At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, Nikki Stone became America’s first-ever Olympic Champion in the exhilarating sport of inverted aerial skiing. What made this performance so unbelievable, was the fact that a mere 18 months before this second Olympic appearance, Nikki sustained a career-threatening spinal injury in which ten different doctors told her that she would never jump again. This chronic injury prevented her from standing, much less walking or skiing down a slope at almost 40 miles per hour, launching off a 10-foot tall snow jump, flipping and twisting 50-feet into the air, and landing on a 45% steep hill with the force of jumping out of a 5-story building. Nikki came dangerously close to being sidelined from aerial skiing indefinitely.
Her tenacity and refusal to step down from a challenge brought Nikki Stone back to the top of the freestyle skiing podium. This top spot was far from foreign to Nikki, as throughout her career she earned 35 World Cup medals, eleven World Cup titles, four national titles, two yearlong Aerial World Cup titles, and a World Championship title. She also became the first pure aerialist ever (male or female) to become the yearlong Overall Freestyle World Cup Champion.
By jumping these hurdles, both literally and figuratively, Nikki Stone’s story and message have helped audiences to triumph over unbelievable obstacles and take life-enhancing risks, like she did, to reach extraordinary goals that may initially seem unattainable. Nikki takes her audiences through a roller coaster of emotions where they are in tears one moment, rolls of laughter the next, and ready to stand up and cheer the very next. Nikki uses specific, inspiring tools and take-home items to draw direct parallels between her success as an Olympic champion and the success that can be found in the business world. All her speeches are customized to incorporate any personal themes, messages and issues that companies are looking to communicate to their employees. Nikki also offers many options to help diversify conferences: team-building trampoline exercise, ski hosting adventures, Olympic tours, etc.
In addition to her skiing and speaking endeavors, Nikki is also a Magna Cum Laude undergraduate of Union College in New York and a 4.0 Suma Cum Laude graduate of the University of Utah in the field of Sports Psychology. With her incredible academic record and her remarkable presentation skills, Nikki was asked to work as a Visiting Professor at the University of Utah. Her aerial retirement is less than restful, as she trains other Olympic athletes in speaking skills, hosts group skiing adventures, counsels aspire elite athletes in sports psychology, participates in numerous sponsor promotions for major national and international companies, and devotes time to charities such as “Right To Play”, “Make-A-Wish Foundation”, and “Breast Cancer Research”.
You may have seen Nikki in one of her numerous television appearances on such shows as Late Night with David Letterman, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN Early Addition, MSNBC Morning Line, ESPN Magazine show, FOX News Sports Express, CNN Business As Unusual, FOX Sports News live, and the Late Late Show with Tom Snyder. You could have also caught Nikki in one of her nationally televised commercials for companies like Chevrolet and the Salt Lake Olympic Committee.
Nikki Stone adds a unique, dynamic flavor to any meeting, celebration, or ski event. It’s no surprise that Nikki core belief is that NO obstacle is too large to overcome and that each one of us can reach our ultimate goals. Attendees will walk away from any of her appearances knowing that they can do the same when they "Spread Their Wings".