For a lot of U.S. Olympic athletes, Italy appears like house turf : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2487x1559+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2Fbb%2Fcf31b9954cffa865e26165d832cf%2Fap18024769583039.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2487x1559+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2Fbb%2Fcf31b9954cffa865e26165d832cf%2Fap18024769583039.jpg" class="img" alt="Lindsey Vonn speeds down a snow-covered course in Italy. " fetchpriority="high"/> American Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course throughout the ladies's World Cup super-G ski race in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, in 2018. Gabriele Facciotti/AP cover caption

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Gabriele Facciotti/AP In January, American athlete Jessie Diggins, the world's top-ranked feminine cross-country skier, sprinted up a steep slope in Italy's Val di Fiemme, poles pumping, for her third Tour de Ski victory.

Now, Diggins is again on the close by Tesero Cross-Nation Snowboarding Stadium in Val di Fiemme, a valley within the Italian Dolomites, for the Olympics — on a course the place she's raced many occasions.

Whereas the 2026 Winter Olympics happen 1000's of miles from the U.S., centered across the enterprise capital Milan and the ski resort city Cortina, the competitors websites in northern Italy are acquainted floor for a lot of on Crew USA.

"Our athletes compete there typically. A lot of them practice there," says Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. "It is a spot the place we all know we will shine."

To assist even the taking part in subject, cross nation officers have reconfigured the course. "Most of it is not the identical; it is fairly actually working backwards for a part of it," Diggins says. "You've folks like me who've been racing there for a really very long time, however on the identical time everybody's form of relearning it over again," she says.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3767x2609+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc0%2Fb0%2F78c1010c4eb48744a9082af73fb4%2Fap826858154391.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3767x2609+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc0%2Fb0%2F78c1010c4eb48744a9082af73fb4%2Fap826858154391.jpg" class="img" alt="Winner Jessica Diggins, right, and teammate Kikkan Randall of the United States pose with their gold medals on the podium during the medal ceremony after winning the women's 6 x 1.2 km Free Team Sprint at the Nordic Ski World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013." loading="lazy"/> Jessie Diggins (proper) and teammate Kikkan Randall of the USA pose with their gold medals after successful the ladies's 6 x 1.2 km Free Crew Dash on the Nordic Ski World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, in 2013. Val di Fiemme is the place cross-country races within the 2026 Olympics are being held. Matthias Schrader/AP cover caption

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Matthias Schrader/AP At Val di Fiemme, athletes can even be ski leaping off steep, specialised ramps — and each cross-country snowboarding and ski leaping within the Nordic mixed.

Two hours to the north, driving over winding mountain roads, there's the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Area. The valley is taken into account a "biathlon sanctuary," in accordance with Biathlon World, the place prime athletes have been snowboarding and capturing rifles for greater than 50 years.

U.S. biathletes have a selected benefit. "Our head coach for the final eight years is from the Antholz Valley, born and raised," says Deedra Irwin, the highest U.S. feminine biathlete. "Most of our wax workers have been ski racing there since they have been children."

The U.S. has by no means medaled in biathlon. This may very well be their likelihood, Irwin says. "We form of are the locals," she says. "We bought all of the native intel, we bought a pleasant setup in our home there."

Some 40 miles to the south, the ski resort city Cortina d'Ampezzo will host curling and sliding sports activities like bobsled and skeleton. Ladies's Alpine skiers will compete on one of many world's most iconic runs: the Olympia delle Tofane, which debuted on the 1956 Winter Video games.

It looms massive in Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn's private historical past. "Each [skier] has their mountain the place they really feel most at house," Vonn says. "For me, it is at all times been Cortina and Lake Louise. These are my two favourite spots." Vonn has gained many main milestone races in each Cortina and Lake Louise in Canada.

Vonn, who's 41, is popping out of retirement for her fifth Olympic Video games. "I've a very good reference to the mountain. I do know what it wants. I do know what it takes to win there."

A serious crash induced Vonn to rupture a knee ligament every week earlier than the beginning of the Video games, however she introduced this week she is going to nonetheless compete.

"I really like the city; I really like the ambiance. Everybody there has at all times welcomed me and handled me like an area," Vonn says. A restaurant in Cortina named a margherita pizza after her.

These mountains lured her again for yet another Olympic run. "It is such a lovely place. It is onerous to not stand on prime of that mountain and probably not understand why you're keen on the game," Vonn says. "I am excited to return there and see the dawn yet another time."

Vonn crashed badly at a World Cup race every week earlier than the beginning of the Olympics. She introduced that she is going to nonetheless compete within the Video games, snowboarding with a brace over the torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on her left knee. "So long as there's nonetheless an opportunity, I'll strive," Vonn says.

The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kick off with the opening ceremony on Feb. 6 on the hundred-year-old San Siro Stadium in Milan and conclude Feb. 22 in Verona at one other historic venue: an previous Roman amphitheater in-built A.D. 30 that gladiators as soon as fought in.