The JWS guide to the 2026 Winter Olympics

Read up on all things 2026 Winter Olympics, as Team USA hits the ice, slopes, and track in Milano-Cortina.

Dive into the Winter Olympics with JWS

The 2026 Winter Olympics have officially arrived, as the world’s best on snow and ice descend upon Northern Italy for the Milano-Cortina Games.

• In addition to all the normal reasons to celebrate, this year’s Winter Games feature a record-breaking 47% participation rate for women’s sports athletes — the largest in history.

How to watch: NBC and Peacock have signed on as exclusive Winter Olympics broadcasters.

• Peacock offers 24-hour live coverage of the complete Olympic bill — including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies — while NBC and USA Network handle primetime action, reruns, and highlights.

Read on: From the streets of Milan to the peaks of Cortina, here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Winter Games.

Team USA’s Olympic women’s sports stars to watch

From alpine skiing to figure skating, these are the buzziest names in women’s winter sports.

Erin Jackson (speed skating)

• 33-year-old speed skating champion Erin Jackson led Friday’s Opening Ceremony in Milan, serving as an official Team USA flag bearer alongside bobsledder Frank Del Duca.

• The Ocala, Florida native made history in 2022, becoming the first Black woman to win individual Winter Games gold after taking the 500-meter in Beijing. She returns to defend her title while adding the 1,000-meter event to her repertoire, starting Monday at 11:30 AM ET.

Mikaela Shiffrin (alpine skiing)

• The sport’s undisputed GOAT enters the 2026 Games as the winningest alpine skier of all time with 108 World Cup victories. After a dominant 2025 season that saw her win seven of eight slaloms, Mikaela Shiffrin has strategically narrowed her Olympic focus to three events: slalom, giant slalom, and team combined.

• Kicking off her Olympic campaign on Sunday, the 30-year-old seeks to avenge her 2022 performance in Beijing, when she failed to medal through all six alpine events. Tune in to see if she can build on her growing legacy as the most decorated skier in history.

Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing)

• The most talked-about comeback in sports is taking the Olympic stage — with a dramatic twist: 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn returned to skiing after a partial knee replacement, and was leading the World Cup downhill standings before tearing her ACL less than a week before her fifth Olympics.

• Vowing to compete despite the injury, Vonn successfully completed her first official training run on Friday ahead of Sunday’s downhill event. If she medals in Milan, she would become the oldest woman to podium in Olympic alpine history, capping one of sport’s most remarkable careers.

Elana Meyers Taylor (bobsleigh)

• At 41, five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor returns for her fifth Winter Games as the world’s most decorated Black Winter Olympian, holding the US bobsledding medal record after reaching the podium in every event she’s ever entered.

• Meyers Taylor looks to complete her trophy shelf this year, competing in the monobob and two-woman bobsled alongside rookie Jadin O’Brien starting February 15th. Should she medal in both, she would tie Bonnie Blair’s seven-medal US women’s Winter Games record.

Amber Glenn (figure skating)

• 26-year-old Amber Glenn arrives at her first Olympics as the first woman to win three consecutive US titles since Michelle Kwan — while also posting record-breaking scores at last month’s US Championships.

• Known for her athleticism, storytelling, and a powerful triple Axel, Glenn — Team USA’s first out LGBTQ+ women’s figure skater — shoots to become the first US women’s figure skater to win a single’s medal since 2006, with events running through February 19th.

Laila Edwards (ice hockey)

• University of Wisconsin’s Laila Edwards shined in Thursday’s group-stage win over Czechia, assisting on Alex Carpenter’s opening goal while becoming the first Black woman to represent the US in Olympic ice hockey.

• A 2024 World Championship MVP with two world medals and two NCAA titles under her belt, the 22-year-old made headlines last month when NFL stars Travis and Jason Kelce helped raise over $60,000 to bring Edwards’s family to Italy to witness her Winter Games debut.

• After transitioning from forward to defense to strengthen her Olympic roster chances, Edwards is embracing her trailblazer status while staying focused on winning gold in Milan.

Chloe Kim (snowboarding)

• 25-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim is chasing a historic halfpipe three-peat this year, after becoming the first women’s snowboarder to take back-to-back golds in the high-flying event.

• However, her path to Milan was complicated by an early January shoulder injury, with Kim nonetheless returning to the Games as a heavy halfpipe favorite ahead of February 11th’s qualifiers.

Mystique Ro (skeleton)

• 31-year-old Olympic debutant Mystique Ro lands in Milan as one of Team USA’s brightest rising stars, breaking onto the scene in 2025 as the first US skeleton athlete in 12 years to medal at the FIL World Championships.

• Ro came to skeleton from track and field after receiving a recruiting email from US bobsled legend Elana Meyers Taylor, learning to compensate for her 5-foot-3 frame with explosive power. She’s set to start her Olympic career on February 12th, before racing for a medal on February 14th.

Women’s ice hockey steps into the Olympic spotlight

The first Olympics since the PWHL’s 2024 launch, this year’s women’s hockey tournament features the deepest and most game-ready rosters on record.

• The competition showcases 10 nations competing across two groups starting February 5th, culminating in February 19th’s medal games.

• Team USA opened their group-stage run with a bang, securing a 5-1 win over Czechia on Thursday ahead of Saturday morning’s clash with Finland.

Heated rivalry: 2026’s biggest storylines revolve around the age-old rivalry between defending Olympic champs Canada — seeking their sixth gold — and a US team fresh off ousting Canada from the 2025 World Championship.

• While Team USA captain Hilary Knight and Team Canada leader Marie-Philip Poulin drive the drama, count on European powerhouses to close the competitive gap with 61 PWHL players — 30% of the entire women’s pro league — lacing up for this month’s Winter Games.

Don’t miss it: Check out the complete women’s hockey schedule for more details.

Women’s events making their Olympic debut

The IOC introduced several new events this year, primarily in an effort to improve gender parity throughout the Winter Olympics.

Ski mountaineering

• “Skimo” is a high-endurance sport that involves racing up mountains on skis using specialized skins for grip, covering steep terrain on foot, then speeding through backcountry slopes.

Women’s individual large hill

• The women’s ski jump event will now compete on the same high-altitude, long-distance hills as the men’s, moving beyond the traditional Normal Hill.

Women’s doubles luge

• This sled racing competition features two athletes sharing a single luge, navigating an icy track at speeds exceeding 80 MPH.

Freestyle dual moguls

• This freestyle skiing showdown pits two athletes head-to-head as they race down a mogul-studded slope, picking up points for speed, technique, and tricks in a side-by-side knockout format.

Follow JWS for more Winter Olympics content

As the 2026 Winter Olympics take flight, Just Women’s Sports is your one-stop-shop for all things Milano-Cortino.

• Follow JWS on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter for breaking news, original graphics, and everything in between, with additional reporting across our daily newsletter and online Olympic hub.

• We’re also dropping original video content, starting with The Most Dangerous Sport at the Winter Olympics, with Team USA alpine skier Breezy Johnson taking viewers behind the scenes of the breakneck sport known as “Formula One on ice.”