North Dakota can officially claim something special: a Winter Olympian In fact, 19 states — including South Dakota and Montana — don’t have a single Winter Olympic athlete, but we do. And she’s from Bismarck.
On a recent episode of 70Won Sportscast, Mike Chaussee and I had the chance to visit with Britta Curl-Salemme, fresh off the news that she’s been named to the U.S. Women’s National Olympic Hockey Team.
Long before Olympic ice, Britta learned the game in her backyard. Her dad, Bill, built the rinks and introduced all of the kids to hockey. As an engineer, Bill joked that he’d say the ice got smoother every year he flooded it.
She’s fairly certain the first time she ever skated was in that backyard, trying to keep up with her older brother Byrne. From the beginning, it was competitive. There were heated two-on-two games going on back there for years, and that’s where her love for the game — and her edge — took shape.
"Sometimes I just feel like hockey blood is different blood."
Rings, Rings… and More Rings
Britta’s résumé includes three national championships at Wisconsin, plus several more titles from international competition with Team USA. When you stack them up, it starts to feel familiar. We joked on the podcast about Phil Jackson and his legendary 13 rings as a player and coach. Britta isn’t far behind — and she’s still going.
Britta found out she made the Olympic team while she was in Toronto, when she got a FaceTime call. She had a good feeling going in, but nothing was certain. When she was told she made the team, she laughed and admitted she didn’t hear anything else that was said after that.
The first call she made was to her husband followed by her parents, Gretchen and Bill.
“I Didn’t Hear the Rest”
When Britta talks about stepping onto Olympic ice for the first time she says she usually just smiles and laughs.
She told us she’ll be thinking about how lucky she is and about her family.
Watch, Listen, and Be Proud
NBC Universal has exclusive rights to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Every game will be streamed live on Peacock from February 5th-22nd. Britta also shared you can watch her play professionally with the Minnesota Frost — free on YouTube.