10 U.S. athletes to know ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics

The lights come up Friday for the opening ceremony as the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Games begin in Italy. From medal favorites to rising stars, here are 10 Americans you need to know heading into the Games (Feb. 6-22).

Lindsey Vonn (Alpine skiing)

For many, a torn ACL would crush Olympic dreams. But for Vonn, it's just another obstacle to her quest for a fourth Olympic medal and first since 2018. The all-time great retired following the 2019 season due to health issues, but returned to the sport in December 2024. A year later, she became the oldest downhill World Cup winner at 41.

On Jan. 30, Vonn tore her ACL, but she still plans to compete in the women's downhill.

"I will do everything in my power to be in that starting gate," Vonn told reporters afterward.

Mikaela Shiffrin (Alpine skiing)

Can Shiffrin rebound from a disappointing Beijing 2022? The record-holder for most World Cup wins (108), Shiffrin was shut out of the podium at her last Olympics but is coming off her ninth slalom season title, besting runner-up Camille Rast in the world championships by 1.67 seconds in January. 

Madison Chock and Evan Bates (Figure skating)

The most decorated ice dance team in U.S. history, Chock and Bates, who married on June 20, 2024, will look to continue a perfect 2025-26 in Milan after previously winning a third consecutive Grand Prix Final on Dec. 6, 2025, and record seventh U.S. championship on Jan. 10, 2026.

Per NBC Sports, Chock, 33, and Bates, 36, are the oldest members of a U.S. Olympic figure skating team since 1932, when Joseph Savage, 52, competed alongside Gertrude Meredith, 39, and finished seventh. William Nagle, 46, also made the U.S. team that year, placing 11th in the individual men's competition. 

Alysa Liu (Figure skating)

Liu made her grand return to the ice in October 2024 after retiring at just 16 following a sixth-place finish at the 2022 Winter Games. In December 2025, Liu became the first U.S. woman to win a women's figure skating world title in 19 years. Sarah Hughes was the last American to win the Olympic women's singles gold, doing so at Salt Lake City 2002.

Ilia Malinin (Figure skating)

After becoming the first skater to successfully complete a quadruple Axel in competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Classic in September 2022, all eyes are on what Malinin, 21, can do in Milan. He's set to make his Olympics debut during the men's short competition on Tuesday, Feb. 10, followed by the men's free three days later on Feb. 13.

Rich Ruhonen (Curling)

Ruhonen, a 54-year-old personal injury lawyer from Minnesota, could make history at the 2026 Games. Per NBC Sports, the Team Casper alternate would "become the oldest American to compete in a Winter Olympics in any medal sport should he see action." 

It's a minor miracle his team even reached Milan. Team Casper pulled off an upset over Team Shuster, which is led by 2018 Olympic gold medalist John Shuster, snapping his consecutive run of Olympic appearances dating back to the 2006 Turin Games.

Team Casper then needed a win at a December qualifier over Team Xu (China), which it lost to in pool play, 9-8, to advance to the Olympics.

Alessandro Barbieri (Snowboarding)

"I say if it's not this Olympics, it's definitely the next one," legendary U.S. Olympic snowboarder Shaun White told the "Stifel Snow Show" about Barbieri's outlook for the Milan Games, via NBCNews.com.

"I'm excited to see what he does," White continued. "You never know."

At 17, Barbieri has quickly risen in the ranks in snowboarding circles, claiming a silver medal at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games. In early January, he became the first American to complete a triple cork 1440 — an aerial maneuver that features three off-axis flips and 1440 degrees of rotation — in competition.

Chloe Kim (Snowboarding)

Kim aims to three-peat in women's snowboarding, having first clinched gold at just 17 during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and successfully defending her title at Beijing 2022. With another gold, Kim would become the first woman to win three gold medals in the halfpipe and only the second person all time, joining White.

Jordan Stoltz (speedskating)

The 21-year-old phenom could be one of this year's biggest winners. He's set to compete in the 500m, 1000m, 1500m and mass start after making his Olympics debut in 2022, finishing 13th in the 500m and 14th in the 1000m.

In 2023, Stoltz became the youngest world speedskating champion at 18, taking gold in the 500m and 1000m. His main competition, Canadian Laurent Dubreuil, told reporters afterward, "It's like trying to beat Michael Jordon or something, I assume," via ESPN.

In the build-up to the 2026 Games, Stoltz secured a second consecutive 1500m World Cup victory, proving to still be in his 1990s Chicago Bulls era.

Elana Meyers Taylor (bobsled)

The 2026 Winter Olympics — Taylor's remarkable fifth — could be her last. She debuted at Vancouver 2010 in the two-woman race alongside Erin Pac and finished third to receive the bronze.

Taylor's medaled in all five of the Olympic events she's competed in, including two at Beijing 2022 — the two-woman (bronze) and first-ever women's monobob (silver) — making her the most decorated Black Winter Olympian ever. Competing once again in both events this year — monobob on Feb. 16 and two-woman on Feb. 21 — Taylor could soon add to her total.