Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games

The U.S. national Olympic committee (NOC) is sending 232 athletes to theMilano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, making it the largest U.S. contingent in the history of theWinter Olympic Games. Those 232 athletes come from 32 states and range in age from 15 to 54 years old and include 18 former Olympic medalists. Some of the most notable American competitors areLindsey Vonn,Mikaela Shiffrin,Ilia Malinin, andChloe Kim.

The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will be held from February 6 to 22, 2026.

Italy has hosted theOlympic Games three times. It held the Winter Olympic Games inCortina d’Ampezzo in 1956 andTurin in 2006, and it held theSummer Olympic Games inRome in 1960. The upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will mark the fourth time the country has hosted the Olympics.

The 2026 Winter Games will take place in eight locations spread across northernItaly. The majority of events will take place in the city ofMilan (Milano) and the Alpine mountain resort town ofCortina d’Ampezzo. The rest of the competitions will be held in several small towns, including Anterselva/Antholz,Bormio,Livigno, Predazzo, andTesero. The closing ceremonies will be held in the ancient Roman amphitheaterVerona Arena, inVerona.

Ski mountaineering, or skimo, will make its Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Games.

Russia is currently banned from competing at theOlympic Games because of itsinvasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Belarus is likewise banned because of its support for Russia in that conflict. However, approved athletes from those countries will be permitted to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes (referred to as AIN, from the Frenchathlètes individuels neutres), an official designation that serves to distance athletes from their national affiliation. As of late January 2026, there were about 20 AINs scheduled to compete at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. To find out more about the ban, read Britannica’sIs Russia Participating in the Olympics? article.

Breezy Johnson (born Breanna Noble Johnson in 1996) is an American Alpine skier. She won the U.S. team’s first gold medal at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games, taking first place in the downhill event. With that victory, Johnson also became just the second U.S. woman, afterLindsey Vonn, to win a downhill gold medal. She later competed in the team event. Although she won the downhill portion, the United States ultimately placed fourth. In the super-G final, Johnson crashed during the final. About an hour later her boyfriend, Connor Watkins, proposed at the finish line. Johnson said yes.

Johnson suffered numerous injuries during her career, including anACL tear that prevented her from competing during the 2019 season. In 2024 she was suspended for 14 months for her third whereabouts failure—Olympic-level athletes are required to make their daily locations known to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for random drug testing. Johnson subsequently considered retiring but ultimately opted to continue competing, aided, in part, by the support of other athletes. She later won two gold medals at the 2025 world championship: downhill and team combined.

For about a decade drone cameras have been used at the Olympics. However, the 2026 Milano Cortina Games are notable for the extensive use of first-person-view (FPV) drones, which have revolutionized the viewing experience. These cutting-edge devices are incredibly lightweight and can achieve speeds of 75 miles (120 km) per hour while still providing quality video. The FPV drones are especially suited for high-speed sports, such as downhill skiing, and they provide unprecedented views, placing audiences in the middle of the action. The primary drawback so far has been the noise. Some TV viewers and spectators have complained about the high-pitched whine produced by the drones.

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (b. 1996) is a Norwegiancross-country skier who has won the most gold medals at the Winter Olympics: 9. He set the record at the2026 Milano Cortina Games, where he won 4 gold medals (men’s skiathlon, sprint classic, men’s 10-km cross-country skiing, and the men’s 4 × 7.5 relay). He previously won 3 gold medals at the 2018Pyeongchang Winter Games; those wins made him, at 21 years old, the youngest Olympic champion in cross-country skiing. He added 2 more golds, a silver, and a bronze in Beijing in 2022. In addition, he has won more than 100 World Cup victories. Klæbo is well on his way to becoming one of the most decorated cross-country skiers in history.

• 2026 Milano Cortina Games: 4 gold
• 2022 Beijing Games: 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze
• 2018 Pyeongchang Games: 3 gold