Athletes you might not know yet — but will want to
ONE HUNDRED DAYS from now, the sports world turns its attention to Italy, where alpine peaks, ancient cities and modern arenas become the stage for the athletes of the Milan Winter Olympics. From returning icons to breakout stars, their stories over the 17 days of the 2026 Games will captivate and inspire.
And just following this Olympics will be a sport in itself: The 2026 edition features more events and more athletes than any Winter Games in history. It also will be the most geographically spread out, with venues spanning from the heart of Milan to the slopes of Cortina d’Ampezzo. The opening ceremony alone will feature 2,900 athletes staged in four regions and ignite twin Olympic flames that will burn beneath Milan’s grand Arco della Pace and in Cortina’s charming Piazza Dibona.
The time to prepare is now. So as the countdown begins, grab our guide and get to know the athletes to watch as Italy prepares to host its grandest Winter Games yet. — Alyssa Roenigk
4. Where: In Milan and other venues across northern Italy, including Cortina d’Ampezzo, a city that hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics
“I came into slopestyle with a different mentality, a little more hungry,” Hall said on Tuesday. “If I hadn’t fallen in big air, I maybe wouldn’t have a gold medal in slopestyle. That being said, there’s unfinished business in big air. I’m going to push the creative side of things and do tricks that are outside the box and bring me joy.”
8. Lindsey Vonn, 41, retired from ski racing in 2019 with 82 World Cup wins, the third most by any alpine skier in history. Six years later, after a partial knee replacement, Vonn returned to the sport at age 40 and became the oldest woman to step onto the podium of a World Cup race when she finished second in the super-G in Sun Valley, Idaho, in March. Vonn has said this will be her final Olympics and she plans to make the most of her time in Cortina, the site of so much success in her career.
“I never expected to be here, so there is an appreciation of the journey,” Vonn said on Tuesday. “But don’t get it twisted. I’m a results-driven person. I’m looking to do well. I’m not just a participant. ”
9. With NHL players returning to the Olympics for the first time since 2014, the U.S. men will have their hands full with a Canadian team led by Sidney Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup champion who will bring his leadership and Olympic experience to Milan. Crosby, 38, will captain a Canadian team that also includes 28-year-old Connor McDavid, the star center of the Edmonton Oilers who is widely regarded as the best current player in the National Hockey League.
10. Jamie Anderson is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in slopestyle who is vying to compete at her first Olympics since becoming a mom — twice. Anderson, 35, and her fiancé, Tyler Nicholson, who competed in slopestyle and big air at the 2018 Olympics for Team Canada, welcomed daughters Misty Rose in March 2023 and Nova Sky in April 2025.
Anderson returned to training in New Zealand in September, five months after giving birth to Nova Sky, and broke her right wrist during a training run. But she says the injury has only further ignited her fire to push herself to return to the Olympic podium with her family by her side. “I’ve reconnected with a part of myself I haven’t seen in years,” Anderson told ESPN.
11. Born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother and American father, and raised by her mother and grandmother, Eileen Gu has competed for China since 2019. At the 2022 Olympics, she became the first freeskier to win three medals at a single Winter Games, taking gold in big air and halfpipe and silver in slopestyle. As progressive as she is consistent in competition, the 22-year-old is the first woman to land a forward double cork 1440 and a left double cork 1620 in freeski competition.
Off snow, she balances life as a student at Stanford University and a successful career in modeling — two years ago, Forbes listed her as the second highest-earning female athlete in the world.
14. Chloe Kim is the heavy favorite to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic gold medals. The 2018 and 2022 Olympic champion in halfpipe took time off after Beijing to focus on her mental health and returned to competition in dominant fashion. She ended this past season with a record third world title and became the first woman to land a cab double cork 1080 in competition.
She says the perspective she has gained by letting go of expectations has allowed her to push past mental blocks and find joy in her riding again. A snowboarder who wants more than simply to stack wins, Kim, 25, plans to debut three new tricks this season, including at least one double cork no woman has landed in competition.
18. Approximate area in square miles the Games will take place across northern Italy: 8,500. This makes it the most geographically widespread Olympic Winter Games in history.
20. There will be 116 medal events contested at the 2026 Olympics, which will set a new record for most in a single Winter Olympics. It tops the 109 medal events that were contested in Beijing in 2022.
21-22. The percentage of total estimated athletes that will be women: 47%. According to the IOC, the 2026 Games will be most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history and will include a record 50 events that women compete in.
This comes on the heels of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, which was the first Games ever to achieve an equal number of men and women participants.
