From Team Summit Devo to Junior World Champion: Lainey Steen’s Journey Is Just the Beginning
Lainey Steen has an unassuming drive about her. Meet her for the first time, and you’ll find a polite, curious, and easygoing 14-year-old.
“She’s humble, she’s kind, she treats everyone with respect,” says Stefan Seeling, Team Summit’s Park & Pipe Director.
“But when she’s on snow, that competitiveness comes out. She wants to be better every single run, and she won’t stop until she gets there.”
That mindset has carried Lainey from weekend laps in Team Summit’s Devo Program to becoming a Junior World Champion and one of the brightest young athletes in freeskiing. The jump from local terrain parks to the world stage didn’t happen overnight—it came through years of steady work, relentless curiosity, and a genuine love for skiing.
Learn more about Team Summit’s Freeski programs here:
https://teamsummit.org/program/team-summit-freeski/
Getting Hooked on Skiing
Like many Team Summit athletes, Lainey’s journey started in Devo, where she built the strong fundamentals every skier needs before progressing to spins, rails, jumps, and halfpipe.
Once those basics were in place, she moved into Park & Pipe under Coach Brooke Potter. It didn’t take long for her appetite for progression to become obvious. She wanted more days on snow, more opportunities to learn, and more chances to improve.
By 3rd grade, Lainey helped pioneer a three-day-a-week training schedule, essentially creating a program that matched her determination to keep progressing. Every extra day became another opportunity to refine skills and build confidence.
Growing Through Team Summit Academy
As she entered middle school, Lainey transitioned into the Team Summit Academy Program while continuing to compete throughout the region in slopestyle, halfpipe, and rail jam competitions.
The results quickly followed.
She qualified for USASA Nationals and captured the Overall Championship titles in both Slopestyle and Halfpipe.
Those performances opened the door to the Future Tour, where strong finishes in halfpipe and slopestyle earned opportunities on the Rev Tour circuit. As she became eligible for additional competitions, she expanded her schedule to include rail jam and began competing across national and continental events.
Rather than specializing in a single discipline, Lainey’s goal became clear: develop into a complete Park & Pipe athlete capable of competing at the highest level in every event.
A Breakout Season on the World Stage
This past season, everything came together.
At the FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championships in Calgary, Lainey delivered one of the most dominant performances in event history.
She earned Junior World Championship titles in Rail Jam, Slopestyle, and Big Air, while also reaching the podium in Halfpipe.
In doing so, she became the first freestyle skier ever to win three gold medals at a single Junior World Championships.
Back home, the momentum continued.
Throughout the season, she collected podium finishes across slopestyle, halfpipe, and rail jam before finishing as the North American Champion in all three disciplines.
It wasn’t simply a breakout season—it established Lainey as one of the top young freestyle skiers in the world and laid the foundation for the next stage of her competitive career.
Excelling in the Classroom, Too
Despite an increasingly demanding travel and competition schedule, Lainey has remained equally committed to her education.
She recently received Team Summit’s David McBride Award for Outstanding Academics, maintaining an impressive GPA while balancing full-time training and competition.
She was also recognized during the 2025–26 Team Summit Year-End Awards as the organization’s standout Park & Pipe athlete.
Ask her coaches what separates Lainey, and they’ll mention her work ethic before her results.
She arrives early, asks thoughtful questions, actively seeks feedback, and supports the athletes around her. Her focus isn’t only on landing the next trick—it’s on building strong fundamentals, developing for the long term, and helping elevate her teammates along the way.
Sharing Her Story
Last fall, Lainey was invited to deliver a TED Ed Talk at Summit Middle School about pursuing big dreams from a small mountain town and the lessons she’s learned about resilience, community, and finding joy throughout the journey.
Although the event was ultimately canceled, Lainey didn’t let the message disappear.
Instead, she recorded and released the presentation herself.
Watch “Just the Beginning” here:
https://youtu.be/S8brBTL86t4
Just the Beginning
The title couldn’t be more fitting.
From weekend Devo practices to national championships, Junior World titles, and a future that includes Rev Tours, World Cups, and opportunities still to come, Lainey’s journey reflects what can happen when talent meets hard work, great coaching, a supportive community, and a passion for continual growth.
On May 5, Lainey Steen was nominated for consideration for the U.S. Freeski Rookie Slope Style and Half Pipe teams alongside fellow Team Summit athletes Alex Swedenborg and Keva Kelly, another milestone in a career that’s only beginning.
Read the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team nominations here:
https://www.usskiandsnowboard.org/news/2026-27-stifel-us-freeski-team-nominations