26 causes to observe the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan

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Vox loves the Olympics. Completely loves them. We briefly debated popping up a limited-run Winter Olympics publication this week, however then remembered that we're not in reality a sports activities web site and don't have any precise sports activities reporters on employees.

Regardless of! The Olympics are enjoyable (and, often, inspiring and heartbreaking and anxious and peculiar) as a result of they contact a variety of human pursuits, from geopolitics to local weather to superstar and tradition. And in that spirit, I’ve polled my colleagues and poked my head into a number of planning periods to see what Olympics storylines everyone seems to be watching.

In at present’s version, we spherical up the fascinating characters, open questions, and rising developments that might outline the Milan Cortina Video games, from the debut of skimo (fascinating! enjoyable!) to the difficult ethical calculus of rooting for Workforce USA proper now (nuanced, uncomfortable, in brief: a bummer).

The entire shebang formally kicks off this afternoon at 2 pm ET, with a primetime broadcast at 8 pm. You may completely guess that I and lots of others at Vox might be tuning in.

Are we the baddies? I feel it’s going to be fascinating to see how American followers react to, properly, being world villains. I feel it may very well be notably fascinating round Olympic hockey. In all probability essentially the most well-known second of American underdogness — a minimum of because the American Revolution — was the 1980 Olympics hockey win. The People and the Canadians are the highest rivals in Olympic hockey, and these Video games might be intense. We’re not plucky underdogs — the US crew in all probability has the second-best likelihood on the gold after Canada — and we won't be the group favourite. What’s that going to really feel like? —Bryan Walsh

Skimo. I’m nonetheless rooting for the Winter Olympics so as to add two of my favorite sports — cross-country working and cyclocross bike racing, each of that are great within the snow — however for now, I’m loads excited concerning the new sport we did get: skimo, or ski mountaineering . Because the identify suggests, it entails summiting a climb (partially with skis, partially with out) after which tearing again down it. Athletes need to transition between phases alongside the way in which, triathlon-style, and it seems thrilling. —Cameron Peters

Ilia Malinin. Twenty-one-year-old determine skater Ilia Malinin is competing in his first Olympics this yr, however he’s already damaged a ton of information. In 2022, he grew to become the primary (and nonetheless solely) skater to land a completely rotated quadruple axel in worldwide competitors, and in December, he landed a report seven quadruple jumps in a single program. In different phrases, Malinin is a mind-bogglingly aggressive, bodily skater — The Atlantic dubbed him “ the man who broke physics ” — and his applications might be actually enjoyable to observe after they kick off this weekend. —Caitlin Dewey

A determine skater’s tragic backstory. Maxim Naumov is a member of the US Olympic determine skating crew whose mother and father — world champions in skating themselves — have been among the many 67 individuals killed when an American Airways airplane and a helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington, DC, final January. As a lot because the airplane crash affected DC, it was much more devastating for the determine skating group, which misplaced 28 parents, skaters, alumni, volunteers, and more . It’s laborious to not root for Naumov within the aftermath of such unhappiness. —Libby Nelson

US immigration brokers. The Division of Homeland Safety typically has a presence on the Olympic Video games, offering safety providers and monitoring prison exercise. However the information that some ICE brokers would deploy to Milan has sparked outrage and protests in Italy. Milan’s governor known as ICE “a militia that kills” and stated “they don't seem to be welcome” in his metropolis. —CD

Doable political demonstrations. A whole lot of athletes competing in Milan hail from one of many world’s most politically unstable nations: america of America. As Vox’s Alex Abad-Santos has written, American athletes are bound to face questions about representing the nation of Donald Trump. It appears possible that some US Olympians, lots of whom are immigrants or the youngsters of immigrants, will communicate out in opposition to ICE; I might be watching to see who does and what they are saying. Eventually yr’s 4 Nations males’s hockey match, pro-MAGA and anti-Trump sentiment coloured the US-Canada ultimate, with Trump himself calling the boys’s crew and elevating the tempers of Canadian gamers and followers along with his calls to annex what he was calling “the 51st state.” —Seth Maxon

…and never simply from Workforce USA. There are 4 Israelis competing at these Video games who might face protests or turn into fulcrums of controversy. And there are Ukrainians, “unaffiliated” athletes from Russia, a few Iranians, and even a Venezuelan cross-country skier competing. Whether or not any of them communicate up or are confronted about their nations’ turmoil might be price watching out for. —SM

