While 2024 marked a Summer Games year, Americans in winter sports are collectively coming off arguably the best season on snow and ice in recent history. That success could propel the U.S. to its best Winter Olympic in over a decade after finishing fourth and fifth in total medals at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympic. Here’s a U.S.-centric breakdown of the stories and key athletes entering 2024-25. the winter season marks the final full year leading up to the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Milano Cortina 2026 games d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Olympic 2026 fans worldwide can book Olympic Alpine Skiing Tickets from our online platforms e-ticketing. co. Fans can book Olympic Tickets on our website at discounted prices. Experience the thrill of the Games in Milano Cortina and support your favourite athletes as they compete for glory.
Winter Olympic Alpine Skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin stars despite injury
In 2022-23, Mikaela Shiffrin broke the record for career wins at the Alpine Skiing World Cup. In 2023–24, her season was cut short by injury on 26 January. She suffered ligament damage in her left leg and a sprained ankle. She was sidelined for 11 races of the 39-race season, yet led all women with nine race wins.
Shiffrin has now reached 97 career World Cup victories. This season, which begins in October, she can become only the second athlete to win 100 individual World Cup events in any winter sport. Retired Norwegian winter Olympic Cross Country Skiing Marit Bjørgen won 114.
More history is on the line at February’s world championships in Saalbach, Austria. With just one win, Shiffrin would tie the record for career Alpine worlds gold medals in modern history (currently seven). She is also one shy of the all-time Alpine Worlds medal total record (15).
While Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt continues to dominate the men’s tour, River Radamus became the youngest American to reach the World Cup podium in nearly a decade this past February. Radamus, 26, shares a hometown with Shiffrin (Edwards, Colo.).
Winter Olympic Cross Country Skiing: Jessie Diggins joined by youth
Jessie Diggins, a winter Olympic medalist of all colors, is coming off the most successful season for an American Winter Olympic Cross Country Skiing. For the second time, she won the overall title of the World Cup, which crowns the best all-around skier in the world, combining the results throughout the season in the distances and the classic and freestyle techniques.
This season offers an opportunity to achieve something new. At the biennial world championships, the U.S. women have an opportunity to secure their first relay medal after finishing fourth or fifth in each of the last six World Championships. The United States also has an emerging male standout in 24-year-old Alaskan Gus Schumacher. In February, he became the youngest American to win a cross-country World Cup race and the first American to win one in a decade. The only US men’s Olympic cross country medal came in 1976 (Bill Koch, silver).
Winter Olympic Figure Skating: Malinin, Chock/Bates back as world champs
U.S. figure skating is set to win two titles at a single world championship for the first time since 1996. Last March, 19-year-old Ilia Malinin won her first world title. Ice dancers Madison Chock, 32, and Evan Bates, 35, secured their title as world champions once again.
This season is crucial, as results at the world championships determine how many entries nations receive in each event for the winter Olympic 2026. Additionally, the World Championships will take place in Boston.
Malinin won his world title with the best collection of jumps in a single program in history. Looking to the future, he hinted at the possibility of being the first skater to successfully land a quintuple jump in competition. You can read Winter Olympic 2026: Witness World Cup Glory as Alpine Skiing Takes over North America
Ice Dance and Women’s Competition: U.S. Athletes Thrive Amid Changing Landscape
Chock and Bates, the oldest couple to win a world ice dance title, are coming off their first season undefeated, although their margin of victory at worlds was the smallest in dance in a decade. They were married in June. In recent years, they have decided every offseason whether to continue competing. They participated in the Grand Prix series this fall. In January, they can match the record of six US ice dance career titles held by Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
The United States is delving into women’s competition in the absence of the once-dominant Russians. Following the invasion of Ukraine, every international winter Olympic sports federation prohibited athletes from Russia and Belarus, and those bans are still in effect.
Isa beau Leviton takes silver at the worlds, the best result for an American woman in the last eight years. Amber Glenn is coming off her first senior national title, while Alysa Liu, the 2019 and 2020 US champion and 2022 world bronze medalist, made her competitive return last weekend after more than two years away from the ice.
Freestyle Skiing: Alex Ferreira’s perfect season
The top U.S. freestyle skier doesn’t yet have a winter Olympic gold medal, but he looks like an early favorite for 2026. Alex Ferreira, bronze medalist in 2018 and silver medalist in 2022, won all seven ski halfpipe competitions in 2023-2024, a year after some suggested he quit the sport after two heavy crashes.
This season, he could face New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, who began easing his way back into competition last winter for the first time since winning the 2022 winter Olympic title. In 2026, Ferreira can become the first man to win an Olympic medal of each color in an individual snow event.
Also last season, 12 different U.S. men and women made the World Cup podium on aerials, moguls or the new Olympic event of dual moguls. The group is led by Jaelin Kouf, 2022 silver medalist in the women’s mogul, and Winter Vinecki, who has won three of the six World Cups in the women’s aerial.
One of the podium finishers, Alli Macuga, is one of three sisters who could qualify for the Olympic team in three distinct skiing disciplines. The eldest, Sam, competes in ski jumping, while Lauren, the middle sister, is an alpine skier.
