Between the return of seasoned veterans and the emergence of new talent, the competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics is bound to be dramatic, record-breaking, and unmissable.

Here are 26 of the world's top Olympic hopefuls looking to headline the international field in Milan Cortina.

Jenning de Boo, Speed Skating

Jenning de Boo, who will look to make his Olympic debut in 2026, is the latest in a long line of strong Dutch speed skaters. The 21-year-old sprinter emerged as American Jordan Stolz's fiercest rival last season, snapping Stolz's dreams of a third-straight 500m world title.

Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, Curling

As a team, Italian curlers Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner are perfect. They’ve never lost in international competition. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, they put forth a masterful performance, going 11-0 en route to a gold medal in the mixed doubles event. Three years later, they “slid” it back, posting another 11-0 record at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and qualifying for the 2026 Games. Needless to say, they are the prohibitive favorites heading into Milan Cortina. Good luck to anyone attempting to outthrow and outsweep this outrageous tandem.

Sidney Crosby, Hockey

Sidney Crosby won two gold medals with Canada in back-to-back Games in 2010 and 2014, and Milan Cortina will be his third Olympic appearance. The NHL All-Star was the first player to win an Olympic gold medal, a world title, and a Stanley Cup as the captain of all three teams. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain is one of the greatest hockey players of all time and is looking for his third Olympic title.

William Dandjinou, Short Track

After he was named to Canada’s Olympic reserve for the Beijing Games, William Dandjinou almost gave up on short track. Now, he’s one of the most dangerous skaters on the oval. During the 2024-25 ISU Short Track World Tour season alone, the 6-foot-2-inch skater won eight gold medals, becoming the first Canadian to earn the Crystal Globe at the end of the campaign. The 24-year-old skater has shown no signs of slowing down this season, racing to the top of the global rankings through the first two 2025 World Tour events on his home oval in Montreal and qualifying for his first Olympic team.

Quentin Fillon Maillet, Biathlon

French biathlete Quentin Fillon Maillet won gold in the men's 12km pursuit and the men's 20km individual at the 2022 Beijing Games. He won a total of five medals in 2022 and became the first biathlete to win five medals at the same Games. Following the retirement of Norwegian brothers, Tarjei Boe and Johannes Thingnes Boe, Maillet is one of the biathletes looking to take over at the top of the sport.

Arianna Fontana, Short Track

Historically, Italy has not been the strongest nation in the Olympic short track pool — that is, until Arianna Fontana came along. The short track phenom has secured 11 of Italy’s 15 total medals in the sport since her debut in front of another home crowd at the Torino Games in 2006. There, she became the youngest Italian to win a Winter Olympic medal when she helped Italy to a bronze in the 3000m relay. 

At age 34, Fontana remained in the top 10 in each of the three individual distances during the 2024-25 ISU Short Track World Tour. A year later, she is poised to become the first short track skater to compete in six Olympics and could become the oldest woman to make an Olympic podium in the sport.

Francesco Friedrich, Bobsled

Francesco Friedrich is a German bobsled pilot widely regarded as one of the greatest in the sport’s history. At the Winter Olympics, he achieved the extraordinary feat of winning gold in both the two-man and four-man events at both the 2018 and 2022 Games, bringing his Olympic gold tally to four. Beyond the Olympics, Friedrich has amassed an unprecedented number of world championship titles — he has been world champion 16 times as of 2025.

Vinzenz Geiger, Nordic Combined

A three-time Olympic medalist for Germany, Vinzenz Geiger is eyeing his third Olympic Games after earning his first World Cup overall title during the 2024-25 campaign. At 28 years old, Geiger stands tied for Germany's second-most Nordic combined Olympic golds with two (2018 men's team, 2022 individual normal hill/10k).

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, Figure Skating

Since teaming up in 2011, Canadian ice dance team, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier have earned four world championship medals, two Four Continents titles, and multiple Grand Prix victories. Overcoming challenges, including Gilles’ ovarian cancer diagnosis, they returned to claim bronze at 2023 Worlds and defend their Four Continents title in 2025, cementing their status as one of Canada’s top ice dance duos.

