It looks like we had been simply watching the 2024 Summer Games in Paris (aka the summer season all of us grew to become obsessive about breaking), and now the 2026 Winter Olympics are right here. The first occasions of the Milan Cortina Winter Games begin on Feb. 4, however the Olympics formally start on Feb. 6 with the opening ceremony, and the Games run by Feb. 22. This yr marks the fourth time Italy has hosted the Olympic Games, and occasions like ice hockey and determine skating will happen within the northern metropolis of Milan, whereas the Alpine metropolis of Cortina d’Ampezzo will host alpine snowboarding, snowboarding and curling.If you need to watch the 2026 Winter Games of their entirety, one of the best place for American audiences is Peacock. Every single sport and occasion will stream reside, however in case you’re cautious of that point distinction (Milan is six hours forward of the East Coast), you too can catch full-event replays, too.If you need to tune in through a TV community, every day’s hottest occasions will air throughout NBC, USA and CNBC through the daytime hours, and NBC will broadcast Primetime in Milan, a nightly present that includes one of the best competitions and highlights of the day. Now that you have these particulars, here is the whole lot else that you must find out about this yr’s Winter Games.Which sports activities are within the Winter Olympics? This yr’s Winter Games characteristic 116 completely different medal occasions, with women and men competing in all of them. Here’s an inventory of sports activities at this yr’s Winter Games:Alpine SkiingBiathlonBobsledCross-Country SkiingCurlingFigure SkatingFreestyle SkiingIce HockeyLugeNordic Combined Short Track Speed SkatingSkeletonSki LeapingSki MountaineeringSnowboardingSpeed Skating New sports activities on the 2026 Winter Olympics There will probably be 15 occasions at this yr’s Winter Games which have appeared in earlier Olympic Games, however ski mountaineering — skimo for brief — is new for 2026. Ski mountaineering combines components of Alpine snowboarding, cross-country snowboarding, skinning (uphill snowboarding) and boot packing. Athletes are timed as they traverse a course that consists of an ascent, descent and a foot part (with out skis). How many groups and international locations are collaborating? More than 3,500 athletes from 93 international locations will compete on the 2026 Winter Games. This contains athletes within the 16 Olympic occasions and 6 Paralympic sports activities. There will probably be 15 athletes competing as Individual Neutral Athletes, the designation used to signify accredited particular person Russian and Belarusian athletes not represented by any National Olympic Committee. Athletes to look at on the 2026 Winter GamesA few of the world’s best athletes are competing at this yr’s Winter Games, together with returning Olympic champions like Lindsay Vonn and Chloe Kim, skilled ice hockey gamers and extra. Keep an eye fixed on these contenders because the competitors heats up.SkiingLindsay Vonn (Team USA): Vonn got here out of retirement to compete at this yr’s Winter Games, and in doing so, she’s grow to be the oldest aggressive feminine Alpine skier at this yr’s competitors. Vonn is a three-time Olympic medalist and she or he’s anticipated to compete in three occasions: Downhill, workforce mixed and super-G. Mikaela Shiffrin (Team USA): Joining Vonn on the Alpine snowboarding workforce is three-time Olympic medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, who will probably be competing to win her second large slalom gold medal. Indra Brown (Team Australia): Another competitor to look at is 15-year-old freestyle skier Indra Brown, the youngest athlete chosen to signify Australia this yr.SnowboardingChloe Kim, Faye Thelen, Red Gerard, Nick Baumgartner (Team USA): Chloe Kim is synonymous with snowboarding and the gold medalist returns for her third Olympic Games this yr. Returning Olympians Faye Thelen, Red Gerard and Nick Baumgartner are additionally on Team USA’s snowboarding workforce. Su Yiming (Team China): A history-making gold medalist in 2022’s Games, Su Yiming has been snowboarding since age 4 and has made a reputation for himself doing 1,980-degree spins.Speed SkatingJordan Stolz, (Team USA): World record-holder Jordan Stolz is on the hunt for his first