24. The number of times Team USA has led the total medal count at the Winter Games: 2. The Americans earned the most total medals in both 1932 and 2010. At the Summer Games, the United States has dominated the medal count 19 times.
25. The number of total medals earned by Norway at the 2022 Olympics: 37. The country led in both the overall medal count and in gold medals won (16). The United States was fifth in overall medals and fourth in gold medals won. — ESPN Research
29. Alpine skiing, men’s medal runs: Downhill: Feb. 7; Team combined slalom: Feb. 9; Super-G: Feb. 11; Giant slalom: Feb. 14; Slalom: Feb. 16
30. Alpine skiing, women’s medal runs: Downhill: Feb. 8; Team combined slalom: Feb. 10; Super-G: Feb. 12; Giant slalom: Feb. 15; Slalom: Feb. 18
31. Snowboard, men’s medal runs: Big air: Feb. 7; Parallel giant slalom: Feb. 8; Snowboard cross: Feb. 12; Halfpipe: Feb. 13; Mixed team snowboard cross: Feb. 16; Slopestyle: Feb. 18
32. Snowboard, women’s medal runs: Parallel giant slalom: Feb. 8; Big air: Feb. 9; Halfpipe: Feb. 12; Snowboard cross: Feb. 13; Mixed team snowboard cross: Feb. 16; Slopestyle: Feb. 17
34. Freestyle skiing, women’s medal runs: Slopestyle: Feb. 9; Moguls: Feb. 11; Dual moguls: Feb. 14; Big air: Feb. 16; Aerials: Feb. 18; Ski cross: Feb. 20; Mixed team aerials: Feb. 21: Halfpipe: Feb. 21
35. Freestyle skiing, men’s medal runs: Slopestyle: Feb. 10; Moguls: Feb. 12; Dual moguls: Feb. 15; Big air: Feb. 17; Aerials: Feb. 19; Halfpipe: Feb. 20; Mixed team aerials: Feb. 21; Ski cross: Feb. 21
42. The two-time reigning world champion, Ilia Malinin is certainly no stranger or up-and-comer to figure skating fans, but the 20-year-old is expected to make his Olympic debut in Milan — and seems all but guaranteed to become a household name across the world. Since bursting into the senior scene with a second-place finish at the U.S. championships in 2022, Malinin has become the most dominant figure in the sport and became the first skater in history to successfully land a quadruple axel.
Nicknamed the “Quad God,” Malinin also was the first to land six quad jumps in one program last season, and his high degree of difficulty and technical prowess gave him more than a 31-point edge over the rest of the field at worlds last season. Few feel like more of a lock for gold in Italy than Malinin.
43. Also just 20 years old, Alysa Liu is officially in her comeback era after retiring from figure skating shortly after recording a seventh-place finish at the 2022 Games and a bronze medal at worlds later that year. But Liu returned to the ice in 2024 — and has been nothing short of spectacular in her second act. At the world championships in March, she stunned fans, her peers and even herself by becoming the first American woman to win the title since 2006.
46. Another teenage snowboarding phenom who could be earning some new hardware in Italy is American Ollie Martin. The 17-year-old capped off a stellar debut season by winning a pair of bronze medals at the world championships in big air and slopestyle in March. The previous month, he had become the youngest male snowboarder to win a World Cup slopestyle event — and was already the youngest to ever land a 2160.
47. Currently a senior on the Penn State women’s hockey team and the school’s all-time leading scorer, 21-year-old Tessa Janecke is a star on the rise for the United States’ national team. During the 2025 world championships, she scored the game-winning goal in overtime during the gold medal clash against archrival Canada — cementing her status as one of the squad’s most important members and making her a near-lock to make the Olympic roster.
And in 2025, he appeared even more dominant, with record-breaking times and an historic 18 consecutive World Cup victories. He was derailed by illness by the end of the season, but he has already proven he will be the one to beat in Italy.
In 2024, the pair won the world championship title and proved just how serious their medal campaign is. Incorporating a backflip this season, Stellato-Dudek could also be the first to compete the formerly banned move in pairs competition. If they were to win gold, Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps, 33, would be the oldest in combined age to do so in history. — D’Arcy Maine
54. The official mascots are two stoats (small mammals related to the otter and weasel) named Tina and Milo. Their names are a tribute to the host cities Cortina d’Ampezzo and Milan.
61. Ski mountaineering (“skimo”) will be new to the 2026 Olympics. A combination of uphill climbing and downhill skiing on a mountain terrain, the Olympic competition will feature three events: men’s sprint, women’s sprint and a mixed relay. The sport was recently contested at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games and was voted into the Olympic slate in 2021.