2026 Milano Cortina Olympics: Athletes to Watch
The Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games will be held in northern Italy on February 6–22, 2026. The international athletic competition will feature 116 events across 16 winter sports and is expected to draw some 2,900 athletes from 90 countries as participants. Which competitors should be on your radar? Read on for our list of athletes who are likely to make news at the 2026 Winter Games.
Alpine skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin
Mikaela Shiffrin is one of the most dominant athletes in Alpine skiing. She is a five-time World Cup overall champion (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023), and in 2023 she surpassed Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup victories. In addition, Shiffrin has won three career Olympic medals (two gold and one silver), although she came away empty-handed in the last Winter Olympics, held in Beijing in 2022. After suffering a serious injury during competition in late 2024, she bounced back impressively in the fall 2025 season, winning four of four World Cup competitions.
Quick facts- Country: United States
- Birth date: March 13, 1995
- Olympic medals: 2 gold, 1 silver
Lindsey Vonn
Like Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn is one of the best Alpine skiers of all time. She has won four women’s World Cup overall championships (2008–10 and 2012) and became, in 2019, the first woman to win 82 World Cup races. She has also claimed three Olympic Winter Games medals and eight world championships medals during her international racing career. Vonn retired in 2019, but five years later she announced her return to the sport. In December 2024 she competed in her first World Cup race since her retirement, finishing 14th in the super-G. The 41-year-old Vonn made history in December 2025, when she became the oldest downhill skier to win a World Cup race. It was also her first World Cup win in some seven years, bringing her total to 83.
Quick facts- Country: United States
- Birth date: October 18, 1984
- Olympic medals: 1 gold, 2 bronze
Bobsledding
Kaillie Humphries
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian-American bobsled pilot who, with her brakewoman partner Heather Moyse, was the first Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s bobsled event; they won in 2010 and 2014. She won a bronze medal, with new partner Phylicia George, in 2018. Humphries later attained U.S. citizenship and in 2022 won gold in monobob as a member of the U.S. team.
Quick facts- Country: Canadian-born, now representing the United States
- Birth date: September 4, 1985
- Olympic medals: 3 gold, 1 bronze
Figure skating
Ilia Malinin
Ilia Malinin is an American figure skater who in his short career has achieved athletic feats in his sport that many thought impossible. He was the first and, as of 2025, the only skater to land a quadruple axel—the hardest jump in skating—in competition (2022). He was also the first and again, as of 2025, the only skater to land seven quadruple jumps cleanly in competition (2025). He is expected to be a starring presence on the U.S. team at the 2026 Games, which would mark his Olympic debut.
Quick facts- Country: United States
- Birth date: December 2, 2004
- Olympic medals: 0
Freestyle skiing
Eileen Gu
Eileen Gu is a Chinese American freestyle skier who won a trio of medals, including two golds, at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Only 18 years old at the time, she became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing and the first competitor in her sport to capture three medals in one Winter Games. Although Gu was born and raised in the United States, since 2019 she has represented the People’s Republic of China, where her mother was born, in international competition. Since the 2022 Games, Gu has maintained a packed schedule: She is a full-time student at Stanford University, works as a model for major fashion brands and international corporations, and has continued to be a top-level skier, especially in the half-pipe event. Gu is expected to compete again for China at the 2026 Games.
Quick facts- Country: American-born, competing for China
- Birth date: September 3, 2003
- Olympic medals: 2 gold, 1 silver
Ice hockey
Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid is widely considered one of the greatest ice hockey players of his generation. Known for his exceptional speed, vision, and playmaking abilities, McDavid was a first-round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 2015 and became the team’s captain the next year. He has won five scoring titles and the Hart Trophy for Most Valuable Player three times. NHL players did not compete at the Winter Olympics in 2018 and 2022, so the 2026 Games will be McDavid’s first chance to represent Canada at the Olympics.
- Country: Canada
- Birth date: January 13, 1997
- Olympic medals: 0
Sidney Crosby
Sidney Crosby is a Canadian ice hockey player who has had an illustrious career both in the NHL and in Olympic competition. In 2005 he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, and two years later he became the youngest captain of an NHL team, having broken numerous other records along the way. Crosby led the Penguins to three Stanley Cup championships (2009, 2016, and 2017). In addition, he was a key member of the Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Canada took the gold medal after Crosby scored the game-winning overtime goal in the final against the United States. He added a second Olympic gold medal at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Quick facts- Country: Canada
- Birth date: August 7, 1987
- Olympic medals: 2 gold
Sarah Nurse
Sarah Nurse is a Canadian ice hockey forward who plays in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). She was a member of the Toronto Sceptres (2024–25) and joined a new expansion team in Vancouver starting with the 2025–26 season. Nurse has also been a leading member of her country’s national women’s team, helping Canada take home the silver medal at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. During the latter tournament, she recorded 18 points (five goals and 13 assists), which set a single-tournament scoring record, and she became the first Black athlete to win an Olympic gold in women’s hockey.
- Related Topics:
- Winter Olympic Games
- Country: Canada
- Birth date: January 4, 1995
- Olympic medals: 1 gold, 1 silver
Snowboarding
Chloe Kim
Chloe Kim is an American snowboarder who won a gold medal in the half-pipe event at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. At age 17 she was the youngest woman in Olympic history to earn a gold medal in the event. She won a second consecutive gold medal in the half-pipe four years later at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, becoming the first woman to achieve that feat. After taking some time away from the sport following the 2022 Games, Kim is poised to be a favorite at the 2026 Games, having earned her third gold medal in half-pipe at the snowboarding world championships in 2025.
Quick facts- Country: United States
- Birth date: April 23, 2000
- Olympic medals: 2 gold