Ski legends, NHL greats and a Quad God - 15 global superstars you cannot miss at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina
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Published 07/02/2026 at 09:52 GMT
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Getting to grips with the Winter Olympics can be an intimidating task as a litany of sports and events pack into a busy schedule. Not to worry - we have made things simpler for you by highlighting 15 of the global superstars you cannot afford to miss when the action gets underway in Milano and Cortina. TNT Sports and discovery+ will cover every medal and major moment across 16 days of action.
Who are Team GB’s best medal hopes in Milano Cortina?
Video credit: TNT Sports
The 2026 Winter Olympics is just around the corner, with some of the biggest stars in global sport set to compete for gold in Milano Cortina.
A mouthwatering 16 days of winter sports action is coming up from February 6 to February 22, and you can watch every moment live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Whether it’s the high-speed adrenaline rush of alpine skiing, the technical artistry of figure skating, the patient precision of curling or the ferocious explosiveness of ice hockey, the Winter Games caters for every sporting taste.
But who are the biggest stars to look out for in Italy?
Here, we guide you through 15 unmissable athletes set to star at Milano Cortina 2026.
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)
Shiffrin needs no introduction. The American has already achieved skiing immortality with 107 World Cup wins, 18 global medals and two Olympic golds – but the most decorated alpine skier of all time heads to Italy wanting even more.
Things did not go to plan four years ago in Beijing, when Shiffrin was a huge favourite but failed to claim a medal. Battles with injury have hindered the 30-year-old since but she cracked the 100-win World Cup milestone last year and goes into the 2026 Games in strong form after dominating the 2026 World Cup slalom season with six wins.
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Highlights: Shiffrin wins sixth slalom of season at Flachau
Video credit: TNT Sports
Connor McDavid (Canada)
For the first time since the 2014 Games in Sochi, ice hockey stars from the NHL will compete for Olympic gold. That means a host of the world’s top talent will descend on Italy, with Canada’s Connor McDavid - widely regarded as the best player on the planet – leading the charge.
A five-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy for the NHL’s leading points scorer and four-time winner of the Ted Lindsay Award for the best player in the league, all eyes will be on McDavid as the Canadians bid to beat the likes of the United States, Sweden and reigning champions Finland to a record-extending 10th gold medal.
His compatriot Marie-Philip Poulin is also one to watch, with the Canadian women’s team captain looking to defend the gold medal, which would see her equal the record for the most individual gold medals in ice hockey with four.
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Lindsey Vonn (USA)
Another legend of the slopes, Vonn is a four-time World Cup overall champion, three-time Olympic medallist and eight-time World Championships medallist.
Now aged 41, Vonn retired in 2019, only to return to the sport two years ago with an eye on further success. That soon followed when she became the oldest downhill skier to win a World Cup race last month.
Even a devastating knee injury can't curtail her, with Vonn still competing despite tearing her ACL and she will be hoping for a fairytale ending to the second part of her career.
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Highlights: Vonn secures another win in Zauchensee after sensational run
Video credit: TNT Sports
Jordan Stolz (USA)
Speed skating is one of the most gripping events at the Winter Olympics and 21-year-old American sensation Stolz is the talk of the town ahead of his bid for a full sweep of medals across 500m, 1000m and 1500m disciplines in Milan.
Stolz started skating aged five and is eyeing his first Olympic medal in Italy after already making history in his sport as the youngest single distance world champion, first male skater to win three individual golds at a single world championships and world record holder in 1000m and Big Combination.
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Teen star Stolz breaks 1000m record in Salt Lake City World Cup victory
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Arianna Fontana (Italy)
Sticking on the ice but moving to the other end of the experience spectrum, Italian legend and flag bearer Fontana will be one of the pin-up stars for the home nation as she bids to add to her record collection of Olympic medals.
Fontana is Italy’s most decorated Winter Olympians with 11 medals in short track speed skating, and her sixth Games will see her compete in short track and long track as she returns to home Olympic ice 20 years after debuting at Turin 2006.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (Norway)
Before turning 30, Klaebo has already established himself as one of the greats - he is the most decorated man in cross-country skiing history.
The Norwegian has more than 100 World Cup wins to his name to go with five Olympic gold medals from the last two Games, and the record-smashing six golds he claimed at the 2025 World Championships suggests he isn’t about to slow down as he eyes success across multiple events in Italy.
