Short track speed skating kicked off Tuesday at the 2026 Winter Olympics, with Team USA's Kristen Santos-Griswold and Corinne Stoddard delivering a split result in the women's 500-meter heats.
Santos-Griswold won her heat with a time of 42.767 seconds, advancing to the quarterfinals alongside China's Chutong Zhang. And for the 31-year-old, the result opens a redemption tour four years in the making.
A crash on the final lap cost Santos-Griswold a bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Games, knocking her off the 1,000-meter podium. She briefly considered retiring from the sport, before ultimately returning to become the world's top all-around short track skater.
Things didn't go as well for Santos-Griswold's US teammate Corinne Stoddard.
Racing against China's Xinran Wang, Japan's Rika Kanai, France's and Aurelie Leveque, the 24-year-old speed skater fell on the third lap to trigger a multi-skater pileup. She attempted to recover but stumbled again, effectively ending her race. She subsequently finished last with a time of 1:11.651.
Despite the setback, Team USA managed to advance three skaters overall, with Julie Letai also qualifying for the quarterfinals despite finishing third in her heat.
Santos-Griswold enters as the reigning Crystal Globe champion following a dominant 2024/25 season that included nine individual distance World Tour medals and a historic five medals at the 2024 World Short Track Championships. She stands as the first US women's short track speed skater to medal at three individual distances at a single world championship.
US women's speed skating hasn't reached an Olympic short track podium since 2010, as Santos-Griswold now leads Team USA's best chance of ending that drought.
Speed skating is back on the ice on Monday, as reigning 500-meter champion Erin Jackson makes her 1,000-meter debut in the sport's second individual women's event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
While Team USA failed to medal in Saturday's 3,000-meter race, two US skaters have podium potential on Monday's start line: Jackson and fellow Olympic veteran Brittany Bowe.
As for Jackson, the 33-year-old Team USA flag bearer opens her 2026 campaign looking to add to her historic 2022 run, when she became the first Black woman to win an individual Winter Olympic gold medal.
"A lot has changed over the years, especially me getting older," Jackson said ahead of Monday's race. "But I'm feeling super confident and excited to give it another go."
Meanwhile, 37-year-old Bowe will be hunting a third piece of Olympic hardware as she looks to better her bronze-medal finish in her signature 1,000-meter race at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Though Bowe is currently third in the world at that distance while Jackson clocks in 10th, the 500-meter specialist edged Bowe in the 1,000-meter at last month's US Olympic Trials — launching Jackson into the medal conversation for Monday's race in Milan.
That said, the US contenders face a loaded Olympic field that includes reigning champion Miho Takagi (Japan) and 2022 silver medalist — and Dutch social media influencer — Jutta Leerdam.
How to watch Erin Jackson race at the 2026 Winter Olympics
The women's 1000-meter speed skating race begins at 11:30 AM ET on Monday, airing live on USA Network.
Entering the 2026 Olympics with a newly torn ACL, Team USA skiing icon Lindsey Vonn will race in the women's downhill event on Sunday — with the 41-year-old using it as a test case before committing to additional events at the Winter Games.
Vonn is also hoping to compete in Tuesday's team combined slalom event — possibly alongside fellow US star Mikaela Shiffrin — but the recent knee injury could derail her fifth, and likely final, Winter Olympics run.
"It will be objective performance that will define what our teams look like," USA women's skiing head coach Paul Kristofic clarified. "In the end, my job is to put the best pairings together so we can perform and get a medal and potentially win."
With Vonn's status technically still unclear, Italy is eyeing a home win, as 2018 gold medalist Sofia Goggia teams up with fellow decorated veteran Federica Brignone on Tuesday.
That said, Vonn successfully completed an early Friday training run — on the same Cortina course where she holds a record 12 World Cup wins.
"She was smart. She didn't go all in," said Vonn's coach Aksel Lund Svindal after her 11th-place run. "There was reserves today.... It's going to be hard but I think she could possibly [medal] on Sunday."
"No one would have believed I would be here…but I made it!!" Vonn posted to social media prior to Friday's downhill training. "I'm not going to waste this chance.... Let's go get it!!"
How to watch Lindsey Vonn at the 2026 Winter Olympics downhill event
Vonn will make her 2026 Olympic debut in the women's downhill event at 5:30 AM ET on Sunday, with live coverage airing on USA Network.
