Hailed as a pioneer, Swedish transgender skier at Winter Olympics just wants to focus on sport

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This article was published 11/02/2026 (261 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Some saw it as a ground-breaking moment for transgender athletes when freestyle skier Elis Lundholm competed at the Winter Olympics.

As for Lundholm? He’s just focused on the sport.

“I haven’t really thought about it that much,” the 23-year-old Swede told reporters after finishing 25th in the women’s moguls qualifying on Wednesday, missing the final. “I’m here at the same conditions as everyone else, so yeah, I’m just skiing.”

Outsports, an LGBTQ+ sports website, reported before the competition started that Lundholm would become the first openly transgender athlete to compete at a Winter Games. The International Olympic Committee-endorsed online statistics site Olympedia lists more than 20 transgender athletes who have competed at the Summer Games, but none at the Winter Olympics.

Lundholm, who was assigned female at birth and identifies as a man, competes in the women’s category. The Swedish ski team said Lundholm has not undergone any gender-affirming treatment or surgery, meaning there is no discussion of having an unfair advantage.

Despite some voices on social media questioning whether he should compete with the women given he identifies as a man, Lundholm’s competitors have expressed no objections.

“I think it’s great that Elis is competing as the, I think, first transgender Winter Olympian,” U.S. skier Tess Johnson said. “I think that’s awesome and, yeah, I mean we’re here to ski we’re here to have fun and that’s exactly what we do.”

The soft-spoken Lundholm couldn’t agree more.

“I guess I want everyone to be able to be themselves and just do what they want to do,” Lundholm told reporters in Livigno.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) wants to introduce a gene testing policy for gender eligibility in women’s events in the near future. That would follow genetic testing for gender eligibility introduced in world athletics.

From the late 1960s and for the next 30 years Olympic athletes competing in women’s events had to undergo a gender test and be issued with a “certificate of femininity,” until it was decided to be too intrusive and not accurate enough.

Last year, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee effectively barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, saying they were complying with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

“I want everyone to be able to compete fairly against each other,” Lundholm said about testing that would not impact his eligibility but could affect other transgender athletes.

Most of all he wanted to keep his focus on improving his skiing.

“I’m happy to put down a run today. It wasn’t the best run,” he said. “There are some things to fix, but I’m happy.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics