IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S... BEN LOOMIS! Former Eau Clairian Ben Loomis is officially part of Team USA heading into the 25th Winter Games. The 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted by Italy's Milan and Cortina, will be Loomis's third Olympics. (Photo via Facebook)

Eau Claire’s Ben Loomis will compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics as part of Team USA, heading into the Winter Games as the reigning national champion in the compact/large hill discipline.

Loomis is one of two athletes on the Nordic Combined Team – as its name suggests, Nordic combined is a blend of ski jumping and cross-country skiing – the other being Colorado’s Niklas Malacinski, who will be making his Olympic debut. This year’s Winter Games appearance will mark Loomis’s third.

Loomis, now 27, made his Olympic debut in 2018 and saw significant improvement in the 2022 Winter Games, moving up 21 places in the large hill event; 26 spots in the normal hill event; and placing sixth as part of the team event.

He grew up ski jumping at the Flying Eagles Ski Club in Eau Claire before moving to Utah at age 15, later representing the U.S. at three World Junior Championships. Today, he is a multi-medalist athlete, also having been part of five World Championship teams; in 2025, he walked away from the 2025 U.S. Nordic Combined Summer National Championships with gold and silver medals.

Ben Loomis, pictured in foreground, heads into his third Winter Games as a Nordic combined team veteran. In previous Winter Games, each country could fill up to five spots for Nordic combined. Ahead of 2026, that number has decreased to just three, with the U.S. qualifying for two. (Photo via Facebook)

The last Winter Games, held in Beijing in 2022, saw the Men’s Nordic combined team land on its best foot since 2014; they placed sixth overall. Then, Loomis looked to the future with confidence, saying “I believe we’re going to continue to get better as a team, and we will be up for some medals in 2026.”

Over the past year alone, Loomis has competed across Europe in various nations' World Cups, World Championships and Grand Prix. He is currently ranked 41st in the world.

The U.S. has not earned an Olympic medal in Nordic Combined since the 2010 Vancouver Games, and as the current team swiftly approaches the 2026 Olympics after years spent training with Norwegian ski jumping federation Norges Hopplandslaget – Norway holds the most Olympic medals in Nordic combined skiing – anticipation is high.

The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will run from Feb. 6-22. The Nordic combined competition will take place Feb. 11-19. 

Learn more about the 2026 Olympic Winter Games online at www.olympics.com • Find more information about Team USA at www.teamusa.com • Keep up with Ben Loomis through his social medias