2026 Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy are almost here–and it is a lot to take in. Opening Ceremonies were held at San Siro Stadium on February 6. Sixteen sports will be played over the course of about 17 days. There will be medal games, milestones, and over 2,800 athletes competing from 90 National Olympic Committees. The entire world is holding their breath for the most famous series of international sporting events to commence. 

There are many headlines to keep in mind while watching the games this year. Team USA was anticipating the return to the slopes of 41 year old downhill skier Lindsay Vonn. Vonn’s return was put into question after a horrific fall in Switzerland three weeks ago resulted in a ruptured right ACL. Vonn, though, planned to do everything she could to ski in the Olympics.

“This is not, obviously, what I had hoped for,” Vonn said in a news conference on February 3. I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances are not the same as it stands today, but I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there is a chance, I will try.”

On the ice, for the first time since the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the Olympic men’s hockey teams will include stars from the National Hockey League (NHL). 

This sets the stage for true best-on-best competition, with Canadian stars like Sidney Crosby and Nathan Mackinnon, matched up against U.S-born studs like Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews. 

In Alpine Skiing, one of the greatest to ever do it looks to seize redemption on the slopes. Mikaela Shiffrin, statistically the greatest skier of all time, seeks to avenge her shocking collapse in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. Shiffrin owns 108 World Cup victories, the most all-time among any skier. In addition, she possesses 2 Olympic gold medals and 18 global medals. Her accolades make her 2022 Olympic performance seem all the more surprising. 

Shiffrin was the favorite going into the alpine skiing events, but came home with no medals. In some of her strongest events, she produced multiple DNFs (did not finish). Since then, Shiffrin has worked hard to get back to form, breaking the World Cup Victories record in 2023. However, two significant crashes have forced her to take a different approach this time around. 

“I still feel jitters,” Shiffrin told the Associated Press, about  the upcoming Olympics. “I probably feel more nervous with each season because I know how hard it is to be successful – and how much I want to be successful.” 

There will also be a new event in Milano Cortina this year, something that not many people have ever seen before. Ski mountaineering, or “skimo,” will debut at the 2026 Olympics. The event is similar to alpine skiing, though competitors combine uphill skiing and climbing before skiing down the hill. The sport takes lots of strength and endurance, as well as focus and balance. 

The sport was created in the Alps, where it has gained a huge following, and makes perfect sense to debut in Milano Cortina at the Stelvio Ski Course. Because this is skimo’s first year in the Winter Games, every finish and medal will be an Olympic record.  

In figure skating, Ilia Malinin is set to make his first Olympic appearance. The American skater was born to Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, two skaters who represented Uzbekistan at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.

Malinin narrowly missed out on the Bejing Winter Games, but proved everyone wrong when he won the World Junior Title in 2023. He additionally won gold at the World Figure Skating Championships in 2024. Nicknamed the “Quad God,” Malinin looks to bring home a long awaited medal from Milan. 

With professional talent permitted at the Olympics, many countries will benefit greatly from it. This is shown perfectly by the Czech men’s hockey team, who during the 2022  Bejing Olympics finished ninth and did not qualify for the quarter finals. This was the worst finish in team history, but in the upcoming Olympics they get 12 NHLers, including David Pastrňák and Martin Nečas.

“It was a childhood dream to play in the Olympics,” said Radek Faksa, a Dallas Stars (NHL) forward who was named to the Czech squad. “I was a little kid when the Czech team won [gold] in 1998, the first ever when NHL players played in the tournament.”

Everyone around the world is pumped up for these Olympics to begin, including many students from Newtown High School. “I’m excited to see all of the top athletes from each country compete to see who’s best,” commented NHS sophomore Ethan Freylikhman. 

In just a matter of days, the 25th all-time Olympic Winter Games will begin, 102 years since the first ever Winter Games in 1924. Milano Cortina sets the stage for what appears to be an Olympics to remember, filled with returns of all star competition, redemption, and introductions of new events.