ski-jump great Simon Ammann off Winter Olympics team

By Canadian Press on January 26, 2026.

BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Switzerland left 44-year-old ski-jumping great Simon Ammann out of a team of 175 athletes picked Monday for the Milan Cortina Olympics that includes three defending champions.

At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, he was a double gold medalist whose Harry Potter-like spectacles and boyish charm led to him being a studio guest on David Letterman’s late-night show.

Ammann competed at all seven Winter Games since 1998 in Nagano, Japan and also won two gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The Swiss selectors, instead, will take to Italy the 19-year-old Felix Trunz, who was not born when Ammann won at Salt Lake.

Ammann has a best result of 20th in a World Cup event this season and last finished on a podium in January 2018.

Alpine ski superstar Marco Odermatt is a standout selection and shapes as a strong medal contender in downhill, super-G. He’ll defend the giant slalom title he won in China four years ago.

The other defending champion skiers are Corinne Suter in women’s downhill and Ryan Regez in men’s skicross.

The Milan Cortina Olympics open Feb. 6.

___

AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

The Associated Press

14
-13