Hig Roberts (born March 15, 1991) is an American alpine skier. He had 31 starts in the World Cup between 2015 and 2019 and won 2

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

national titles competing on the

United States Ski Team The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and a ...

Early life and education

Roberts was born March 15, 1991, and raised in

Steamboat Springs, Colorado The City of Steamboat Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Routt County, Colorado, United States. Steamboat Springs is the principal city of the Steamboat Springs, CO Micropolitan Sta ...

where he started skiing at 2 years old. He competed in a large tournament for the first time at the age of 9 and broke his femur, resulting in a risky surgery. He began questioning his sexuality when he was 12 but did not

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

. Roberts placed 7th in the

at the

2013 Winter Universiade The 2013 Winter Universiade, the XXVI Winter Universiade, was a winter multi-sport event which took place in Trentino, Italy between 11 and 21 December 2013. This was the first time that a Winter Universiade happened after the Summer Universiade ...

. Roberts graduated from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

in 2014.

Career

Roberts was one of a few former college skiers to join the United States Ski Team B. In 2017, Roberts beat

Tim Jitloff } Timothy Matthew Jitloff (born January 11, 1985) is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. He specializes in giant slalom and competed in five World Championships and two Winter Olympics. Born in Reno, Nevada, Jitloff was ...

in the giant slalom at Sugarloaf, Maine to earn his first national title. He won again in 2018. He was the first alternate U.S. team at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. After retiring from sports in 2019, Roberts worked in finance in Norway and continues to ski recreationally.

Personal life

In August 2016, Roberts' younger brother, Murphy, suffered a diabetic seizure while hiking and died from a head injury at the age of 22. He had

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...

and was a major influence on Roberts. In December 2020, Roberts came out as gay. On June 4, 2023, he welcomed daughter Tess Eleanor Macfarlane with actor

Luke Macfarlane Thomas Luke Macfarlane (born January 19, 1980) is a Canadian-American actor and former singer. He is known for playing Scotty Wandell on the ABC television drama '' Brothers & Sisters'' (2006–2011), RAC Agent D'avin Jaqobis on the Space tele ...

References

External links

US Ski and Snowboard bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Hig Living people 1991 births 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century American sportsmen People from Steamboat Springs, Colorado Middlebury College alumni Middlebury Panthers athletes American male alpine skiers LGBT people from Colorado LGBT skiers American gay sportsmen

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links