Sofia Goggia, Alpine Skiing

Olympic glory for Italian Alpine skiing may fall on the very capable shoulders of Sofia Goggia. Her teammates Federica Brignone (2025’s World Cup overall winner and three-time Olympic medalist) and Marta Bassino (a multi-time world champion) are out indefinitely due to injuries, with the former possibly returning in time for the Milan Cortina Games and the latter missing them altogether. Goggia has a knack for delivering on the world’s biggest stages, winning Olympic gold in the downhill in PyeongChang and securing silver four years later in Beijing. She’ll likely get the chance to compete for Olympic hardware again, this time in her home country.

Eileen Gu, Freestyle Skiing

After becoming the first athlete to win three freestyle skiing medals at a single Olympics, what will Eileen Gu do for an encore at the Milan Cortina Games? Gu, who was born and raised in the U.S. but competes for China, has been beset by injuries over the last few years but remains hard to beat any time she competes. The 22-year-old once again is a gold-medal contender in all three freeski disciplines (halfpipe, slopestyle, big air) but primarily has focused on halfpipe during this Olympic cycle.

Emily Harrop, Ski Mountaineering

Emily Harrop sits firmly atop the SkiMo mountain. That is, until she races downhill and reaches the finish line before any of her opponents, more often than not. The Sainte-Foy, France, native carries on a long tradition of French domination in the sport, which will be making its Winter Olympic debut in 2026. Harrop led the SkiMo World Cup rankings last year in both the sprint and mixed relay disciplines and her supremacy is a potential harbinger of a future filled with Olympic hardware.

Scotty James, Snowboarding

Bronze in 2018, silver in 2022…gold in 2026? With the vaunted triple cork now part of his arsenal of technical halfpipe tricks, this could be the year that Australia’s Scotty James stands atop the Olympic halfpipe podium. He’ll face tough competition from a deep Japanese team that includes defending champion Ayumu Hirano, but the 31-year-old James, who recently became a father, has won the last four X Games halfpipe titles and is hungry to become the newest Olympic champion in this prestigious event.

Yuma Kagiyama, Figure Skating

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama is the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics silver medalist. He also has secured three world championship silver medals (2021, 2022, 2024) and a gold at the 2024 Four Continents Championships. Known for his technical precision and expressive artistry, Kagiyama is one of the top men’s figure skaters on the global stage.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Alpine Skiing

It’s been a long road to recovery for Norwegian Alpine skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. One of the world’s premier Alpine speed racers, having won two world championship medals, two Olympic medals in Beijing and four World Cup discipline titles across downhill and super-G, Kilde hasn’t competed since the 2024-25 season. A January 2024 crash resulted in a deep laceration and nerve damage in his right calf, along with a dislocated shoulder. When he attempted to return, infections in his shoulder put him back on the shelf. The 33-year-old and his fiancé, Mikaela Shiffrin, have provided promising updates on his status over the past few months, sharing that he hopes to return to action at the Beaver Creek World Cup event on December 4. A healthy and hungry Kilde could spell trouble for his opponents as Milan Cortina approaches.

Wolfgang Kindl, Luge

Wolfgang Kindl is an Austrian luger known for his consistency and resilience on the international circuit. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, he secured two silver medals — one in the men’s singles event and another in the team relay. Kindl also has achieved multiple World Cup victories. Despite facing challenges due to his height, he has proven himself to be a formidable competitor in the sport.

Mikael Kingsbury, Freestyle Skiing

Entering the 2025-26 season, Canadian moguls legend Mikael Kingsbury is just one win away from a landmark 100th World Cup victory. The 33-year-old holds the record for most World Cup moguls wins by a wide margin, but he has just one Olympic gold medal in his trophy case, thanks in part to a shocking defeat by Sweden’s Walter Wallberg in Beijing. In what could be Kingsbury’s fourth and final Olympics, he’ll be determined to regain his throne.