Winter climate. Many Winter Olympic occasions hinge on best out of doors snow and ice situations which can be changing into tougher to attain because the planet warms up. The IOC stated they're now contemplating moving the Winter Games earlier in the year to chase the chilly climate. Then again, a number of the early ski periods for the present Video games have been canceled due to too much snow . —Umair Irfan

Milo and Tina. I don’t suppose any Olympic mascots will ever high Paris’s anthropomorphic hats , however hold a watch out for the scarf-wearing, short-haired weasels that organizers have known as the Video games’ “first brazenly Gen Z” representatives. The open Gen Z-ness relates to their backstories (Milo and Tina are reportedly youngsters) and their design origins (Italy invited major and secondary college college students to submit mascot proposals). —CD

Alysa Liu. Not solely is 20-year-old determine skater Alysa Liu competing on the most important stage on this planet after a virtually two-year hiatus from the game, however Liu instructed her coaches that she needed to design her personal costumes and skate to her alternative of music. Up to now, that’s concerned a number of Woman Gaga, a smiley piercing, and halo-striped hair. I can’t wait to see what she and the remainder of the US determine skating crew accomplish. —Sydney Bergen

Macklin Celebrini. The time period “generational expertise” will get tossed round so much when hockey watchers speak concerning the 19-year-old ahead from Vancouver. He’s made a stagnant, struggling crew (my crew, the San Jose Sharks) aggressive as soon as once more. Celebrini is about to turn into the youngest participant to symbolize Canada in a Winter Olympics that includes gamers from the Nationwide Hockey League — the place he’ll play alongside NHL icons like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid. Celebrini has been an interesting participant to observe when a complete crew depends on him, so I can’t think about what he can accomplish when he’s enjoying alongside his sport’s largest stars. —Christian Paz

Lindsey Vonn. The 41-year-old American skier fully ruptured her ACL in a fall final week, however has insisted that she’ll compete in her fifth Winter Video games regardless of the (extreme and debilitating!) harm. If she competes as deliberate, Vonn would be the oldest feminine Alpine skier in Olympic historical past. As an individual round Vonn’s age, and because the proprietor of a completely reconstructed ACL, I'm each vaguely horrified for Vonn and really invested in her competitors. —CD

Chloe Kim. The American snowboarding famous person suffered a shoulder harm in early January that has prevented her from coaching within the weeks which have adopted. Fortunately, she has recovered sufficient to nonetheless compete. However is she nonetheless in high type and in a position to contend for gold as anticipated? I hope so! Both method, I’m positive NBC and Peacock are already making ready their scripts about how a lot adversity she’s overcome to get again on the rostrum. —SM

Laila Edwards . The 22-year-old senior on the College of Wisconsin made historical past in Italy by simply being there: Edwards is the primary Black girl to play for the US girls’s Olympic hockey crew. And because of a profitable GoFundMe marketing campaign — which included a donation from the Kelce brothers, who're from her hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio — Edwards’s mother and father and different members of the family have made the journey to Milan as properly. —Esther Gim

Eileen Gu. A breakout star on the 2022 Olympics is again to compete in freestyle snowboarding. On the final Video games, she ignited debate in each the US and China as an American who selected to compete for China, her mom’s dwelling nation. However the controversy hardly harm her success; she’s turn into an enormous superstar in China with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in endorsement offers, and he or she received three medals, together with two golds, in Beijing. She’s solely 22 years previous and is gearing up for much more success, and stardom, in Milan. —SM

Giorgia Meloni. Italy’s first girl prime minister already occupies an odd place on the world stage: She’s a right-wing populist who enjoys an in depth relationship with President Donald Trump and his administration… however she’s additionally, clearly, a European chief who’s needed to grapple with Trump’s assaults on the continent. The Olympics, Italy’s first since 2006, will put her within the world highlight as soon as once more. (That, and a comically Italian scandal whereby a partisan artwork restorer snuck Meloni’s face right into a church fresco.) —CD

Cultural initiatives. Alongside the athletic occasions, Italy is internet hosting a nationwide Cultural Olympiad with exhibitions, theater and music performances, artist installations, festivals, and workshops. Los Angeles ought to be watching carefully, as native officers are concerned that the town is way behind on planning and fundraising for arts programming for the 2028 Video games. Can LA showcase itself as an leisure mecca and a capital of cultural range, because it did when it final hosted the Video games in 1984? The clock is ticking. —Avishay Artsy

