CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The U.S. may have only one sled in an Olympic two-man bobsled competition for the first time in the nearly century-long history of the event, after the sport's governing body denied an appeal to give American driver Kris Horn a spot in that event at the Milan Cortina Games.
Horn finished only four two-man races this season, and International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation rules required five finishes for Olympic eligibility. Horn and USA Bobsled appealed on several points, including how the World Cup schedule had one fewer race this year than many other Olympic seasons and how his training schedule before a race weekend in Latvia this season was limited compared to other pilots.
But the IBSF's appeals tribunal ruled last week that the five-race minimum cannot be ignored even though USA Bobsled earned two spots in the two-man Olympic field. Those spots are given to nations, not individual drivers. And that meant Horn can't qualify.
“The rules are clear,” the appeals tribunal said in the ruling, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Horn will compete in the four-man event at the Olympics, as will USA-1 pilot Frank Del Duca — one of the U.S. flag bearers for the opening ceremony of these Milan Cortina Games. But Del Duca, for now, appears to be the only American pilot in the two-man race.
The U.S. has won seven Olympic medals in the two-man event: gold and bronze in 1932, gold and bronze again in 1936, bronze in 1948, silver in 1952 and, most recently, a silver by Steven Holcomb and Steven Langton at the Sochi Games in 2014.
The Americans have been part of all 21 previous Olympic two-man races, with two sleds in those fields on 17 occasions and three sleds four other times.
Horn earned some notoriety last month when he and his team had issues loading into their four-man sled for a run at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Horn's three push athletes unsuccessfully tried to get in, leaving him to drive down the track himself and then needing to scurry backward after crossing the finish to pull the brakes and avoid what could have been a tragic crash.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Kristopher Horn and Carsten Vissering of the United States arrive at the finish during the 2-man bobsled, at the Bobsled World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
PREDAZZO, Italy (AP) — An early photo of the Prevc ski jumping clan shows teenager Peter eyeing three little siblings — Nika, Domen and Cene — perched on the edge of a sofa, tiny torsos tucked over bent knees and arms stretched back as if about to launch themselves to Olympic glory.
Sixteen years later, three of the four are now Olympic medalists after Nika won silver on Saturday on the women’s normal hill. And there may be more hardware to come: Domen enters Monday’s men’s competition as the current top male ski jumper in the world.
“At that time I didn’t know that the photo would be so great and so historical,” Gorazd Kavcic, who snapped the picture for a newspaper in the region of Slovenia where the Prevcs grew up, told The Associated Press. “I hope Domen will bring the Olympic medal home so the four of the Prevcs own Olympic medals. It's amazing.”
The Prevc athletes are national heroes back home, though they are hardly known outside the rarefied world of ski jumping.
The first Olympics for Nika, 20, and Domen, 26, could change that, particularly if they repeatedly step onto the podium as is widely expected.
It all began for the family more than 20 years ago in the village of Dolenja Vas in southern Slovenia when Peter as a young boy got bored skiing and started building small jumps to make it more exciting.
“They got bigger and bigger and when I was around 10 years old the jumps were already 25 meters long, and I was kind of enthusiastic for it,” Peter Prevc said. “My father saw my enthusiasm and he drove me to the ski jumping club.”
Peter said the others followed his path because they saw he was having fun and that's what sparked their passion and motivated them.
When Kavcic took the photo in 2010, Peter had entered the World Cup circuit and was beginning to make a name for himself.
The younger ones were either learning to jump or, like Nika, keen to get started.
Nika said her ambition was always to compete on the world’s largest stage.
“My childhood dreams are coming true,” she said after her second-place finish. “Now I will continue and go on.”
Cene attributes their unusual success to the values their father, who owns a furniture business and is a ski jumping judge and mother, a librarian, taught them: to excel at whatever they do.
Kavcic thinks the success was due more to the amount of practicing the children did. Their father was constantly shuttling them from one hill to the next.
Another factor is likely due to the ski jump-crazy nation’s development program for promising skiers, said Tomi Trbovc, a team spokesperson. All of the siblings attended a special school in Kranj in the north, where skiers are educated around daily training sessions.
Peter, 33, is a four-time Olympic medalist who won gold in the mixed team jump four years ago in Beijing. Cene, 29, shared a team silver with his brother in Beijing in the team event.
Both are now retired, though still associated with the sport. Peter is head of equipment development for the Slovenian ski jumping team and Cene, who does standup comedy, is doing TV commentary during the Milan Cortina Games.
Nika, 20, and Domen, 26, are reigning World Champions on the large hill, and Nika also holds the title for the normal — or shorter — hill. The two hold the records for the longest jumps ever and have dominated World Cup competition this season.
Domen said that even though he fantasized of some day being in the Olympics, he never believed it would happen and said it was amazing to be there.
“They always told me that your brothers are successful, but you’ll never manage to get there," he said. "Sometimes people tell you some things, but they tell you maybe to give you a chance to prove them wrong.”
Nika entered the normal hill event Saturday as the favorite to win, but technical mistakes at the take off of one jump and landing of the other cost her the gold to Anna Odine Stroem.
Stroem was gracious in victory, saying she had figured the main competition was for second place behind Prevc. Referring to Prevc's prowess in ski flying, the largest of jumping hills, she said: "we get to ski-fly and watch Nika almost never land.”
Although Nika failed to win Saturday, she became the first woman to join a brother — two in her case — to win Olympic medals in the sport.
Domen dismissed his 21st place showing in Sunday's practice round as not very important and said the real test will come Monday.
If he medals then in the men’s normal hill, it would mark the first time brother and sister ski jumpers have medaled at the same Olympics.
Depending on the outcome of that event, the two siblings could also join forces for the mixed team even Tuesday.
There is a younger sibling, Ema, who is still in school, but there's no chance she will end up in the Olympics, Cene Prevc said.
“She never even had a slight interest to perform in a ski jumping,” he said. “The only smart one in the family.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Gold medalist Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, right, applauds silver medalist Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, on the podium of the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Domen Prevc, of Slovenia, takes his position on the ramp for a jump during a ski jumping, men's normal hill, training session, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Domen Prevc, of Slovenia, waits his turn for a jump during a ski jumping, men's normal hill, training session, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, poses after winning the silver medal in the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
From left, Domen, Nika and Cene Prevc gesture as their older brother Peter looks on, in the living room of the Prevc family house, in Dolenja Vas village, in Slovenia, March, 22, 2010. (Gorazd Kavcic via AP)