Olympic gold medal within the males’s 1,000m, one in every of 4 occasions he’ll be competing in.Lim Hyo-jun (Team China): Lim Hyo-jun, who additionally competes as Lin Xiaojun, beforehand competed for South Korea and switched to signify China at this yr’s Olympic Games after changing into a naturalized Chinese citizen. He final competed on the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the place he received a short-track gold medal. Figure SkatingThere are 5 Olympic determine skating medal occasions at this yr’s Winter Games: males’s singles, ladies’s singles, pairs, ice dance and the workforce occasion. Amber Glenn (Team USA): Glenn is coming off her third consecutive U.S. championship title and will probably be competing in ladies’s singles.Ilia Malinin (Team USA): Reigning males’s World Champion Ilia Malinin, nicknamed the Quad God for his capability to land quadruple jumps, is a males’s singles gold medal favourite at this yr’s video games. He’s the son of Tatiana Malinina, an Olympic skater who competed for Uzbekistan within the 1990s.Kaori Sakamoto (Team Japan): Champion determine skater Kaori Sakamoto plans to retire after this yr’s Olympics, aiming for gold after incomes a bronze medal within the 2022 Winter Games. Max Naumov (Team USA): Naumov, the son of former Russian determine skating champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, can also be set to compete in males’s singles. Naumov’s mother and father had been amongst these killed within the American Eagle Flight 5342 crash over the Potomac River final yr.Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (Team Canada): Stellato-Dudek, now 42, returned to skating after a 16-year hiatus and is now mounting a bid for gold with associate Deschamps.Madison Chock and Evan Bates (Team USA): American ice dancing pair Chock and Bates are the topics of Netflix’s new docu-series Glitter & Gold: Ice Dancing, together with Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. Ice HockeyFor the primary time since 2014, skilled ice hockey gamers have been named to Olympic nationwide groups. Team USA is comprised of execs from the NHL. In a considerably spectacular stat, there will probably be at the very least one NHL participant on all 32 groups competing within the Winter Games, together with Team Sweden, Team Canada, Team Finland and Team Denmark. Laila Edwards (Team USA): In 2023, Laila Edwards grew to become the primary Black lady to play for the US ladies’s nationwide hockey workforce. She beforehand competed on the University of Wisconsin ladies’s ice hockey workforce, the place she earned two nationwide championships below the teaching of Mark Johnson, a member of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hockey workforce.Who are a few of the commentators and performers on the Winter Games?The 2026 Winter Games Opening Ceremony will probably be a star-studded occasion hosted by NBC News correspondent Savannah Guthrie and commentator Terry Gannon. The ceremony will characteristic performances by Mariah Carey and Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli. Snowboarder Shaun White, Sabrina Impacciatore of The White Lotus and pianist Lang Lang may also take part.YouTube creators will probably be on deck sharing behind-the-scenes takes for Team USA, together with Jordan Howlett (aka Jordan the Stallion), Hunter and Tara Woodall, Alexa Riviera, Kylie Kelce, MMG and Ashley Alexander.NBC’s Primetime in Milan protection will probably be hosted by sportscaster Mike Tirico, who will probably be joined most nights by Snoop Dogg, who made his Olympic commentary debut in Paris. Actor and TV host Stanley Tucci may also be readily available to showcase the native delicacies, tradition and way of life of the Italian cities internet hosting the Winter Games. Also on the bottom in Italy will probably be Elmo, Grover and Cookie Monster and extra Muppet pals who will seem in social and broadcast protection of the Games.As for the precise sporting occasions, NBC has enlisted greater than 80 commentators and analysts to cowl each occasion. Among them are Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir and Scott Hamilton, who will cowl determine skating; former Olympians Picabo Street and Ted Ligety will present snowboarding evaluation; and gold medalists White and Lindsey Jacobellis will cowl snowboarding.
More