Figure skating took center stage on Friday morning, with defending champion Team USA securing a narrow lead on the first day of the must-watch Winter Olympics event's three-day team competition.
The team event showcases 10 nations competing across women's and men's singles, pairs, and dance categories, with each performance earning team points based on leaderboard positions.
Reigning world champion Alysa Liu skated the women's short program for Team USA, with the 20-year-old scoring a 74.90 to finish second to Japanese favorite Kaori Sakamoto's 78.88 tally.
Japan also took first in the pair's skating short program, with Team USA's Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea coming in fifth, but it was US duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates who topped the morning's rhythm dance event with a season-high score of 91.06.
The US performances ultimately secured 25 team points, earning the nation a day-one lead with Japan (23 points) and Italy (22 points) close behind.
Despite earning points for their countries on Friday, this weekend could see several roster shifts as the field narrows to the Top 5 nations on Saturday, with each team allowed to swap out skaters in up to two categories prior to the free dance and free skates.
For Team USA, rumors have three-time national champion Amber Glenn taking over the women's singles spot in Sunday's free skate, though the swap is not officially confirmed.
"We all signed a NDA for that!" joked Liu when asked about the US roster plan in the lead-up to the team event.
How to watch Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Team USA currently sits two points ahead of Japan heading into the second day of team competition. Five nations remain in contention to advance to the final round, with Italy, Georgia, and Canada also in the running.
Liu might return to the ice on Sunday, when the figure skating team event concludes with women's free skate at 2:45 PM ET, live across NBC and Peacock.
USA Hockey is off to a hot start in Milan, taking down Czechia 5-1 on Thursday to open their 2026 Winter Olympics campaign in style.
While Barbora Juříčková registered Czechia's lone tally, Hayley Scamurra scored a brace and Alex Carpenter notched both a goal and an assist in the rout, with Ohio State junior Joy Dunne also finding the back of the net before USA captain Hilary Knight scored the 13th Olympic goal of her career.
"It was incredible," Scamurra told reporters postgame. "Whenever I go out there, I just try to bring all the energy that I can to the team. To be able to produce is the cherry on top."
The US will next turn their attention to Saturday's showdown against Finland, with the Finns still recovering from a norovirus outbreak that postponed their Thursday opener with Canada.
The IOC rescheduled the Finland vs. Canada matchup for next Thursday, but the weekend game remains on the official Olympic hockey schedule.
"I think we're planning on playing Finland, until somebody tells me differently," said USA Hockey head coach John Wroblewski. "But, I hope that they're okay. That's the most important part."
How to watch USA Hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Team USA will take on Finland at 10:40 AM ET on Saturday, airing live on USA Network.
The girls are taking over the gridiron, with sportswear giant Under Armour and the DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation teaming up to donate $1 million to grow girls flag football via their Click Clack: Next Era Grant this week.
The initiative, delivered by global sport-for-social-change organization Beyond Sport, aims to improve access to girls flag football by providing financial resources, high-performance gear, and coaching education, particularly in communities with historically limited opportunities.
"Expanding access to sport is core to who Under Armour is," said UA director of global community impact Flynn Burch in a Tuesday statement. "By removing barriers, we're helping more girls compete, build community, and grow their confidence."
The grant also aims to help more schools, districts, and states legitimize girls flag football as a sanctioned high school sport to bolster equity and participation — a goal that comes as interest in the sport skyrockets.
Flag football is in the midst of a period of rapid growth, as both NCAA programs and pro leagues embrace the game in the lead-up to its debut at the 2028 LA Olympics.
Under Armour isn't wasting any time in putting the company's words into action, either, with the apparel company hosting a girls flag football clinic alongside USA Football as part of the NFL's Super Bowl LX Fan Experience in San Francisco, with 80 young local athletes participating before attending the USA vs. Mexico Flag Football Showcase Game on Thursday afternoon.
PWHL fans can now own a piece of history from Team USA captain Hilary Knight, as the PWHL partnered with The Realest on an authenticated memorabilia collection.
The result is described as the first fully-authenticated collection of game-used and player-sourced PWHL jerseys, equipment, and other artifacts. However, Knight's game-used Boston Fleet stick and her game-worn jersey headline the drop.
