After representing Nice Britain on the previous two Winter Olympic Video games, freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy is returning to Crew USA. In response to ESPN, the transfer was just lately authorised by the Worldwide Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) earlier this month. Now, the 34-year-old is eligible for worldwide competitors and can as soon as once more compete as a part of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Crew.

Kenworthy had initially competed for Crew USA earlier than switching to Crew Nice Britain. Now, he’s again competing for the celebrities and stripes.

The switch-up comes amidst a interval of rule modifications put in place by FIS. Again in 2025, the FIS up to date its guidelines to ban athletes from altering nationwide affiliation greater than as soon as — an early model of what’s now informally known as the FIS nationality switching rule. Nonetheless, when Kenworthy offered his need to modify again to Crew USA, FIS examined the rule and in the end made a change.

“This was not an exception or an exemption from the rule,” FIS advert interim Secretary Common Urs Lehmann informed ESPN. “Gus’ case initiated a thought course of and a change in pondering.”

Below the brand new rule, athletes could now be permitted to return to compete for his or her authentic nation after a interval of at the very least 4 years. Nonetheless, athletes trying to make a 3rd change should meet standards that Lehmann describes as “much more restrictive than was required to make the preliminary change.” The standards put in place are supposed to fight aggressive tourism — altering nationwide affiliation to ease the trail to worldwide groups and competitors.

In response to an FIS consultant and ESPN, the change will probably be added to its rulebook after the subsequent council assembly scheduled to start on September 28, 2026. 

Kenworthy, initially from Essex, England, moved together with his household to Colorado at simply two years previous. He began his profession competing for Crew USA, finally qualifying for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the place he received silver in slopestyle as a part of a U.S. podium sweep with gold medalist Joss Christensen and bronze medalist Nick Goepper. He competed in his second Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, in 2018, the place he was one of many first two brazenly homosexual males to compete for Crew USA on the Winter Video games.

One yr after the 2018 Video games, Kenworthy introduced a change to compete for Crew Nice Britain. 

“I wished to honor my mother,” Kenworthy mentioned. “It was additionally a strategic transfer so far as qualifying, and it opened up a spot for an additional athlete on the U.S. staff. And I assumed it could be my final Olympics.”

His first Olympics with Crew GB got here in 2022. He had initially determined to retire after the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, China, however he started to get well from a long time of accidents and concussions. He selected to compete once more on the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics, the place he completed sixth within the halfpipe. Regardless of a stable end, Kenworthy was not glad.

“I solely gave myself 9 months to coach after taking years off,” Kenworthy mentioned. “And I wasn’t too far out of the combo. I assumed, ‘I’m wholesome and snowboarding nicely, so why would I cease?’”

He completed the season with Crew GB, capped off with the World Cup in Silvaplana, Switzerland. After the season, he met with Crew GB officers to debate the long run, however uncertainty surrounded Crew GB’s funds for its skiers. UK Sport, which distributes funding for Olympic packages, had defunded GB Snowsport — the nationwide governing physique for snowboarding and snowboarding in the UK. For years, GB Snowsport had been the first path for British skiers and snowboarders to achieve worldwide and Olympic competitors. UK Sport’s determination to defund GB Snowsport resulted in a funding shakeup for Nice Britain’s skiers and snowboarders, which left Kenworthy unable to commit to a different season with Crew GB. Crew GB in the end granted Kenworthy’s request to be launched.

Kenworthy finally met with U.S. Ski and Snowboard officers who had been open to welcoming him again, however the 2025 eligibility rule remained an impediment. U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport Anouk Patty informed ESPN that U.S. Ski and Snowboard submitted the paperwork to get Kenworthy again on Crew USA in late April. In response to Patty, the paperwork was primarily a “authorized transient explaining why [Kenworthy] must be granted an exception to the rule and allowed to return again to the U.S.”

The paperwork cited two important arguments. The primary was that Kenworthy was not in search of to compete for a 3rd nation, however was trying to return to 1 he had competed for prior to now. The second was that Kenworthy had switched to Nice Britain earlier than FIS adopted the 2025 restriction.

Over 4 months after receiving the paperwork, FIS despatched a letter to U.S. Ski and Snowboard granting his request. Lehmann mentioned that the arguments had been each “good and affordable,” and that Kenworthy’s historical past with Crew USA and the need to modify to an previous staff in the end led FIS to allow the change.

“Why not enable an athlete to return to their authentic nationwide ski affiliation, which invested quite a bit in them?” Lehmann mentioned. “I do know precisely what it means to be dropped at the highest by an NSA, and to need to give again one thing to the nation that made you a well-known skier.”

The transfer marks one of many FIS’s greatest rule modifications following a significant management transformation throughout the group. FIS council member Alexander Ospelt defeated standing president Johan Eliasch within the FIS presidential election again in June in certainly one of snowboarding’s most dramatic management shakeups. Simply days earlier than the vote, Lehmann — who was CEO on the time — resigned from his place. Nonetheless, shortly after Ospelt’s election, Lehmann returned to FIS and now serves because the group’s interim Secretary Common.

Now, with the 2026-27 competitors season almost right here, Kenworthy will once more compete as a member of Crew USA and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Crew. The skier has already acquired rounding assist from his teammates, together with a name from fellow Crew USA skier Hunter Hess.

“It means quite a bit that they assist me coming again,” Kenworthy mentioned. “I need to be a mentor, and there’s a actually good vibe on the staff. It’s a extra reliable program now in numerous methods, and it feels extra inclusive.”

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Crew will quickly head to Europe to start coaching. And Kenworthy will probably be proper there with them as they put together for this yr’s competitors circuit.