Speed skating gold medalist Erin Jackson and bobsledder Frank Del Duca will serve as the United States' Flag Bearers for the Opening Ceremony of the Milan Cortina Olympics, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced Feb. 3.

The two were selected through a vote by their fellow U.S. athletes.

Just six years after she first laced up a pair of ice skates, Jackson won the 500m at the 2022 Beijing Games, becoming the first Black American woman to win an Olympic speed skating medal and the first Black woman to win an individual Winter Olympic gold. 

Since then, the 33 year old from Ocala, Florida, has remained atop the global 500m ranks despite battling a series of health issues, securing back-to-back World Cup titles in the distance during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and gold medals at the 2024 and 2025 Four Continents Championships. She enters her third Olympics as the World No. 3 in the distance.

Jackson is only the eighth speed skater to be selected as a Team USA Flag Bearer.

"Being chosen to represent the United States on the world stage is a tremendous honor," Jackson said in the USOPC press release. "It's a moment that reflects far more than one individual — it represents my family, my teammates, my hometown, and everyone across the country who believes in the power of sport."

Del Duca, whose family is of Italian descent, piloted the United States to 13th place in both the two-man and four-man bobsled events in Beijing, his Olympic debut.

Del Duca, 34, also is a part of the World Class Athlete Program, a U.S. military initiative which supports soldiers who also compete as top-ranked athletes. 

"Nearly everyone in my family is of Italian descent. There is no greater honor than leading Team USA into the Opening Ceremony at an Italian Olympics," Del Duca said in a statement shared by USA Bobsled-Skeleton. "It feels like a bridge between my family's heritage and the country I'm so proud to serve."

The U.S. men last made an Olympic bobsled podium in 2014.

The Milan Cortina Games Opening Ceremony begins at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. The event will air on NBC and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms.  

Reuters contributed to this report.