Just as the nation’s number one sport comes to a close, the glory and pageantry of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games take their place. The games return to Europe, the birthplace of Alpine skiing, encompassing a large portion of Italy’s breathtaking mountains and spanning 22,000 square kilometers.

Starting with the opening ceremonies on Friday, February 6th, the games run through to the 22nd of February. Around 2,900 athletes from over 90 National Olympic Committees will compete in 116 events on ice and snow, in eight sports and 16 disciplines.

There will be eight new events added for the 2026 Winter Games: ski mountaineering, men’s sprint; women’s sprint and mixed-gender relay; freestyle skiing men’s and women’s dual moguls; open luge women’s doubles; skeleton mixed-gender team event; and ski jumping, women’s large hill event. Only one event has been removed from the 2026 Olympics: the Alpine skiing mixed team parallel event, which will be replaced with men and women competing separately.

A big story for Team USA is the return of skier Lindsey Vonn at age 41. She retired from 2019 to 2024. She returns to the Olympic team as a fifth-time participant, having competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2018 Olympics. She won a gold medal in 2010, bringing her total to three medals across five Games, eight world championship medals, and 84 World Cup wins.

On Friday, January 30, Vonn was injured in a crash at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Switzerland, rupturing her ACL. She later went skiing on Tuesday and stated that she still intends to compete in her event on Sunday.

“I am confident that I can compete on Sunday,” Vonn said of the downhill event scheduled on Feb. 8th. “I’m still here. I think I’m still able to fight. I think I’m still able to try. And I will try as long as I can; I will not go home regretting not trying. I will do everything in my power to be in that starting gate.”

Also set to compete for Team USA Women’s Hockey is Laila Edwards, who will make history as the first Black woman to play for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey team at the 2026 Winter Olympics. A forward from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and a star at the University of Wisconsin, she previously became the first Black woman on the U.S. senior national team.

The opening ceremonies will start at 11:40 AM MT on Friday on Peacock and NBCOLYMPICS.com. The primetime enhanced encore will air on NBC at 6:00 PM MT on Friday.

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