Regarded as one of history's greatest players, Knight is competing in her fifth Olympic Games as Team USA captain. The 36-year-old finished last season tied for PWHL points leader with 29, becoming a Forward of the Year and Billie Jean King MVP Award finalist. She joined Seattle as the franchise's inaugural captain ahead of the 2025/26 season.
"As we enter our third season of unprecedented growth and record-shattering fan support, it was important to preserve our league's history," PWHL VP of merchandising Kate Boyce said.
The collection features memorabilia from all six original franchises plus this year's two expansion teams. Beyond Knight, fans can subsequently browse Montréal captain Marie-Philip Poulin's 2025 PWHL Playoffs jersey and Minnesota defender Natalie Buchbinder's helmet.
"We set out to make women's sports memorabilia a true category, not an afterthought," said The Realest CEO Scott Keeney.
How to buy PWHL memorabilia featuring Team USA captain Hilary Knight
The PWHL collection is now open for bidding via The Realest at therealest.com/pwhl.
USA Hockey is officially off to the races at the 2026 Winter Olympics, hitting the ice in Milan for their initial group-stage matchup against Czechia on Thursday morning ahead of Friday's Opening Ceremony.
The competition's preliminary round features two groups of five teams, with Team USA squaring off against fellow automatic quarterfinalists Czechia, Finland, Switzerland, and Canada in Group A over the next six days to determine seeding for the knockout rounds.
Meanwhile, the countries comprising Group B — Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan — will concurrently play their round-robin group stage, but with higher stakes: Only the top three finishers from their pool will advance to the knockouts.
"It's a clean slate every time you get to a tournament," Team USA captain Hilary Knight said. "You have to work hard."
The US and Canada enter the eighth edition of the tournament as strong gold-medal favorites, but the rapid rise of the PWHL has produced the deepest field in Olympic history.
Czechia's roster includes eight PWHL players, with a total of 22 PWHL athletes representing six European countries at the Winter Games.
Along with the 16 standouts playing for Team USA and the 23 on Canada's roster, 61 PWHL players — 30% of the entire North American league — are competing on the Olympic ice this month.
"It's only our second Olympics," said Czechia head coach Carla MacLeod, who also helms the PWHL's Ottawa Charge. "But certainly there's a belief in the room that we can go play our best games and see where it takes us."
How to watch USA hockey vs. Czechia at the Winter Olympics
USA Hockey will open their 2026 Winter Olympics against Czechia at 10:40 AM ET on Thursday, with live coverage airing on USA Network.
The comeback story for Team USA skier Lindsey Vonn isn't over yet, as the 41-year-old announced on Tuesday that she'll hit the slopes at the 2026 Winter Olympics despite tearing her ACL last week.
Vonn said she "completely ruptured" her left ACL while also suffering bone bruising and meniscus damage during last Friday's FIS World Cup downhill event in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, but added tht she's still able to ski with a knee brace.
"My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday," Vonn told reporters. "I will do everything in my power to be in the starting gate."
Amid one of the biggest comeback seasons in alpine skiing history, Vonn expressed comfort with overcoming adversity — even if it's for the last time.
"This would be the best comeback I've done so far," Vonn said, after recovering from a previous ACL injury and subsequent surgery more than 10 years ago. "Definitely the most dramatic."
In addition to her signature downhill event, the three-time Olympic medalist voiced interest in participating in the Super G and a new combined team event.
How to watch Lindsey Vonn at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Vonn will open her Milano-Cortina campaign in the women's downhill at 5:30 AM ET on Sunday, airing live on Peacock.
The 2026 Winter Olympics have officially arrived. After years of planning, the world's best on snow and ice are descending upon Northern Italy for the Milano-Cortina Games.
And in addition to all the normal reasons to celebrate, the 2026 Olympics will feature a record-breaking 47% participation rate for women's sports athletes — the largest in Winter Games history.
From the streets of Milan to the peaks of Cortina d'Ampezzo, here is everything you need to know about the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The Basics: 2026 Winter Olympics Schedule in Milano-Cortina
Dates
The Winter Olympics schedule runs from February 6th through February 22nd, 2026, with preliminary ice hockey matches beginning February 4th.
Location
The Winter Games will take over Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, with additional venues in Valtellina, Val di Fiemme, and Anterselva.