Three siblings competed twice on the same U.S. Winter Olympic team, according to OlyMADMen’s Bill Mallon: alpine skiers Barbara, Bob and Marilyn Cochran in 1972 and bobsledders Curtis, Hubert and Paul Stevens in 1932.
Hockey: U.S. Women’s Team Undergoes Changes as NHL Readies for Olympic Return
Since taking silver at the 2022 winter Olympic, the US women’s hockey team has brought in a new coach (John Wroblewski), named a new captain (Hilary Knight), received a new world championship MVP (Laila Edwards, the first female of color who played for the senior national team) and welcomed back Kendall Coyne Schofield from maternity leave.
At the 2023 Worlds, the USA snapped a losing streak to Canada in the finals of a major tournament. At the 2024 Worlds, Canada claimed the title on a golden goal. Next April’s worlds in the Czech Republic could decide the winter Olympic 2026 favorite. For the men, the NHL has reached a preliminary agreement to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014.
The USA, which last claimed gold with the Miracle on Ice in 1980, could assemble a team featuring Auston Matthews (the leading scorer for the 2023-24 NHL season), goaltender Connor Hellebusch (the 2023-24 Vezina Trophy winner), and the Hughes brothers (Jack, Luke, and Quinn). This means the U.S. Olympic delegation in 2026 could include three sisters and three brothers. Mike Sullivan, head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, has already been named the U.S. men’s winter Olympic coach.
Paralympic Sports: Nordic skiers, snowboarders lead
The USA’s recent successes in Para biathlon, winter Olympic Cross Country Skiing and snowboarding at the Paralympic Games continued into 2022. Last season, Paralympic champions Oksana Masters and Kendall Grutsch secured world titles in biathlon, with Masters also achieving World Cup victories in Winter Olympic cross-country skiing.
Masters, the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian in history, and Grutsch subsequently shifted back to their summer sports for the Paris Games. Masters added two more golds for cycling, while Grutsch added silver for triathlon.
In snowboarding, five Americans triumphed in banked slalom races at last season’s World Cup finals: Paralympic gold medalists Noah Elliott, Brenna Huckabee, and Mike Minor, along with Darian Haynes and Peggy Martin. The biennial world championships are set to return this March at Big White, British Columbia.
In hockey, the U.S. has won the last four Paralympic titles, but rival Canada snapped the Americans’ 41-game winning streak at the world championship final in May. In 2026, the U.S. can strive to be the first nation to secure five consecutive Olympic or Paralympic hockey titles.
Short Track: Kristen Santos-Griswold’s record medal haul
Kristen Santos-Griswold won a medal in all five of her events at the world championships last March as the U.S. women’s short track team had its best worlds since the sport was added to the Olympic medal program in 1992.
At the last Olympic, Santos-Griswold placed fourth in the 1000m, after which she debated quitting. Now, she is in a strong position to win the first U.S. women’s short track medal at the 2010 Olympics.
Santos-Griswold could be challenged this season by South Korea’s biggest star, Choi Min-Jeong, who is out in 2023-24.
Sliding Sports: Return of Elana Meyers Taylor, Kaillie Humphries
Kristen Santos-Griswold earned medals in all five of her events at the world championships last March, marking the U.S. women’s short track team’s best performance since the sport was introduced to the Olympic medal program in 1992.
At the last Olympic, Santos-Griswold finished fourth in the 1000m and considered quitting afterward. Now, she stands in a strong position to win the first U.S. women’s short track medal at the winter Olympic 2026. This season, she may face competition from South Korea’s top star, Choi Min-Jong, who is out for 2023-24.
Winter Olympic Snowboarding: Chloe Kim makes halfpipe history
Chloe Kim made her return to competition last season for the first time since successfully defending her Olympic gold medal in 2022. In her second event back, she became the first woman to land a 1260 in competition. In January, Kim broke the tie with Kelly Clark for the most X Games titles in the event, with both having seven overall and six in Aspen. As she heads into 2026, Kim may not be the only American aiming to be the first woman to win three winter Olympic gold medals in snowboarding.
Lindsey Jacob Ellis, who secured two golds in 2022, claimed silver at the 2023 world championships at the age of 37. Jamie Anderson, the slopestyle gold medalist from 2014 and 2018, returned to competition last winter after giving birth in March 2023.
Winter Olympic Speed Skating: Jordan Stolz rules
Jordan Stolz is coming off one of the most impressive seasons in any winter sport. In 2023-24, the Wisconsin native set his first world record in the 1000m, achieved the fastest time ever recorded at sea level in the 1500m, swept the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m at the world championships for the second consecutive year, and earned the title of world champion at all levels—all at just 19 years old.
This season, Stolz will have the opportunity to skate at a World Cup event in his hometown of Milwaukee for the first time (January 31-February 2). The world championships are scheduled for March at the iconic Viking ship in Hamar, Norway.
Erin Jackson made her return to the top of the 500m at the World Cup last season, following a year of recovery from three herniated discs in her lower back. In 2022, Jackson became the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympic.
Experience the magic and excitement as fans from around the world gather to celebrate the spirit of the Games. Secure your Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony Tickets now and create memories that will last a lifetime at the unforgettable Winter Olympic 2026.