Cambria County native Dan Barefoot made his Olympic debut in Italy on Thursday.
Barefoot opened his men’s skeleton competition at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games with two runs that left him in 19th place overall going into the final day of racing.
The Geistown native, who’s competing for Team USA, finished his first run of heat 1 in 19th place out of 24 athletes with a time of 57.47 seconds.
Then, in heat 2, he posted a time of 57.22 seconds.
Barefoot is set to compete Friday afternoon in the final two runs of his event at 1:30 and 3:30 in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Barefoot’s alma mater showed off their support for the men’s skeleton competitor.
Students and staff members at Richland High School participated in a USA Spirit Day by wearing red, white and blue during the school day.
Richland’s principal, Tim Regan, said barefoot has created a great buzz in the community.
Regan also said the students are getting interested in the skeleton event.
He said, “It’s just something that they’re talking about all the time and they’re educating themselves, and teachers have done some information or some lessons in classrooms just on the Olympics itself. So, it’s just a pretty cool time.”
