NEW YORK — The countdown to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, Italy, hit the 100-day mark on Oct. 29. That leaves spectators ample time to study up on the U.S. Olympic team with no need to sweat.
The athletes, on the other hand …
“It’s pretty crazy,’ said Kristen Santos-Griswold, the American speed skater, when asked what the feeling is when she hears there are 100 days to go. “It’s so funny, because after the last Games, I was, like, ‘Four years is so long.’ When I was deciding if I wanted to keep skating or not, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can handle another four years.’ But now I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s no time.”
Santos-Griswold was among more than 100 U.S. Olympic and Paraylmpic athletes at the Team USA Media Summit this week, discussing preparations, expectations and more ahead of the Games starting in early February. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams will include more than 250 athletes, and 14 have secured spots already. Among those breathing easy: Snowboarding stars Chloe Kim and Red Gerard, both of whom have qualified.
The rest are headed into the heart of the qualification process, with final rosters to be set in mid-January.
“The anticipation is building, the training intensifies, as you can imagine,’ said Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. “But the excitement is also building and we are very, very encouraged by what Team USA promises to be by the time we get to Milan Cortina.’
Here’s where Team USA stands entering this final stretch. The Opening Ceremony is set for Feb. 6.
Lindsey Vonn chases her Olympics return
At 41, Lindsey Vonn, the legendary Alpine skier, is trying to make her fifth U.S. Olympic team, and planning to compete in the downhill, super-G and team combined races. It’s understandable if this comes as a surprise.
In early 2019, Vonn announced her retirement. But in late 2024, she announced her comeback — after undergoing surgery for a partial knee replacement, no less.
‘Because of my knee replacement, I literally can do anything I want to do. I’m not restricted,’ Vonn said Tuesday. ‘Since I blew out my knee the first time in 2013, I haven’t been able to train with no restrictions. So I think I’m in potentially the best shape of my life, which is saying something at my age.’
She seems to relish being almost twice as old as some of her prospective teammates, who clearly are more adept in some areas than she is. Like creating TikTok videos.
“I did one,’ Vonn said. “It’s my first and probably only TikTok video because it was ‘Law & Order (SVU).’ ”
Her comeback gained steam in March 2025. That’s when at 40 she became the oldest Alpine skier to make a World Cup podium with a second place finish in the super-G at the 2025 World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.
It muffled the skeptics and fueled believers.
“I’ve gotten so much support from so many people, so many young girls and women,’ Vonn said. “I think I’m proving to the world that a woman at 41 can do anything they set their mind to.’
Who are Team USA’s big stars to watch?
She earned her first gold at the 2014 Sochi Games in the women’s slalom event. She collected her second gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, this one in giant slalom, and won a silver in super combined. Then, almost shockingly, she left the 2022 Beijing Games without a medal. Don’t expect it to happen again.
Chloe Kim, the snowboarder, was the darling of the 2018 Winter Olympics when at age 17 she won gold in the halfpipe. It was no fluke. In 2022, she won gold in the halfpipe again. Now, at the advanced age of 25, she is coming off a gold-medal performance at the 2025 World Championships and poised to win, yep, more Olympic gold.
NHL players, including Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews and Charlie McAvoy, will be on the Olympic ice for the first time in 12 years. And hockey star Hilary Knight will bring her own star power to the ice. She’ll compete in her fifth Winter Games. The 36-year-old forward led the Americans to a gold and three silvers during her four Olympic appearances.
Who are Team USA’s other stars to watch?
In 2022, speed skater Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win individual gold at the Winter Olympics when she won the 500 meters. Oh, and that was with only four months of competition as speed skater. Expect more medals on the ice for the former inline skater who also has competed in roller derby.
At 40, Kaillie Humphries is one of the world’s older bobsledders — and best, with her three Olympic golds and one bronze. The 41-year-old Elana Meyers Taylor is another medal contender, having won three Olympic silvers and two bronze in her four Olympic appearances.
Illia Malinin, 20, is known in figure skating as the Quadgod, and he earned that nickname the fearless way. He is the world’s only figure skater to land a quad axel in competition. That’s four rotations in mid-air, followed by a clean landing. This would be his first Olympics, and it’s easy to imagine him spinning his way to a medal.
Jordan Stolz, 21, is the world’s fastest skater at 1,000 meters and at one point built an 18-victory streak at World Cup events. He’s racked up gold medals at the World Championships, and now it’s time for the 21-year-old to bag an Olympic medal at his second Games.
Winter Olympics sliding center update
The rebuilding of Cortina Sliding Centre is complete, and so waits the 16-curve, 1,892-yard track on which the luge, skeleton and bobsled will be held. The venue passed safety tests earlier this year, and it passed the aesthetics test decades ago. The venue offers breathtaking views of the Italian Alps and rich Olympic history, having hosted bobsledding for the 1966 Winter Olympics.
American Mystique Ro, who will compete in the skeleton mixed team event that’s making its Olympic debut, could make it onto the podium, and she expressed no concerns about safety.
“This is definitely a technical slider’s track from what we understand of it,’ said Ro, who won a gold and silver at World Championships earlier this year. “So from there we can kind of ease up a little bit on our apprehension. But obviously we want to make sure we understand where the pressure is to identify it.’
To ensure she’s ready for Olympic competition, Ro said she’ll scout out the track early and game plan.
“We want to make sure we understand where the tricky parts,’ she said.
When are 2026 Olympic trials for figure skating?
Qualifying for most Winter Olympic sports is points-based, dependant on how athletes finish in World Cup events over the coming weeks. Figure skating, like gymnastics for Summer Games, does have trials in the form of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. So does curling. Here are those key dates.
Nov. 11-16, 2025: Curling Olympic Team Trials in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Jan. 4-11, 2026: U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis
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