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There Will Be Lots Of Northwest Athletes To Cheer For At 2018 Winter Olympics

Western Washington University student Breezy Johnson will compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in women's downhill.
Western Washington University
Western Washington University student Breezy Johnson will compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in women's downhill.

The U.S. Olympic Committee officially announced the members of the 2018 Olympic Team Friday morning and the Pacific Northwest was well represented.

Ten athletes from Oregon and Washington state will travel with Team USA to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, including downhill skiers, cross country skiers, short track speed skaters, a snowboarder and one bobsledder. Additionally, two snowboarders raised in the Pacific Northwest will compete at the PyeongChang Games for other countries -- Australia and Russia.

The Northwest contingent is a mix of Olympic veterans and rookies. The four women and six men range in age between 21 and 30 years old.



 >>> Meet the Pacific Northwest's Olympians

The PyeongChang Games will be the second Olympics for alpine speed skier Laurenne Ross of Bend, Oregon. She said she relishes being part of “a bigger team, Team USA.” 



“Which is something we don’t really do very often as athletes in an individual sport,” Ross said. “So that’s something that was special in 2014 in Sochi. I really look forward to that again.” 



The U.S. cross-country ski team has a brother-sister duo who grew up along the ski trails of north central Washington's Methow Valley—Erik and Sadie Bjornsen. Sadie represents a legitimate threat to medal.

Another decent bet to stand on the Olympic podium next month is short track speed skater J.R. Celski of Federal Way, Washington.

The PyeongChang Winter Games last from February 8-25.

Copyright 2018 Northwest News Network

Correspondent Tom Banse is an Olympia-based reporter with more than three decades of experience covering Washington and Oregon state government, public policy, business and breaking news stories. Most of his career was spent with public radio's Northwest News Network, but now in semi-retirement his work is appearing on other outlets.
Tom Banse
Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reports from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events are unfolding. Tom's stories can be found online and heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.