Montana State nursing college alum and Nordic skier Anna Pryce shatters Olympic expectations

BOZEMAN — In her first year of nursing school at Montana State University, student-athlete Anna Pryce struggled. A member of the MSU ski team also pursuing a notoriously difficult degree, Pryce had to miss morning Nordic practices for class, and at times she needed to request extensions on assignments due to traveling for races. 

She felt like she was making sacrifices in both her skiing and academics, and she thought that year might be her last as a ski racer. But the support of her mentors and camaraderie with teammates inspired Pryce to keep competing. That persistence led her all the way to Milano Cortina, Italy, where she competed in three events in the Winter Olympics as a Nordic skier for Team Great Britain.  

“My senior year of school, I had such a fun season. It was just a really good time with my teammates and my coaches,” Pryce said in a recent video interview from Milan. “I was kind of thinking about quitting skiing (after college), but I decided to do one more year. I'm now really enjoying myself and that was all because of skiing at MSU. I really owe it to everyone there for keeping me going.” 

Pryce recalled how advice from MSU clinical instructor Juanita Wade in the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing influenced her path to the Olympics. In trying to figure out how to pursue both skiing and nursing after graduating in May 2025, Wade reminded Pryce that nursing will “always be there for her” as a career. But the time for her to fully pursue ski racing, Wade said, is now.  

“When I knew I was going to the Olympics, I texted her like, ‘I just want you to know that that meant so much to me,’” said Pryce, who was born in Scotland and raised in Calgary, Alberta. She is now based in Canmore.  

Pryce was in good company in Italy. Three other former Bobcats competed in the Winter Olympics as well: Riley Seger (Alpine skier for Canada), Keely Cashman (Alpine for the U.S.) and Johanna Taliharm (biathlon for Estonia), alongside current student Justine Lamontagne (Alpine for Canada).   

Pryce, 24, raced in three Olympic events: the women’s skiathlon on Feb. 7, the women’s sprint classic on Feb. 10, and the women’s 10K interval start freestyle on Feb. 12.  

Pryce delivered impressive results as the sole female Nordic skier for Great Britain, earning the best-ever result by a British woman in the sprint classic with a time of 3:50.88 – just over one second behind qualifying for the quarterfinals. In the 10K freestyle, Pryce finished 24th with a time of 24:55.1, shattering the expectations she had for herself.  

“I was kind of shocked and was like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ It was a really fun day,” Pryce said. “My body felt good and it was a good surprise. I wasn’t expecting to feel that good or do that well.” 

The Olympic experience has been super cool and unique, Pryce said. Because Milan built limited new infrastructure for the games in favor of retrofitting existing structures, the Olympic village was spread across five mini villages, she said. She stayed in a hotel with other Nordic skiers and ski jumpers and enjoyed watching her fellow teammates compete, in addition to indulging in the tasty pizza and pasta that Italy is known for (though the morning of her races, she stuck with rice for breakfast).  

It has also been a full-circle moment to compete alongside athletes who were her role models growing up, Pryce said, notably British Nordic racer Andrew Musgrave. They recreated a photo she had taken with him at a World Cup race a decade prior, she said.  

Pryce’s best friend and boyfriend came to Milan with her. But one person notably missing was her mom, who died during her senior year of college. Pryce said her mom was a big skier, and memories of skiing with her family every weekend as a kid are what got her into the sport.  

"(The Olympics are) one of the bigger things that have happened since she had passed away. It was definitely hard not having her around. But she’d just be really excited for me, I think,” Pryce said. She spoke candidly about her loss in an article published online by Team Great Britain.  

Pryce, who said she first became interested in nursing due to the field’s job security, attended nursing school on MSU’s Bozeman campus and did her clinical shifts overnight in Bozeman Health’s emergency department.  

Rebecca Rassi, a clinical instructor of nursing for the Bozeman campus, taught Pryce early on in college and also watched many of her races for the MSU ski team. She said that the student-athlete approached every challenge with focus and a desire to do her best.  

“Few can fully appreciate the difficulty of balancing demanding nursing coursework, clinicals and the intensity of collegiate Nordic skiing,” Rassi said. “Earning her nursing degree this past May and then now competing at the Olympics on one of the world’s largest stages in Italy is a testament to her incredible work ethic and spirit.” 

MSU Nordic coach Adam St. Pierre recruited Pryce based on her Canadian ski team results in high school. He commended the nursing college for being easy to work with in terms of accommodating Pryce’s schedule.  

“They’re very willing to work with people who have proven their abilities,” St. Pierre said. “Because Anna is such a hard worker, and really just a pleasant person, people wanted to help her.”  

St. Pierre said he woke up early – around 3 a.m. – to watch her races live in Italy. 

“We’re just proud. There’s no other word for it, given what she’s been able to accomplish and how she grew and matured as a person in her time at MSU,” St. Pierre said. “She’s just a great example of the kind of athletes we need. We want every athlete to have a similar maturity to Anna.”  

After her Olympic races, Pryce headed to Norway to continue training for upcoming World Cup events. She recently decided to continue racing this coming year, but she is also interested in finding part-time clinical work to keep her nursing skills sharp. In terms of another Winter Games, four years is a long way off, Pryce said. She’s just trying to take things day by day.  

“It’s great to always know that I’ve got nursing when I’m done,” Pryce said of her future plans. “There’s going to be a job for me somewhere.”