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'It's not close' - Klaebo claims strong solo World Cup victory in Ruka
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Chloe Kim (USA)
A 17-year-old Kim rose to stardom at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, becoming the youngest woman to win Olympic snowboard halfpipe gold, and she followed that up with a successful defence in Beijing.
Can Kim make it three in a row in Italy? At the age of 25, the American is aiming to do just that, something that no woman has ever done before.
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‘It is Kim’s world’ – Olympic champion attempts 1260 during victory lap
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Sofia Goggia (Italy)
Italy’s fearless speed merchant could be the host nation’s best chance of ski medal success after 2025 World Cup overall champion Federica Brignone suffered a serious injury that she is only just coming back from.
Goggia became the first Italian woman to win downhill gold in 2018 at PyeongChang and then won silver in Beijing four years ago, and she will be desperate to add to her medal tally with the backing of a home crowd.
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Marco Odermatt (Switzerland)
The Swiss sensation heads to Cortina as one of the leading medal contenders after claiming four consecutive overall World Cup titles and three World Championship golds leading up to the 2026 Games.
Last time out in Beijing, he won giant slalom gold for the Swiss, but the 28-year-old is a multiple threat, having claimed Super-G gold at last year’s World Championships and downhill gold in 2023.
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Highlights: Unstoppable Odermatt takes stunning downhill triumph in Wengen
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Eileen Gu (China)
Four years ago in Beijing, an 18-year-old Gu became the first athlete to win three freestyle skiing medals at a single Games, claiming gold in big air and halfpipe and silver in slopestyle.
The multi-talented 22-year-old has struggled with injuries in recent years but is a true phenomenon of her field, with halfpipe being her big focus heading into Italy as she juggles medal hopes with studying for a degree at Stanford University.
Ilia Malinin (USA)
There is a lot of buzz around the "Quad God" of figure skating, a nickname he earned by becoming the first and only skater to land the quadruple axel in international competition.
The 21-year-old will make his Olympic bow in Italy after failing to qualify four years ago and he heads to Italy in top form after winning a fourth straight national title in January and a sixth individual Grand Prix gold.
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'His best ever skate' - Malinin produces historic display to win gold in Montreal
Video credit: TNT Sports
Jutta Leerdam (Netherlands)
Seven-time world champion Leerdam – the fiancée of American boxer and influencer Jake Paul – is sure to grab some headlines when she takes to the ice in Milan due to her fame as a social media sensation with five million Instagram followers.
The Dutch speed skater will compete in the 500m and 1000m events - despite suffering a fall in qualifying for the latter distance – as she bids to go one better than the silver medal she claimed four years ago in Beijing.
Ester Ledecka (Czech Republic)
If it’s hard to imagine the talent and dedication required to win Olympic gold in one sport, imagine doing it in two.
That is exactly what Ledecka achieved in 2018, claiming super-G victory in alpine skiing before strapping on a snowboard and triumphing in the parallel giant slalom. She went on to win World Championship medals in both sports last year, while she claimed bronze in the downhill skiing worlds recently too.
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'What an athlete, remarkable!' - Dominant Ledecka wins third Olympic gold
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Mikael Kingsbury (Canada)
Canada’s Kingsbury is a legend of the moguls discipline and the nine-time world champion is the most decorated freestyle skier in World Cup history.
The 33-year-old claimed a landmark 100th World Cup victory in January and will now be focused on claiming his second Olympic gold – his existing tally of one being a surprisingly small return for a man of his talents after Sweden’s Walter Wallberg stunned him four years ago in Beijing.
Francesco Friedrich (Germany)
Widely regarded as one of the greatest ever to jump in a bobsleigh, German pilot Friedrich heads to Cortina with outstanding Olympic pedigree that will intimidate even his gutsiest of rivals.
Friedrich claimed gold in both the two-man and four-man bob in back-to-back Games in 2018 and 2022 and is a 16-time world champion, winning nine of the past 10 World Championships gold medals on offer in the two-man event and the last seven in a row in the four-man.
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‘The greatest bobsleigher of all time!’ – Friedrich does the double-double again
Video credit: TNT Sports
Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+. Available across all subscription plans, starting at £3.99.
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