Team USA kicked off the 2025-26 IBSF Skeleton World Cup season in Cortina, Italy, providing a preview of what the sport will look like at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Mystique Ro and Austin Florian, 2025 mixed team world champions, notched the United States’ best result of the day with a fifth-place result. The pair finished the course in a time of 2:02.08, 0.85 seconds off first place. 

While they finished off the podium, Ro and Florian’s performance in the opening race cemented their status as one of the top pairings in mixed skeleton, which will be making its Olympic debut in Cortina this winter and giving skeleton athletes a second medal chance at the Games. 

Florian also had a strong performance in the men’s individual event, finishing tenth in a field loaded with talent from teams such as Great Britian, Germany and China. He was the only member of Team USA to make the second heat in the men’s event.

On the women’s side, Ro was a surprise knockout in the first heat after coming into the event looking incredibly strong. The 2025 world silver medalist was fast through the first sector of her run, but a small mistake in the third interval cost her vital speed and dropped her into 26th, just outside the qualifying threshold for heat two.

Kelly Curtis instead led the way for the women of Team USA, finishing just inside the top 20. Kendall Wesenberg and Sara Roderick also made the second heat, finishing 23rd and 24th, respectively.

The opening race of the 2025-26 IBSF World Cup season will continue Saturday with the women’s monobob and two-man bobsled events. Competition start at 3 a.m. ET.