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≡ TEAM USA NAMED ≡
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee named its team for the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games, with 232 athletes that could be the largest American team ever.
The USOPC announcement included some amazing details about a powerful squad that will compete for medals in almost every discipline at the Games:
● “The 2026 U.S. Olympic Team features 98 returning Olympians – including seven four-time Olympians, 10 three-time Olympians and 22 two-time Olympians.
“The slate of veterans features 33 Olympic medalists, including 18 Olympic champions who have won a combined 22 gold medals. Sixteen athletes have won multiple Olympic medals, while three have won multiple Olympic gold medals.”
● “The multiple medalists are led by Elana Meyers Taylor (bobsled) who leads the team with five Olympic medals, including three silvers and two bronzes.
“The multiple gold medalists are Kaillie Humphries (bobsled) with three, and Mikaela Shiffrin (alpine skiing) and Chloe Kim (snowboarding), both with two golds each. Humphries and Hilary Knight (ice hockey) enter Milano Cortina 2026 with four medals each, while Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing), Jessie Diggins (cross-country skiing), Kendall Coyne Schofield (ice hockey), Lee Stecklein (ice hockey) and Nick Goepper (freeski) each have three medals.”
● “Set to make their fifth Olympic appearance in Milano Cortina, the seven four-time Olympians are Evan Bates (figure skating), Nick Baumgartner (snowboarding), Faye Thelen (formerly Faye Gulini, snowboarding), Humphries, Knight, Meyers Taylor and Vonn. Humphries has raced in four Olympic Winter Games, and additionally served as an alternate athlete at Torino 2006.”
This means that 134 of the 232 athlete total – 58% – are first-time Olympians; the 232 total does not include alternates.
The highest-ever actual competitor totals for the U.S. at a Winter Games are 228 at PyeongChang (KOR) in 2018 and 222 in Sochi (RUS) in 2014, so the 2026 team could surpass those numbers. More on the team:
● The roster includes athletes from 32 states and Washington, D.C., with Colorado (30), Minnesota (24) and California (19) the leading states.
● There are 117 men and 115 women on the team, with 15-year-old Abby Winterberger (Freestyle skiing) the youngest and curler Rich Ruohonen the oldest at 54. There are 26 athletes who are also parents, with 17 dads and nine moms.
● There are four sets of siblings on the team: Tara Peterson and Tabitha Peterson-Lovick (curling), Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes (both ice hockey), and Freestyle skiers Birk Irving and Svea Irving.
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USOPC Chief of Sport and Athlete Services Rocky Harris told reporters on Monday that the appeal for skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender to be added to the Games was turned down by the International Olympic Committee:
“We did send a letter to the IOC, and we got a response this morning, that they are supporting the International Federation decision on the matter, since it was an International Federation’s decision.
“And so for us, I’m going to talk to Katie later today and see how she wants to move forward. But we did get a response from them.”
The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation’s Interim Integrity Unit expressed some distaste for the actions of the Canadian federation in withdrawing some of its athletes from the final North American Cup race in Lake Placid – which reduced the ranking points available in that race, won by Uhlaender – but noted that there are no rules which prohibit such a move.
Uhlaender has indicated a willingness to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, specifically citing a conversation she had with Canadian coach Joe Cecchini (ITA), indicating that the withdrawal of the four young Canadian racers was specifically to protect Canada’s second skeleton racer for Olympic qualification purposes. Uhlaender said the IBSF tribunal never asked her for any information or evidence she had.
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