Debbie Armstrong grew up skiing near Seattle, at Snoqualmie Pass, where she also played soccer and basketball in high school. She was named to the US National team in 1983, and placed third in a World Cup Super G a few weeks before the 1984 Winter Olympics. In Sarajevo she had her career highlight, winning the giant slalom, the first US woman to win a skiing gold medal since Andrea Mead-Lawrence in 1952. She had no other World Cup victories, but during her career placed in the top 10 18 times in World Cup races. She retired after the 1988 season, and has devoted time to humanitarian causes. She works in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where she serves as the Alpine Competitive Program Director.