It has been tough, but we’ve spent all week long scouring the depths of Instagram to bring you this week’s Instahottie — Hig Roberts.
In late 2020, Olympic Alpine skier Hig Roberts, came out as gay. The two-time U.S. national champion joined a small group of LGBTQ skiers who have come out publicly in a sport that The New York Times describes as “closed and clubby.” That includes freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, who revealed he is gay on ESPN in 2015.
Roberts, who grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, retired from skiing in March 2019 and moved to Norway to work in finance, but has since moved back to the U.S.
He told The Times that he decided to come out in part to inspire young skiers and to let them know they can compete at the highest levels no matter their sexuality.
Now that Roberts has blazed a new trail, he’s found himself accepted all the way. “I can’t even count on one hand negativity from people that I know.”
Rather, he said, people have let him know “how important this narrative is within not just the ski space… but also just in sports in general. It’s a narrative that needs to be told.”
“Moving forward, this is something all of us are going to do together to make life easier for people like me.”
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