Austin Florian

Quick Facts

• College alpine ski racer at Clarkson University (Potsdam, New York)
• Picked up skeleton heading into his junior year in college after a family trip to Lake Placid

Biographical Information

Austin Florian grew up in Southington, Connecticut, and started to ski at age 2. By age 6, Florian was competing in ski racing competitions and played other sports in high school, including lacrosse and golf. 

Florian went to Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where he was a four-year member of Clarkson's ski team. Because of his proximity to Lake Placid, his family stopped in the city that hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics while driving him back to school, and he took in all the typical tourist activities, which included "land luge" - a Luge sled on rollerblade-style wheels. Showing promise, Florian decided to pursue an open tryout for U.S. sliding sports later that fall and began balancing skeleton training with ski training in his final two years of college. 

By the end of his senior year at Clarkson, Florian was entering North American cup races in skeleton and within a few years, he finished in the top 10 in just his second IBSF World Cup race in January 2019.

Florian competed for the U.S. in multiple world championships, winning gold at the 2025 IBSF World Championships in mixed team skeleton, an event that will debut at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. 

Florian graduated from Clarkson University with a degree in engineering. His wife, Erica, is a former Division I soccer player. 

World Championships Experience

• Most recent: 2025 – gold (Team Competition - Mixed), 6th (Individual - Men)
• Years of participation: Individual - Men 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025; Team Competition - Mixed 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024, 2025
• Medals: 1 (1 gold)
  • Gold – 2025 (Team Competition - Mixed)