PARK CITY, UT. (WAVY) — As the country counts down to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, what better way to celebrate than by shining the spotlight on a freestyle mogul skier, whose last name translates to “ice” in Italian.

Olivia Giaccio knows how to put on a show. Last year she landed a historic cork 1080 at the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first woman to win a mogul’s competition with the move. A solid performance that led to her winning the World Cup moguls event in Deer Valley, Utah. Next year she will mark her second Olympic competition.

“I think I surprise myself in a lot of scenarios and I might surprise other people as well and if you were betting on the games, honestly, I would bet on me,” smiled Giaccio.

However, like many greats before her, the Park City native’s journey wasn’t without its steep slopes.

She admits an injury in 2019 broke her down, but she picked herself up and came back better than ever before.

Giaccio recites the same performance statement when she steps into the starting gate. She whispers to herself “I’m resilient, I’m a great competitor, attack.”

She said that positive self-talk stemmed from one of her hardest times.

“I think that people can see me talking to myself and have always wondered where that comes from. I have always thought of my ACL recovery as a mental recovery, then it was physical to me. I was struggling quite a bit mentally prior to that moment. It was truly a real reset for me. I think at that time it was something I wanted to embody,” Giaccio explained.

Olivia’s not only a warrior on skis but a wiz in the classroom too. She doubled down on her efforts when she added an undergraduate degree at Columbia University in New York City to her long list of accomplishments. Now, she’s working on her master’s degree there too.

If there was one thing Giaccio wants Olympic viewers to know about her outside of skiing, it’s, “I want it to be that I’m a kind and compassionate person first and foremost.”