The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially here — and Team USA is arriving in Italy with star power, storylines and sky-high expectations.
As the world’s best athletes descend on Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, all eyes are on the Americans: from Ilia Malinin’s can’t-miss moment in men’s figure skating to Mikaela Shiffrin’s long-awaited redemption tour on the slopes, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates chasing gold as newlyweds in their fourth Olympic Games together.
With pressure mounting and history on the line, these athletes aren’t just competing for medals — they’re skating, skiing and sliding into some of the most defining moments of their careers.
Us Weekly spoke exclusively to some of Team USA’s biggest stars as they prepare to take center stage when the Milano Cortina Games kick off February 6.
Redemption Mode
Some of the most powerful Olympic stories are born from heartbreak.
In 2022, alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin arrived in Beijing as a heavy favorite, expected to dominate the slopes. Instead, she suffered a stunning series of DNFs (Did Not Finish) and left without a medal. “A lot of people who were tuning into Mikaela Shiffrin for her biggest race were tuning in when I didn’t win a medal,” Shiffrin tells Us. “They were saying, ‘Don’t even come home. You failed us. You didn’t bring home any gold.’”
The emotional weight of that moment has stayed with her — and reshaped her perspective heading into 2026. “That’s the hardest thing or the most loaded thing, and I’m very aware of it now, emotionally and mentally,” she continues. “The hurdle I’ve been working on with my team and with my psychologist and with my family and everybody around me is: We could go to these Games and we could do everything right, and it could still go wrong.”
Now, coming off a dominant season that saw her make World Cup history, Shiffrin, 30, is embracing a different mindset. “Going into [the Olympics] as an athlete, you’ve really got to be open-minded,” she explains. “Now that we have all of this in- formation, all of this experience, could we boil it down a little bit and remember that we’re just ski racing here?”
Redemption is also front and center for the U.S. women’s figure skating team, which heads into Milan Cortina with unfinished business. After leaving Beijing without the gold many believed was within reach, the Americans are skating with something to prove — and the depth to do it.
Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito and Alysa Liu headline a stacked field, blending technical firepower with hard-earned experience on the world stage. For these skat- ers, 2026 isn’t just another Olympic cycle — it’s a chance to turn lingering frustration into gold.
“If we do our jobs in Milan, then more than likely some- one is going to be up there,” Glenn has said of the podium.
American Pride
For many athletes, the Olympics represent more than medals — they’re a rare chance to unite a country.
“It’s one of the greatest honors to be able to go to the Olympics and represent the U.S.,” ice dancer Madison Chock, 33, tells Us. “For us being Americans, we have such pride in our patriotism and really, the American dream.”
That responsibility isn’t lost on veterans like hockey player Hilary Knight, who will compete in her fifth and final Games. “If you want to call us sports ambassadors or sports envoys, we can have an impact on someone’s life in a small way,” Knight, 36, says. “I do think there’s a greater responsibility when you’re representing your country on the world stage.”
Honorary coach and NBC correspondent Snoop Dogg agrees. “One thing about the Olympics that I love is that it gives me a chance to be in front of people to represent what Americans look like, what we feel like, how we love, how we appreciate,” he’s said.
High-Stakes Drama
If any event captures the emotional intensity of the Olympics, it’s figure skating — and few understand that better than Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.
“You hear the music, you see the rings, there’s this magic to it,” says Lipinski, 43, who won gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics at just 15 years old. “I think that’s why the whole world loves this event. It’s one of these things where you realize that this group of athletes has sacrificed their whole life. They’re building to this one moment in time. It’s four minutes on the ice that could change their entire life.”
For Lipinski, that emotional cocktail is exactly what makes the sport unforgettable.
“It’s everything you could want,” she adds. “The pressure, the suspense, the glitz, the glamour.”
Now working together as NBC Sports analysts, Lipinski and Weir experience those moments from the booth — but the nerves never disappear.
“Figure skating isn’t known as the most hugs and kisses, warm and fuzzy sport,” Weir, 41, explains. “But we all appreciate how small and niche and special this family is. As the older generation watching the younger generation of skaters, we want the best for them because we know exactly how it feels to be in their shoes.”
Snowboarder Chloe Kim, 25, has already had a front-row seat to Olympic drama before even strapping in. The reigning halfpipe superstar entered the season sidelined by a torn labrum in her shoulder that left her status uncertain.
For the athlete, the weeks leading up to the Games became a test of patience and resilience — rehabbing, recalibrating and waiting to see if her body would cooperate in time. Whether she’s at full strength or fighting to find her rhythm, Kim arrives carrying the emotional weight of a comeback that started long before the Opening Ceremony.
Must-Watch Phenom
The Olympic experience is one unlike any other — with athletes from all over the world converging in one place, each chasing a moment of immortality. Sixteen different sports disciplines will be featured in Milano Cortina, with more than 3,500 athletes representing 93 countries.