Johannes Hosflot Klaebo, XC Skiing

Norwegian skier Johannes Hosflot Klaebo is the most decorated male cross-country skier of all time. He is among the top Olympic gold medal contenders for all six men's events. He has won seven medals in cross-country skiing at the Olympics so far and has the opportunity to become the first winter Olympian ever to win six medals at a single Games.

Ester Ledecka, Snowboarding/Alpine Skiing

The Winter Olympics’ premier dual-sport star is back. In 2018, Czechia’s Ester Ledecka stunned the world by winning Olympic gold in both Alpine skiing (super-G) and snowboarding (parallel giant slalom). Last winter, she made history again by winning world championship medals in both sports. Despite lobbying for a schedule change, Alpine skiing’s downhill event — the event she just secured a bronze medal in at worlds — and snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom event will take place on the same day about 150 miles apart. Her plan is to compete in parallel giant slalom, an event in which she could become the first snowboarder ever to three-peat at the Winter Games, and then race Alpine skiing’s super-G a few days later.

Marco Odermatt, Alpine Skiing

Marco Odermatt is the "boogeyman" of the Alpine skiing slopes; a dominating and dreaded opponent for anyone who races against him, which chances are they will since he’s mastered both speed and technical crafts. His aura of invincibility formed over the past four years, starting with his gold medal giant slalom run at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and continuing through his four consecutive overall World Cup titles and three world championship gold medals since then. At age 28, it seems the end is nowhere near for the Swiss dynamo, and if he’s able to find success at Milan Cortina, it’ll only add to his rapidly-growing legend.

Marie-Philip Poulin, Hockey

Marie-Philip Poulin is expected to lead Canada in pursuit of a second-straight gold medal in women's hockey. The captain has taken home three golds and one silver in her four Olympic appearances so far. If Poulin wins gold with Canada in Milan, she will tie the record for most gold medals in hockey (4). She plays for the PWHL's Montreal Victoire and was named the 2025 Billie Jean King MVP.

Nika Prevc, Ski Jumping

At just 20 years old, Slovenia’s Nika Prevc is in a league of her own. During a dominant 2024-25 World Cup season, Prevc topped the podium 15 times in individual events, secured her second consecutive Crystal Globe, collected the most points of any woman ski jumper in one World Cup season and, the day before her 20th birthday, jumped a world record twice during training sessions. 

She also stands as the reigning world champion in both the normal and large hill, marking the first time a woman has claimed both titles at the same world championship.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Snowboarding

Women’s snowboarding has continued to progress since the last Olympics, and New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has been one of the riders leading the charge. The 24-year-old made history last winter by becoming the first woman to land a triple cork in a slopestyle contest, a milestone which helps bolster her status as the favorite to defend her Olympic gold in that event. She’s also a contender in big air after previously winning bronze (2018) and silver (2022) medals in that discipline.

Kaori Sakamoto, Figure Skating

Japanese sensation Kaori Sakamoto is renowned for her technical precision and artistry on the ice. She made history by becoming the first woman since Peggy Fleming in 1968 to win three consecutive World Figure Skating Championships titles, achieving this remarkable feat in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Additionally, Sakamoto has earned Olympic bronze in the women's singles and silver in the team event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. She has announced that this season will be her last. 

Miho Takagi, Speed Skating

Twelve years after competing at her maiden Games at age 15, Japan's Miho Takagi dominated in Beijing, claiming four medals (1 gold, 3 silver) and setting two Olympic records (1000m, team pursuit). In the years since, she has continued to reign, landing atop the world rankings in both the 1000m and 1500m last season.

Daniel Tschofenig, Ski Jumping

A 23-year-old from Austria, Daniel Tschofenig made history during the last World Cup season, becoming the first ski jumper born in the 21st century to win the Four Hills Tournament, a prestigious ski jumping tournament composed of four World Cup events which takes place in Germany and Austria every year. He ended the 2024-25 campaign atop the World Cup rankings, securing his first Crystal Globe.