TL;DR
Milano Cortina 2026 will bring about 2,900 athletes to Italy for 116 Winter Olympic events. Among them, a mix of returning U.S. medalists and first-time Olympians in skiing, skating, and ice hockey is expected to headline Team USA’s challenge.
Why This Matters
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, scheduled for Feb. 6-22, mark the first Winter Games in Italy since Turin 2006. For U.S. viewers, they offer a fresh test of how Team USA stacks up against global winter sports powerhouses such as Norway, Germany, and Canada. The United States has earned 330 Winter Olympic medals through Beijing 2022, according to the International Olympic Committee, and is expected to send around 230 athletes to Italy.
The Americans highlighted for 2026 span multiple generations and disciplines: freestyle skiing, figure skating, speedskating, biathlon, and women’s ice hockey. Several are already Olympic medalists, while others are arriving as world champions or national standouts seeking their first Games podium. Their stories also reflect broader themes that resonate beyond sport, including mental health, LGBTQ+ visibility, and the sacrifices required to compete at the highest level.
For many U.S. households, these athletes will become the faces of the Games, shaping national interest, ratings, and water-cooler conversations. Their performances could help determine whether Milano Cortina is remembered as a breakthrough moment for Team USA or as a transitional Olympics between generations of winter athletes.
Key Facts & Quotes
Freestyle skier Alex Ferreira, 31, is headed to his third Olympics, after halfpipe silver at PyeongChang 2018 and bronze at Beijing 2022. According to Team USA, he swept five World Cups plus X Games Aspen and the Dew Tour in the 2023-24 season and is known for occasionally skiing in character as an older alter ego called Hotdog Hans. Speaking about representing his country, Ferreira told CBS News it is special because he views Team USA as the best team in the world.
Another returning freestyle star, Alex Hall, will also make his third Olympic appearance. The 27-year-old, born in Alaska to an Italian mother and raised partly in Europe, won slopestyle gold in Beijing 2022 and has X Games titles in big air, slopestyle, knuckle huck, and real ski. Hall told CBS News he plans to enjoy the smaller moments at the Games and is eager to meet athletes from around the world, a task eased by his fluency in English, French, Italian, and German.
In figure skating, Alysa Liu, 20, is preparing for her second Olympics after an early retirement at 16. Liu became the youngest U.S. women’s national champion at 13 and won again at 14 before stepping away following the 2022 Games. She has since returned to the sport and captured the women’s singles title at the 2025 World Championships. Olympic champion Brian Boitano called it one of the biggest comebacks in sports. Liu told CBS’s 60 Minutes she now sees herself more as an artist than an athlete, saying she views competitions as a stage for performing.
Amber Glenn, 26, is set for her first Olympics after winning a third straight U.S. national title, the first American woman to do so since Michelle Kwan. Glenn has used her platform to advocate for mental health awareness and the LGBTQ+ community, having come out as bisexual and pansexual in 2019. She told CBS News that competing at the Olympics would allow her to perform on the biggest stage in sports and to share her beliefs and message.
On the long-track speedskating side, Florida native Brittany Bowe is aiming for her fourth Olympics at age 37. A two-time Olympic bronze medalist who carried the U.S. flag at the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony, Bowe said her experience has taught her to focus on preparation rather than results. Being outcome-oriented, she told CBS News, can become debilitating; instead she concentrates on the process and being ready when the starting gun goes off.
In women’s ice hockey, defender Caroline Harvey, 23, already owns an Olympic silver medal from Beijing, where she was the youngest member of the U.S. team. She has been named best defender at the 2024 and 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championships and is a two-time NCAA champion with the Wisconsin Badgers, according to Team USA. Harvey told CBS News that wearing the U.S. crest is the biggest honor and that success in Milano Cortina will mean knowing the team did everything possible to play its game.
Short-track speedskater Corinne Stoddard, 24, returns for her second Olympics. She broke her nose in her first race at Beijing 2022, yet completed the rest of her events, according to Team USA. Stoddard, a former roller and inline skater who began speedskating at 11, is a three-time world medalist still seeking her first Olympic podium. She told CBS News she sacrificed typical teenage experiences such as weekend outings and prom to train daily, but considers those trade-offs worth it.
Biathlete Deedra Irwin, 33, initially dreamed of being a Summer Games track star and only discovered the Winter Olympics later. She took up skiing in high school to stay fit between cross-country and track seasons and did not start biathlon until age 25, according to Team USA. At Beijing 2022, she finished seventh in an individual biathlon race, the best U.S. Olympic result ever in that event. Irwin told CBS News that reaching the Games represents years of training and sacrifice, including rarely being home for Christmas, and that it now feels deeply tied to her community, family, and friends.
Speedskater Erin Jackson, 33, the first Black woman to win Olympic speedskating gold for the United States, will make her third Olympic appearance in 2026 and is set to be a Team USA flagbearer at the opening ceremony, CBS News reported. Jackson’s victory in the 500-meter race at Beijing 2022 made her one of the most prominent American athletes in winter sports heading into Milano Cortina.
What It Means for You
For many U.S. viewers, these athletes will shape how the 2026 Winter Olympics feel at home: which events draw family viewing, whose stories children remember, and which performances dominate the latest updates on social media and news feeds. Fans who followed Beijing 2022 will see familiar names like Ferreira, Hall, Bowe, Harvey, Irwin, and Jackson, alongside newer headliners such as Glenn and a resurgent Liu.
Blazing down the ice, logging into class. Team USA luge athletes Ashley Farquharson and Chevonne Forgan are headed to Milano Cortina 2026 and earning Purdue Global degrees through the Guild and Team USA Learning Network. pic.twitter.com/a5NmMuIAQ8
— Purdue Careers (@PurdueCareers) February 2, 2026
Time differences between Italy and the United States mean some events may air live in the early morning or daytime, with replays and highlights in prime time. As broadcasters finalize schedules, viewers may want to track when their preferred sports – from freestyle skiing and figure skating to hockey and biathlon – are on. Beyond medals, many of these athletes are using their platforms to talk about mental health, identity, and belonging, giving the Games a human dimension that may resonate far beyond the ice and snow.
Which athlete’s story are you most interested in following as Milano Cortina 2026 approaches?
Sources
- CBS News, athlete profiles for Milano Cortina 2026, published Feb. 4, 2026.
- Team USA and national federation athlete bios and competition records, various years 2018-2025.
- International Olympic Committee, Milano Cortina 2026 facts and figures, updated 2023-2024.
