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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cBarni was also at the youth Olympics four years before that, and his best result was seventh in the slalom, so I, of course, really wanted to beat his best result,\u201d she said, with a laugh. \u201cI honestly never thought that it would be possible or that I would not just make one medal, but two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barni Szollos, 27, holds his own records. At the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, he finished sixth in the combined downhill \u2014 the best result by an Israeli at the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
The siblings come from a very competitive household in Hungary. Their father, Peter Szollos, made aliyah and skied for Team Israel in the early 1990s. He coached Barni, Noa and their older brother, Benjamin.<\/p>\n
Peter\u2019s competitive edge and determination have rubbed off on his three children. \u201cI think all of us are a bit like him in that sense,\u201d Noa told JNS. \u201cWe all have our own ideas, and it\u2019s very hard for someone else to stop us from doing what we plan to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peter would even get out of the way when his kids were fighting in the house. Noa said her mother would be the one to break up the siblings\u2019 quarrels, but only once one of them started crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was not a single calm day in the house,\u201d Noa said.<\/p>\n
Peter taught his children to ski when they were young. According to Noa, he originally wanted his children to decide whether to compete for Israel or Hungary when each turned 18. But their father decided that the Israeli program offered his children greater freedom to choose how they would train and where they would compete.<\/p>\n
In 2018, Barni and Noa joined the Israeli ski team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israeli Olympic Committee treats us very nicely, and we feel very honored and very happy that we can represent Israel, because we get much more and better support than we ever got from the Hungarians,\u201d Barni told JNS.<\/p>\n
Israel Olympic Committee chair Yael Arad is thrilled to have Barni and Noa on the team.
\u201cThe Szollos family is a truly unique family that raised three world-class athletes, who have become part of our Olympic family,\u201d Arad told JNS. She wished Noa and Barni great success.<\/p>\n
\u2018We Will Get Through It\u2019<\/p>\n
Noa and Barni didn\u2019t grow up in a religious home, but Noa told JNS that joining Team Israel has strengthened her Jewish identity and connection to Israel.<\/p>\n
Her favorite part about Israel is the food, although she still has a soft spot for Hungarian cuisine, she said. She also understands that Jews face surging antisemitism worldwide, which motivates her even more to strive for excellence and to inspire viewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me want to represent Israel in an even better light,\u201d Noa told JNS. \u201cJust to bring good results and to let everyone see that we can really do everything \u2014 that no matter how many times they want to try to stop us, we will get through it, and we can do everything we set our minds to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel lacks the facilities and weather for regular winter Olympic training, so the Szollos siblings mainly split their time between Austria and Hungary, with a few visits to Israel in between.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Arts-Culture-1-2-Hungarian-Skier.jpg\")
Barnab\u00e1s (Barni) Szollos competing in a skiing competition at Kitzb\u00fchel, Austria, in January 2026. (Credit: Peter Szollos\/Nivelco Racing Team)<\/p>\n
Noa estimates that she skis about 120 days annually and hopes one day to ski Mount Hermon in northern Israel.<\/p>\n
Both Noa and Barni faced adversity during their Olympic journeys. Noa recalled the difficulty of training as a child and feeling lonely.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to switch schools all the time between Hungary and Austria,\u201d she told JNS. \u201cI would spend half a year in Hungary and half a year in Austria, so I was always leaving my friends behind somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
She began to fall in love with the sport in her skiing-focused high school and forged many close friendships there, and her results improved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that helped a lot \u2014 having friends in skiing and also being with those friends the whole year round,\u201d Noa said.<\/p>\n
Barni suffered a major accident while training at Kitzb\u00fchel, Austria, in January 2024. His ski got stuck in a hole, and he twisted his leg and tore an ankle ligament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a nasty fall there, and since then I\u2019ve been on the way to return to the elite \u2014 to the top 150 on the world ranking,\u201d Barni told JNS.<\/p>\n
He qualified for the Ski World Cup last year and, just a few weeks ago, returned to Kitzb\u00fchel and finished the run.<\/p>\n
Through the challenges and amid some sibling rivalry, Barni and Noa say that they are rooting for each other and support each other deeply.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has gotten us closer,\u201d Noa told JNS. \u201cAt the end, we\u2019re all cheering for each other and happy about each other\u2019s results. I think just seeing each other succeed helps us a lot in pushing ourselves as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barni noted that the men\u2019s and women\u2019s competitions are in different parts of Italy, separated by a four-hour drive. The siblings plan to watch each other on television.<\/p>\n
Noa is hoping her Olympic journey will inspire young Israelis to try winter sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, winter sports are not too popular in Israel, but I think with some good results and good role models \u2014 though I would never say I\u2019m a role model myself, but trying to bring good results,\u201d she told JNS. \u201cI hope we can bring a bit more winter to Israel and have more visibility for the winter sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
She could also see herself coaching after her skiing career is over, though she thinks she has plenty of years left in the tank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noa Szollos competing in a skiing competition in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, in January 2026. (Credit: Peter Szollos\/Nivelco Racing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-277680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Arts-Culture-1-Hungarian-Skier.jpg\")
Noa Szollos competing in a skiing competition in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, in January 2026. (Credit: Peter Szollos\/Nivelco Racing Team)<\/p>\n