Time Difference
Italy is six hours ahead of New York (ET) and nine hours ahead of Los Angeles (PT).
Opening and Closing Ceremonies
The Opening Ceremony takes place on February 6th at Milan's San Siro Stadium, with the Closing Ceremony capping things off at the historic Verona Arena on February 22nd.
Women's Sports Stars and Storylines Headlining the Winter Olympics Schedule
From figure skating to ice hockey, here are the buzziest Olympic names and most compelling narratives playing out in Milan.
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA, Alpine Skiing)
The sport's undisputed GOAT enters the 2026 Games as the winningest alpine skier of all time. And after a dominant 2025 season, Mikaela Shiffrin has emerged as the gold-medal favorite in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom events. According to the Winter Olympics schedule, alpine skiing runs February 8th through the 22nd at Cortina's Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. Tune in to see if she can add to her growing legacy as the most decorated skier in history.
Lindsey Vonn (USA, Alpine Skiing)
The most talked-about comeback in sports is finally hitting the Olympic stage. At 41, Lindsey Vonn has overcome the odds — and a partial knee replacement — to return to the slopes in winning fashion. To complicate matters, Vonn tore her ACL just last week, but the five-time Olympian says she'll still compete despite the injury. Regardless of her performance in Milan, her presence alone has already redefined perceptions of veteran athletes in high-impact sports.
Chloe Kim (USA, Snowboarding)
25-year-old Team USA favorite Chloe Kim is chasing a historic three-peat in the women's snowboard halfpipe. Already the first women's snowboarder to win back-to-back golds in the event, Kim remains the technical standard-bearer for the sport — though her performance in Milan might hinge on her health, as she continues to recover from a recent shoulder injury. The snowboarding competition runs February 8th through the 16th in Livigno.
Eileen Gu (China, Freestyle Skiing)
Following a triple-medal performance in Beijing, China's Eileen Gu returns to the Games as a global icon. With high marks in Halfpipe, Slopestyle, and Big Air, the 22-year-old remains one of the most versatile — and promising — threats on powder.
Amber Glenn (USA, Figure Skating)
Known for explosive athleticism, captivating storytelling, and a powerful triple Axel, Amber Glenn is a cornerstone of the US figure skating team. Becoming the first openly queer woman to win a senior US title after picking up gold at the 2026 US Championships, Glenn's journey to the 2026 Games makes for especially good TV and even better on-ice competition. Figure skating events take place February 7th through the 21st at Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Kaori Sakamoto (Japan, Figure Skating)
The reigning queen of consistency, Kaori Sakamoto is a widely expected contender in the women's figure skating field. Armed with immense speed and technical precision, the 25-year-old enters 2026 looking to add an elusive individual gold medal to her resume.
Women's Ice Hockey
Marking the first Winter Olympics of the PWHL era, expect rosters across the field to be deeper and more game-ready than ever before. Most storylines will undoubtedly revolve around Canada and Team USA's heated rivalry, led by longtime captains Hilary Knight (USA) and Marie-Philip Poulin (Canada).
But count on European powerhouses like Finland and Czechia to close the competitive gap thanks to the sport's overall professionalization. Women's ice hockey is set to take over the Winter Olympics schedule from February 5th through the 19th.
New Events Debuting at the 2026 Winter Games
The IOC introduced several new medal events this year, primarily in an effort to improve gender parity throughout the Games.
Ski Mountaineering (AKA Skimo)
A high-endurance sport that involves racing up mountains on skis using specialized skins for grip, covering steep terrain on foot, and cruising quickly through backcountry.
Women's Individual Large Hill (AKA Ski Jumping)
This February, women's sports athletes will additionally compete on the same high-altitude, long-distance jump hills as the men's event, moving beyond the traditional Normal Hill.
Women's Doubles Luge
This sled racing event features two women sharing a single sled, navigating an icy track at speeds exceeding 80 MPH.
Freestyle Dual Moguls
This freestyle skiing event showcases two athletes racing side-by-side down a mogul-studded slope, picking up points for speed, technical turns, and aerial tricks in a head-to-head knockout format.
How to Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina
NBC and Peacock have signed on as the exclusive broadcasters of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Peacock will offer 24-hour livestreamed coverage of the complete Winter Olympics schedule, while NBC and USA Network subsequently handle primetime action as well as highlights.