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GOLD
0
SILVER
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BRONZE
5'7"
33
Aurora, OR
Utah Valley University
Jacqueline Wiles learned to ski at roughly the same time she learned to walk. She grew up making weekend trips to White Pass Ski Club in Washington with her family, where she discovered what made skiing fun. A product of the Pacific Northwest Ski Association, the Aurora resident developed a natural talent and fearless ability to ski fast. After graduating from Canby High School, she faced a pivotal decision — attend college or pursue her Olympic dream. The choice was simple. She knew college would always be there, but she had only one moment to chase her goals.
Wiles burst onto the national scene in 2013 when she won the U.S. Alpine Championships downhill title at Copper Mountain. She defended that title in 2014, earning her spot on the roster for the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 at age 21. She made her world cup debut in November 2013 and scored her first world cup points weeks before the Olympic Games with a 15th-place finish in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy — a venue that would become special throughout her career. The next few seasons proved challenging as she worked to establish herself on the circuit, but 2017 brought vindication when she earned her first world cup podium with a third-place finish in downhill at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria.
Her career took a devastating turn on Feb. 3, 2018, when she crashed during a world cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, just before the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. The crash was catastrophic — she tore her ACL, MCL, LCL and POL, injured her lateral meniscus and tib/fib joint, broke her fibula and suffered perennial nerve damage. Her father David, watching at 2 a.m. from home, received a phone call from a doctor on the course assuring him his daughter was okay. The injury required three surgeries over five months and sidelined her for nearly two years. She returned to downhill skis 17 months later, writing on Instagram about finally feeling like a racer again.
The comeback proved arduous. After missing PyeongChang 2018, Wiles fought through additional setbacks including a broken collarbone in 2020 and patella tendon tears in both knees that required more surgeries. She battled PTSD from her crashes, which manifested as a defensive skiing style and overwhelming fear. Working with a psychologist, she learned to acknowledge the fear without letting it control her. In 2016, teammate Lindsey Vonn named Wiles the first-ever Lindsey Vonn Foundation athlete ambassador, providing the crucial financial support necessary for adequate and holistic recovery. The two developed a deep friendship built on mutual respect and understanding of the sport's demands.
The 2023-24 season marked Wiles' triumphant return to elite form. At age 31, she achieved a career-best second-place finish in downhill at Cortina d'Ampezzo — her third podium at the Italian resort and her first since 2018.
During her recovery years, she discovered a passion for flying and earned her private pilot's license with support from Textron Aviation, finding parallels between aviation and ski racing in the calculation, risk and need to plan ahead. When not training, she rides motorcycles and plays trumpet with her father every Fourth of July during their local flag-raising ceremony on the Oregon coast.
Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympic Winter Games. Both men and women competed in slalom and downhill, but the only medals awarded were for the downhill and slalom combined. When the Olympic Winter Games resum...
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As the senior member of the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team downhill squad, Jacqueline Wiles has been launching off jumps and soaring through the air on world cup race courses for more than a decade. More recently, she is also taking flight, while at the c...