Greening the Video games. Bear in mind in the course of the 2024 Summer season Olympics in Paris when organizers have been getting warmth for a way they approached “greening” the competition ? On the time, organizers targeted on nudging behavioral selections, corresponding to defaulting towards climate-friendly meals (learn: no meat) or no AC, which wasn’t well-liked. So I used to be excited to listen to that this yr’s Winter Olympics targeted its power on the precise development of the Milano Cortina Olympic Village as a substitute. In keeping with the architects behind the project , the village employs a modular design made with low-carbon development strategies and prefabricated facade panels. It may be a mannequin for future Video games. —Izzie Ramirez

“The battle of millimeters.” Final month, a dishonest scandal rocked the ski-jumping world when three employees members on the Norwegian crew have been suspended for modifying the crotches of the outfits of two jumpers, together with the reigning Olympic champion. In sports activities like ski leaping, small adjustments like additional stitching can have huge aerodynamic impacts — a part of what one ski leaping fanatic described to The Athletic as “the battle of millimeters.” We’ll see what which means for Norway’s athletes in these Olympics. —Cameron Peters

Olympic muffins. The perfect TikToks from the Olympic Village don't have anything to do with sport: They’re the clips of globe-trotting, carb-loading, world-class athletes reviewing mid-range cafeteria meals. Chocolate muffins stole the present in Paris. (Can affirm: These muffins are good.) And whereas the Milan Cortina Video games have but to supply a breakout foodstuff, the torta della nonna looks like a contender. —CD

The Minions man. Spanish determine skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté will not be anticipated to medal at this yr’s Video games, however he’s already a winner in a single regard: He triumphed over movie manufacturing firm Common Footage in a petty, comical dispute the web dubbed #Minionsgate . Sabaté, who skates to music from the Minions movies , was briefly blocked from utilizing his signature soundtrack over copyright considerations, which the Olympics have taken much more seriously since a 2022 lawsuit. —CD

AI music on ice . Determine skating is attempting to remain related by encouraging determine skaters to make modern music selections: classical music out, pop bangers in. However it’s led to a music licensing nightmare within the sport, as Minion Man came upon the laborious method. Some skaters are turning to an ethically doubtful resolution: AI music, which avoids costly charges and extended negotiations. As AI slop hits Spotify playlists and Billboard charts, will issues get sloppy on the ice too? We’ll be watching, er, listening to see. —Peter Balonon-Rosen

New sports activities tech. Gymnastics judges for the 2024 Paris Video games obtained a leg up from a novel device: an AI system that might robotically seize, mannequin, and consider athletes’ actions in opposition to customary parameters. AI instruments can even be in use on the Milan Cortina Video games, the place they’ll do issues like seize the peak, size, and air time of determine skaters’ jumps. Various groups have additionally enthusiastically embraced AI-informed training … although solely time will inform if that provides them the sting that some have claimed. —CD

NHL stars. Males’s hockey might be a very splashy occasion this yr: It’s the primary yr in additional than a decade that the Nationwide Hockey League has allowed its gamers to take part within the Video games. And following the breakout success of the Canadian homosexual sports activities romance sequence Heated Rivalry , there’ll be a brand new viewers of followers and informal viewers that might be tuning in. (Thanks, Shane Hollander!) —Christian Paz

The rise of sports activities betting. This yr’s Olympics arguably mark the primary occasion since prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket grew to become a mainstream phenomenon. Already, Polymarket customers have traded hundreds of thousands of {dollars}’ price of bets on particular person competitions and total medal counts. Notably, the Milan Cortina Video games come simply as these platforms face a wave of new scrutiny associated to sports activities dishonest scandals. —CD

Well being and wellness. It’s more and more laborious to consider that, a mere 5 years in the past, the Tokyo Olympics mandated masking, social distancing, and different Covid protocols. Now, most Olympic athletes don’t even masks routinely throughout journey. Personally, I’d be so harassed about sickness. Think about how terrible it might be to get sick whereas sharing a tiny dorm room together with your teammates or not feeling one hundred pc wholesome in the course of the largest second of your profession. Organizers already needed to push the ladies’s hockey recreation between Canada and Finland due to a norovirus outbreak . —Lauren Katz