From Butte to Beijing: Brad and Bryon Wilson will be at first Olympics together

BILLINGS – Over a combined 15 years on the U.S. Ski Team and four Olympic Games representing Team USA, brothers Bryon and Brad Wilson have never stood together on an Olympics moguls course.

Bryon, a bronze medalist from the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, had injuries that limited his Olympic experience to a single opportunity, although he continued to compete until retiring in 2018.

Brad’s Olympic journey didn’t start until the next games in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. As of 2022, Brad is a three-time Olympian with appearances in Pyeongchang, South Korea (2018), and now Beijing.

But Beijing is when it will all come together for the brothers from Butte: Bryon, this time as a coach, and Brad in his final season of competition.

“It’s our first Olympics together and it’s in a pretty cool coach-athlete role which is wild. I didn’t really think that this was going to happen,” Brad said. “We both understand how cool it is and are super excited about it.”

It’s one thing to go to the Olympics with your brother, but it will be another for them to stand together at the top of the course as one prepares to finish his skiing career and the other takes another step into a new one.

“It’s one of my most favorite things is to be in the (start) gate with Brad,” Bryon said.

“Brad’s a veteran. He knows just as much as me.”

As a point coach for Brad, Bryon will watch from the bottom of the course during training and offer tips, but he’s also the one with him at the start gate during competition offering final coaching.

It’s a role that both brothers appreciate.

“I can trust and know that he is there for me and wants me to do my very best and that’s really important as a coach and one of the hardest thing for coaches to do,” Brad said.

The start of their careers building and skiing off jumps at the top of Homestake Pass has been well-chronicled and featured in the Montana PBS documentary “Mavericks.”

Bryon first made the U.S. Ski Team in 2007, and Brad joined him on the national team in 2012.

In an event that has been part of the Olympics since 1992, Bryon is one of just four American men with an Olympic medal in moguls. When he retired, he also had four World Cup podiums, the 2009 U.S. mogul championship and had spent 11 years on the World Cup circuit.

Toward the end of his professional career, he had also been running some summer camps in Whistler, British Columbia, but wasn’t quite sure what the next stage of his life would hold.

“I knew (coaching) was always something I’d enjoyed,” Bryon said. “The opportunity kind of presented itself to me.”

When he officially retired from competition after multiple injuries had taken their toll, Bryon began coaching with Wasatch Freestyle in Park City, Utah, where he has lived and trained for years and where the U.S. Ski Team is based.

“I enjoyed helping athletes achieve what they wanted to,” Bryon said.

“The part I enjoy the most is seeing the light bulb go off in athletes’ heads.”

He coached multiple members of the current U.S. Olympic squad before they made the U.S. team.

Before long, it led to an opportunity with the U.S. Ski Team and he was named a coach last summer.

“It’s a lot more mental management and emotional management. Everyone on the team is a great skier,” Bryon said. “Being on the U.S. team for 11 years, I can bring that to how I interact with the athletes.”

His insight has been paying off so far.

“I mean, yeah, he’s my brother, but he’s able to develop that trust in other athletes,” Brad said. “I’ve talked to the other athletes since he’s been coaching and they’re just really stoked on him as a coach because of that.”

Bryon said he learned by medaling in Vancouver that a lot of the expectations at the Olympics are external and to let the results take care of themselves.

He tells his athletes including Brad, “They’ve done the work and it’s just time to perform and show off their skills.”

The men’s moguls contest began with qualifying rounds ahead of Friday’s opening ceremonies. Additional rounds and the medal final were Saturday, and Brad finished 25th.

As Bryon said about watching Brad ski, “I turn into the biggest cheerleader.”