The Winter Games are heading to Italy, and the U.S. team is looking strong. You have legends like Lindsey Vonn and Hilary Knight trying for one last medal. You also have young talents doing things we have never seen before. From the hockey rink to the ski slopes, here are the 32 Americans you need to know before the action starts.

32. Deedra Irwin

Sport: Biathlon
Event(s): Mixed relay, 15km individual, 7.5km sprint, 10km pursuit, 4x6km relay, 12.5km mass start
When to Watch: Feb 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21

Biathlon remains the sole Winter Olympic discipline in which the United States has yet to secure a medal. Irwin represents the program’s highest statistical probability of ending this drought. Despite a late entry into the sport at age 25, her seventh-place finish in Beijing demonstrated rapid adaptation to the sport’s complex, variable heart-rate management during precision shooting.

31. Jessie Diggins

Sport: Cross-Country Skiing
Event(s): Skiathlon, Sprint classic, 10km interval, Relay, Team sprint, 50km mass start
When to Watch: Feb 7, 10, 12, 14, 18, 22

Diggins enters her final season as the most decorated American cross-country skier in history. Her scheduled participation in nearly every available event indicates a strategy maximizing volume to secure a podium finish. Her physiological endurance remains elite, allowing her to maintain pace in the “red zone” longer than most competitors.

30. Erin Jackson

Sport: Speedskating
Event(s): 500m, 1,000m
When to Watch: Feb 12, 16
Jackson’s gold in 2022 was a historic anomaly as the first individual winter gold for a Black woman. Now 33, her initial 100-meter split times remain elite, allowing her to generate necessary velocity early in the sprint. A successful title defense would mark the first back-to-back U.S. golds in the 500m since the 1990s, validating her status as a generational talent rather than a one-time outlier.​

29. Brittany Bowe

Sport: Speedskating
Event(s): 1,000m, 1,500m, Team pursuit
When to Watch: Feb 16, 17, 20
At 37, Bowe’s role has shifted toward veteran leadership, yet she remains a viable podium threat due to her technical efficiency. As the current world record holder in the 1,000m, her mechanics allow her to compete against younger skaters. Her fourth Olympic appearance underscores the longevity required to stay atop the U.S. speedskating program.

28. Jordan Stolz

Sport: Speedskating
Event(s): 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, Mass start
When to Watch: Feb 11, 14, 19, 21
Stolz is currently the statistical outlier of international speedskating. At just 21, he has won seven world titles in three years, dominating both sprint (500m) and middle distances (1,500m). This combination is physiologically rare. His versatility makes him the safest probability for hardware on the entire roster.

27. Mystique Ro

Sport: Skeleton
Event(s): Individual heats, Mixed team
When to Watch: Feb 14, 15
Ro compensates for a smaller frame with exceptional explosive power at the start, derived from her track-and-field background. In sliding sports, initial push velocity is a critical variable for total time; her silver medal at the 2025 Worlds confirms she has successfully translated that launch power into consistent driving lines.

26. Kaillie Humphries Armbruster

Sport: Bobsled
Event(s): Monobob, Two-woman bobsled
When to Watch: Feb 16, 21
Humphries Armbruster’s resume is unique, having secured gold medals for both Canada and the United States. At 40, a “senior” age for bobsled, she relies on driving precision and track knowledge over raw push power. This experience is a significant asset in negotiating the variable ice conditions of an Olympic track.

25. Alex Hall

Sport: Freeskiing
Event(s): Slopestyle, Big Air
When to Watch: Feb 10, 17
Hall’s competitive edge is defined by creativity and technical variance rather than just rotation count. While he pioneered the 2160 (six rotations), his high scores often come from unique axis variations that differentiate his runs in the judges’ eyes. As the defending slopestyle champion, his technical package remains the benchmark for the field.

24. Nick Goepper

Sport: Freeskiing
Event(s): Halfpipe
When to Watch: Feb 20
Goepper’s pivot from a retired slopestyle medalist to a halfpipe contender is an unusual late-career trajectory. His success in the pipe suggests that his air awareness and edge control from slopestyle transferred effectively to the vertical walls. He enters this cycle with a relaxed “second act” mindset, which can often reduce performance anxiety.

23. Alex Ferreira

Sport: Freeskiing
Event(s): Halfpipe
When to Watch: Feb 20
Ferreira is a technical purist known for the amplitude and cleanliness of his execution. With silver and bronze already secured, his run construction focuses on spinning versatility, rotating both left and right with equal proficiency, which significantly boosts his technical difficulty score in the judges’ eyes.

22 & 21. Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse

Sport: Curling
Event(s): Mixed Doubles
When to Watch: Feb 10 (Medal matches)
Mixed doubles is a discipline often defined by chaos and high mistake rates. Dropkin and Thiesse provide the U.S. with its strongest analytical case for a medal, evidenced by their 2023 World Championship win. Their communication and stone-placement accuracy provide stability during a highly volatile event.

20. Nick Baumgartner

Sport: Snowboarding
Event(s): Snowboardcross, Mixed team snowboardcross
When to Watch: Feb 12, 15
At 44, Baumgartner is the oldest athlete on the ski and snowboard roster. Snowboardcross is a high-variance event with significant collision risk, yet Baumgartner mitigates this with veteran race IQ and line selection. He aims to extend his own record as the oldest medalist in snowboarding history.

19. Red Gerard

Sport: Snowboarding
Event(s): Big Air, Slopestyle
When to Watch: Feb 7, 18
Transitioning from a teenage prodigy to a 25-year-old veteran, Gerard’s consistency on rail sections provides a high-scoring floor. To return to the podium, he will need to pair that technical rail work with maximum-amplitude jumps to match the rapid progression of slopestyle difficulty since 2018.

