Park City Aerialist Quinn Dehlinger Named Utah's Olympic Male Athlete of the Year

Quinn Dehlinger, the Park City-based freestyle aerialist who tore three knee ligaments in 2024 and returned within seven months to win two world championship medals, was named Utah's Olympic Male Athlete of the Year at the 14th Annual Governor's State of Sport Awards on April 8 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

The awards ceremony, organized by the Utah Sports Commission in partnership with the governor's office since 2012, was hosted by Utah Governor Spencer Cox. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals across four Games, attended as a special guest and addressed the audience on the future of Utah's sports legacy and athlete mental health.

Dehlinger, 23, arrived in Park City by way of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he first clicked into skis around age 10 at Perfect North Slopes. Scouted at a big-air event at 12, he joined a water-ramp training camp in Lake Placid, New York, and by 17 had earned a spot on the U.S. Ski Team. He now trains at Park City Ski & Snowboard, including at the Utah Olympic Park in Summit County.

His résumé at 23 is already considerable: a first World Cup win in Le Relais, Canada, in 2023; a World Championships gold medal that same season; and then, in 2025, silver in individual men's aerials and gold in mixed team aerials at the World Championships. In August 2025, he and girlfriend Kaila Kuhn, also a Park City-based world champion aerialist, swept the U.S. Freestyle Ultimate Airwave Competition at the Utah Olympic Park.

The injury behind his candidacy is as defining as any of those medals. When Dehlinger tore his ACL, MCL, and meniscus in 2024, doctors projected a nine-month recovery. He was back competing in seven. That turnaround produced his 2025 World Championships results and secured him a spot on the 2026 Olympic team, one of the first four U.S. athletes named to the squad in June 2025.

Then fortune cut him short again. Before he could compete at the Milano Cortina Games, Dehlinger re-aggravated his knee during Olympic training and was forced to withdraw, missing what would have been his Olympic debut. "He is the comeback kid for sure," his mother, Cindy Dehlinger, said after the withdrawal.

The recognition came in the shadow of that loss, honoring not just results but the full arc of a career shaped by repeated obstacles. Dehlinger is targeting the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps, a timeline that would put him at 27 and potentially at his athletic peak. His training home at the Utah Olympic Park anchors a state that sent roughly 83 athletes with Utah ties to the 2026 Winter Games, about 16% of the full U.S. team.