And while the depth of competition is staggering, a select few still rise above the noise and become must-watch storylines. One of them is Team USA’s Ilia Malinin, who will have all eyes on him when the men’s figure skating competition begins.
“There’s kind of different ways I approach it,” Malinin, 21, tells Us. “I like to embrace it a lot, especially closer to a competition. Feeling that pressure is kind of like, ‘OK, everyone’s looking at me. Now I really need to be at my best. Be on my A-game.’”
But even the sport’s most dominant skater admits the pressure can cut both ways.
“There’s also days that won’t be the best days,” he continues. “A lot of the time, what I’ll do is say, ‘OK, there’s a lot of pressure on me, let me just block this out and focus on what I really need to do and try not to think about people’s expectations of me.”
Nicknamed the Quad God, Malinin knows fans often see him as untouchable — something he’s eager to challenge on Olympic ice.
“Everyone sees me at competitions and I’m just so focused, I’m really in a different mindset where I’m pretty much as perfect as I can be,” Malinin explains. “But in reality, I’m not perfect. I’ll have bad days, I’ll have good days. It’s really the thing that tells people, ‘Oh, he’s really human like the rest of us.’”
The MVPs You Won’t See on the Podium
Beyond the athletes, the Games will be stacked with scene-stealing personalities, led by Snoop Dogg, who’s returning as an on-air commentator and cultural ambassador — and promising to keep things anything but predictable.
“You know, one thing about me, I’m unexpected, I’m unorthodox, but I’m always full of fun,” Snoop tells Us, adding that his mission is “making sure that America is represented in a peaceful, beautiful way to the globe.”
While he’s happy to entertain Olympic viewers, the rapper admits he’s still learning — though there’s one event already at the top of his watch list. “I think the sport I’m looking forward to the most [is] figure skating, because I just really, truly appreciate and love the art and the craft that it takes to become a figure skater,” he says — especially with the music, the fashion and the possibility that “my girl, Martha Stewart, may meet me out there at the front row of the figure skating final.”
He’ll be joined around the Olympic universe by Flavor Flav, official sponsor and “hype-man” for the USA Bobsled and Skeleton team, bringing his trademark energy as an enthusiastic supersupporter in the stands. Also on board: Stanley Tucci, who’s set to lend his signature charm and sophistication to cultural and culinary storytelling from Italy — proving that at these Games, the characters off the field may be just as compelling as the competition itself.
Vonn Is Back — and So Is the NHL
The 2026 Games mark a couple of noteworthy returns: skier Lindsey Vonn and NHL players participating in the Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.
Vonn, 41, who last competed in the Olympics in 2018, announced her return to the sport in November 2024 and earned a spot on the team in December 2025, a miraculous comeback that felt nearly unfathomable after having a partial knee replacement just months before coming out of retirement.
“But after a successful season that saw her reach the podium in seven of eight races, the legend declared, “I’m not the underdog anymore!” Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist, reflected, “This is 24 years after my first Olympics. I’ve won everything I could have ever won. I’m not doing this to prove anything to anyone. I’m doing this because I think I can do well, it’s a meaningful place for me, and I think I can make a positive impact.”
Despite tearing her ACL during a World Cup race in Switzerland just days before the start of the Games, Vonn said she still intended on competing.
“I know what my chances in these Olympics were before this crash, and even though my chances aren’t the same now, there is still a chance,” she shared via Instagram. “And as long as I have a chance, I will not lose hope. I will not give up! It’s not over yet!”
Men’s hockey will also be a focal point, as the NHL’s best players will represent their home countries for the first time in over a decade.
New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes will play for Team USA alongside his older brother, Quinn Hughes, which means the entire Hughes family is looking forward to a European vacation.
“A bunch of my cousins, aunts and uncles are making the trip,” Jack, 24, tells Us. “We’ve got some friends coming over, too. All the people in our lives are so excited to be part of this. It’s such a special event. You never know if we’ll be able to go back.”
Pomp and Circumstance
Of course, no Olympics would be complete without the spectacle. The 2026 Games officially kick off February 6 with a massive Opening Ceremony at Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium — a moment athletes say never gets old.
This year’s will feature performances from global super stars Mariah Carey and Italian icon Andrea Bocelli, setting the stage with equal parts star power and national pride. “I’m just looking forward to soaking it all in,” bobsledder Boone Niederhofer says.
For Chock, the spotlight is a reminder of what it took to get there. “It’s the years, decades of work that you put in,” she says. “But that’s what makes the Olympics special.”
And when the Games draw to a close, the celebration will come full circle at the Closing Ceremony on February 22 at the historic Arena di Verona, where athletes finally get to exhale, celebrate their accomplishments and pass the Olympic flame forward — a final, emotional send off to two unforgettable weeks in Italy.