18. Alessandro Barbieri

Sport: Snowboarding
Event(s): Halfpipe
When to Watch: Feb 13
Barbieri represents the sport’s new progression curve, being the youngest rider (17) to land a triple cork 1440. Competing near his extended family in Italy, he combines home-field emotional momentum with a trick package that rivals established veterans twice his age.

17. Chloe Kim

Sport: Snowboarding
Event(s): Halfpipe
When to Watch: Feb 12
Kim enters as the two-time defending champion. While a recent shoulder injury has reduced her training volume, her base run difficulty (amplitude and technical composition) has historically outpaced the field. Even at less than 100% physical capacity, her “safety run” is often mathematically superior to her competitors’ best efforts.

16. Connor Hellebuyck

Sport: Hockey
Event(s): Men’s Tournament
When to Watch: Gold Medal Final on Feb 22
In single-elimination tournaments, goaltending is the most significant variable. Hellebuyck, a reigning NHL MVP, offers the U.S. elite stability in net. His success will depend on transferring his regular-season consistency to the high-pressure environment of the medal rounds.

15 & 14. Quinn and Jack Hughes

Sport: Hockey
Event(s): Men’s Tournament
When to Watch: Gold Medal Final on Feb 22
This brother duo creates a unique tactical advantage. Quinn’s puck-moving efficiency from the blue line pairs instinctively with Jack’s creativity in the offensive zone. Their chemistry, developed over a lifetime, allows for non-verbal communication and rapid play execution that opposing defenses find difficult to predict.

13 & 12. Brady and Matthew Tkachuk

Sport: Hockey
Event(s): Men’s Tournament
When to Watch: Gold Medal Final on Feb 22
Known for their heavy, physical play, the Tkachuk brothers add grit often missing from international rosters. While fighting is penalized in Olympic play, their ability to control the physical edge of the game and win possession battles along the boards is a key strategic asset.

11. Abbey Murphy

Sport: Hockey
Event(s): Women’s Tournament
When to Watch: Gold Medal Final on Feb 19
Murphy is a statistical anomaly in the NCAA, leading in both goals and penalty minutes. Her aggressive style creates high-reward offensive chances, provided she can maintain discipline. She functions as a high-event player capable of breaking open tight defensive games.

10. Kendall Coyne Schofield

Sport: Hockey
Event(s): Women’s Tournament
When to Watch: Gold Medal Final on Feb 19
Despite balancing motherhood and a leadership role in the new professional league, Coyne Schofield’s acceleration metrics remain world-class. Her speed forces defenses to back off the blue line, creating open ice for her teammates to operate.

9. Laila Edwards

Sport: Hockey
Event(s): Women’s Tournament
When to Watch: Gold Medal Final on Feb 19
At 6-foot-1, Edwards utilizes exceptional reach to disrupt passing lanes and control space. Her transition from forward to defense makes her a versatile weapon for the coaching staff, capable of creating matchup nightmares in all three zones.

8. Hilary Knight

Sport: Hockey
Event(s): Women’s Tournament
When to Watch: Gold Medal Final on Feb 19
Entering her fifth and final Olympics, Knight is the team’s historical anchor. While her role has evolved from primary speedster to power forward, her shot selection and situational awareness in clutch moments remain the team’s benchmark for reliability.

7. Lindsey Vonn

Sport: Alpine Skiing
Event(s): Downhill, Super-G
When to Watch: Feb 8, 12
Vonn’s return at age 41, following a partial knee replacement and a recent ACL rupture in January 2026, is medically and statistically improbable. While her peak physical output is compromised, her intimate knowledge of gliding physics and line tactics offers a path to competitiveness that relies on efficiency rather than raw power.

6. Mikaela Shiffrin

Sport: Alpine Skiing
Event(s): Giant Slalom, Slalom
When to Watch: Feb 15, 18
Shiffrin, statistically the greatest skier of all time with over 100 World Cup wins, enters with a focus on redemption after a chaotic 2022 Beijing performance. Her recent form suggests a return to the technical precision and mental resilience that originally defined her dominance in slalom and giant slalom.

5 & 4. Madison Chock and Evan Bates

Sport: Figure Skating
Event(s): Rhythm Dance, Free Dance
When to Watch: Feb 9, 11
Undefeated at the World Championships for three consecutive years, Chock and Bates have optimized their scoring potential through intricate lifts and high component scores. They enter the Games as the clear statistical favorites to secure the gold medal that has thus far eluded them.

3. Alysa Liu

Sport: Figure Skating
Event(s): Women’s Short, Women’s Free
When to Watch: Feb 17, 19
Liu’s career arc includes early retirement and a successful return, culminating in a 2025 World title. Her comeback is characterized by a sustainable psychological approach that, ironically, has led to improved competitive consistency and higher execution scores than in her teenage years.

2. Amber Glenn

Sport: Figure Skating
Event(s): Women’s Short, Women’s Free
When to Watch: Feb 17, 19
At 26, Glenn is an outlier in a discipline typically dominated by teenagers. She is one of the few women capable of landing the triple axel, a high-value element that gives her a technical ceiling comparable to younger competitors. Her power and consistency challenge the traditional age curve of women’s figure skating.​

1. Ilia Malinin

Sport: Figure Skating
Event(s): Men’s Short, Men’s Free
When to Watch: Feb 10, 13
Malinin has fundamentally altered the sport’s physics. As the only skater to land a quadruple axel in competition (with a remarkably low fall rate on the element) he holds a technical base value advantage that is virtually insurmountable if he skates clean. He represents the highest probability of a gold medal in the figure skating delegation.

Watching history unfold

The 2026 roster presents a compelling case study in athletic development, bridging the gap between established dynasties like Vonn and Knight and the experimental, gravity-defying future led by talents like Malinin and Stolz.

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