Four years after a successful Olympics in Beijing, China, Team USA is back in Milano-Cortina, Italy, with familiar faces and rising stars ready to compete on the highest level.
When Team USA walks out onto the field at the historic San Siro Stadium, they will be led by flag bearers Erin Jackson and Frank Del Duca. Jackson is a speedskater who hails from Florida, took gold during the women’s 500m event in 2022, becoming the first ever woman of color to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Del Duca, a bobsledder from Maine, represented Team USA during the 2022 games, failing to medal in both the 2 and 4-man events.
Team USA’s men’s ice hockey team will have a significantly new look from the last two go-arounds, as the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to let their players participate for the first time since Sochi 2014. This team is loaded with top NHL talent such as Quinn and Jack Hughes, Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, and Austin Matthews. The women’s team looks promising as well. Led by Hillary Knight, Abbey Murphy, and Laila Edwards, they will look to dethrone defending gold medalists Canada in one of hockey’s biggest rivalries.
In the slalom, the GOAT of skiing, Mikaela Shiffrin, will make her return for her fourth Olympic Games. After winning gold medals in both 2014 and 2018, Shiffrin struggled mightily in Beijing. In the years since, she has performed extraordinarily well and will look to carry her momentum into Milano-Cortina. In late 2024, Lindsay Vonn, another legendary skier, announced she was ending her nearly 6-year retirement. Vonn competed in the Olympics from 2002 to 2018, with Sochi being the only exception, winning a gold and two bronze medals along the way. During a recent competition, the now 41-year-old suffered a torn ACL, which she will compete on regardless.
Chloe Kim is back and is once again ready to defend her back-to-back gold medals in the women’s snowboarding halfpipe event. Kim competed in her first Olympics in 2018 at only 17 years old and has dominated the sport ever since. Making his Olympic debut as a 17-year-old is Alessando Barbieri, who will look to take gold in the men’s halfpipe.
This edition of Team USA is among the strongest in recent memory. The Olympics have already begun, with curling and women’s hockey kicking off just before the opening ceremony. All coverage will be held on NBC and Peacock, with the games wrapping up on February 22.
