Waiting tables in St. Louis Park, studying engineering at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, snowboarding in the mountains of Chile. It’s the life of Linden Hills native Iris Pflum that has brought her to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy.
The 22-year old is also riding the high off of winning bronze at the 2026 Austria World Cup two weeks ago in the co-ed team parallel giant slalom event with teammate Walker Overstake, 19.
It was the first medal for the U.S. in their discipline which is a big deal because the lack of medaling has kept parallel giant slalom snowboarders from crucial funding.
“I get zero dollars from the US Team and US Snowboard,” Pflum said as she settled into the Olympic Village in Italy on Feb. 3. “I get nothing from that. No clothes, nothing. Not even a t-shirt.”
Pflum wants to get her discipline back on the map in the U.S., especially getting kids interested in the sport.
It was her older brother, Jack Pflum, that got her onto a snowboard. Their family of six would go on trips to Colorado when she was a kid, and the four siblings were told by their parents the importance of skiing, but Jack wanted to do something different, so his younger sister “followed in his footsteps.”
The initial skiing paid off because the parallel giant slalom discipline is “almost nearly identical to alpine skiing,” Pflum explained. Two snowboarders race head to head down a steep course, navigating gates at high speeds.
“There's nothing stopping you getting to the bottom,” Pflum said. “There's upsets. People that you expect to win will lose. It’s fast paced. It's an easy sport to understand and watch.”
The women’s parallel giant slalom event in Lavinia, Italy is scheduled to be televised on NBC locally at 2 a.m. on Feb. 8. The event begins with a qualifying round continuing throughout Sunday with bracket rounds and ends with a medaling round, with breaks for rest and food.
Pflum said she is not expected to medal during her first trip to the Olympics.
“I’m enjoying every moment,” Pflum said. Her goal is to get into the top 16 or the top 8. “Anything above that would be even cooler.”
Without a massive change in popularity in parallel giant slaloming, the event is at risk of being cut from the 2030 Olympics.
It is common for snowboarders in this discipline to pay their way, even snowboarders who live in Colorado. There isn’t even gender disparity in this sport; it’s an entire discipline disparity.
“I have no problem working all summer,” Pflum said.“I did it myself and with my team surrounding me and my family and friends. I did it without my country's support.”
Throughout her childhood, Pflum trained at Hyland Hills in Bloomington and Buck Hill in Burnsville with the G Team, which helps young snowboarders develop skills and compete. From there, she competed in national competitions, but the biggest step was the World Cup events held in Europe.
“Once you get to Europe, you see how good they are at racing,” Pflum said. “You just get your butt handed to you for the first year and two. And then you learn to race these other people, and it makes you so fast.”
Two years ago Pflum started training in Chile in the summers.
“I'm gonna make it to this Olympics and I'm gonna need to do everything in my path, in my power to get there,” Pflum said. “And if that means going to Chile, it means going to Chile.”
Pflum said it was a blessing to train in the summer, and it paid off.
Her siblings, who all know how to snowboard, parents, aunt, uncle, and two cousins all arrived in Milan this week and will travel to Lavinia to watch her compete on Sunday.
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