Ted Ligety (USA) has experienced the Winter Olympics from every vantage point.

As a teenage course tester for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, he ran the slalom slopes in Deer Valley, getting a small taste of what it’s like to carve on a global stage.

As a professional skier, Ligety competed in four Olympics, capturing two gold medals. No American Alpine skier owns more gold hardware — although Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) has the chance to surpass him in Milan Cortina. 

Now, the 41-year-old serves as an on-camera analyst for NBC Sports' coverage, offering his expertise and breaking down form, situational strategy and behind-the-scenes insights about the sport's stars. 

The 2026 Games will mark his second with the company, meaning that he’s been directly involved with the Olympics in some fashion for more than half of his life.

To help evaluate the field as the Alpine skiing events get underway in Bormio (men) and Cortina (women), we asked Ligety for his takes on a number of topics. Ted’s takes.

Who is the biggest threat to Mikaela Shiffrin winning slalom gold in Milan Cortina?

Ligety: Camille Rast (SUI) is somebody who's finally come on this World Cup season. She’s on a tear right now. She's the only person that's beaten Mikaela legitimately so far this year. If there's anybody who can challenge her, it’s Camille. Paula Moltzan (USA), she’s gotten a couple of seconds recently, can she pull it off? I mean, that would be a pretty amazing story. 

Mikaela’s gonna be tough to beat. But as we know, in the Olympics and Alpine skiing, the favorites rarely win. There are so many variables that go into it. Every single race is totally different from any other race you've run, and it changes person to person. 

Things happen at the Olympics, weather wise, all sorts of things where, on the World Cup, if weather comes in and a race gets postponed, it's just canceled. At the Olympics, it's moved to another day, and they make sure they get it off. 

Mikaela is one of those people that is so precise and exact in her preparation that she doesn't necessarily leave in much wiggle room or freedom to just kind of go with the flow. If you could say there's a weakness that would be her weakness, and I mean, I would take that weakness if that was my weakness when I was a racer. 

Really, I think the biggest threat to Mikaela is herself, honestly. Being so successful in the World Cup, she has all those added expectations. Mikaela’s gonna be tough to beat outright, though.

You mentioned Paula Moltzan, she continues to level up her skiing. Can you break down her style a bit and what makes her so exciting to watch?

Ligety: She's a running gun. She’s like Bode Miller (USA). She comes at the course with a lot of intensity and rolls with the punches. I mean, she has some wild recoveries, wild mistakes and still rolls with it. And she’s extremely tough. She broke her hand a couple of years ago and was right back in the start gate the next day and throwing down results. 

She had a wild crash a couple of weeks ago in Semmering and then to come back and not miss a beat, it's impressive. I don't think there's anybody else on the woman's tour that skis with that much intensity and is taking quite as much risk, but also has that ability to make wild recoveries.

The only American, man or woman, to come home with a medal from the Beijing Games was Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA). Do you think he can run it back in 2026?

Ligety: Ryan’s been skiing great. A bit up and down results-wise, but he seems to have sorted things out, more so this year than the last few years. He’s somebody who likes Bormio, he’s skied really well there in the past. His only World Cup win was in Bormio in the super-G there. So that’s a big confidence booster for him.

What is it specifically that you've seen from Lindsey Vonn this World Cup season that's made her so dominant?

Ligety: She has another year under her belt. She's skiing with more confidence, more strength, more polish. Last year she had some great races, fast right off the bat, but not super polished. Her physical training is dialed in, her equipment dialed in, and just having that extra bit of miles to kick the rust off of being gone for six years is helpful. 

It amazes me, to see what she's done is beyond impressive. It’s shocking. It's wild to see somebody take that many years off and come back and not look like they missed a beat. A year ago, I wouldn't say that her being a favorite would be on my bingo card, but she clearly is now.

Two wins, seven podiums in eight races this year, 41 years old. How surprised are you at how well she's been skiing?

Ligety: Part of me is surprised. A part of me is like, okay, when she was healthy, she was dominant. She had a lot of years where she wasn't at full health. 

Talking to her, she seems like she's as healthy as she's been in many, many years. So that's obviously a dangerous thing for the rest of the field — a healthy motivated Lindsey, that’s tough to beat. 

It's a different group of women out there racing. I mean, the generations have shifted, the tides have shifted, but she's just proven that she was the best… is the best downhill skier of all time. 

*Ligety's responses regarding Vonn came prior to her recent crash and ACL injury on Jan. 30.

Is there anyone across sport you can think of that you feel is like an apt comparison to what Lindsey has done?

Ligety: Michael Jordan came back with the Wizards, he obviously wasn't the same. Tom Brady took 40 days off [laughs]. But neither seem comparable. It's pretty unprecedented, especially to do it on an artificial knee. That's something you're used to 60-year-olds having to deal with, not a 40-year-old returning to elite sports.

Breezy Johnson (USA), the reigning downhill and team combined world champion, was dealing with back issues earlier in the season. It sounds like she’s a lot better now, but can you — as someone who’s had back surgery — talk about what skiing with a sore back is like?

Ligety: The breadth of “sore back” is very wide. But I would say there are zero ski racers over the age of 30 that don't have sore backs. That is the one guarantee in life. If you make it past a certain point, your back is going to hurt, and that's just the way it is. So it can range from you can deal with it to it’s debilitating. Sometimes you can ski through it, sometimes you can’t.

I've won races where I couldn't tie my shoes in the morning, and I've had years where I couldn't do a dorsiflex without a shooting pain down my leg. So it’s a big menu, and it is not unique to one person. It’s a pretty universal thing in the sport.

Can you give me an American athlete on both the men's and women's side that you view as a dark horse to earn a medal at the Olympics?

Ligety: I mean, the women's team is wildly deep. Jackie Wiles (USA) was on the podium the other week. She’s somebody who's come back from a myriad of injuries, long road back, showing form at the right time.

Nina O’Brien (USA), she had that wild crash in the Olympics in Beijing and broke her leg. She’s showing some strong promise and is amongst the fastest. 

On the men's side, River Radamus (USA) is my dark horse there. He's shown moments of brilliance, but hasn't really put it together in two runs. In Adelboden, he had that second run that was the best I think I've ever seen him ski. I've never seen him ski a whole run like that, top to bottom. If he can put two runs of that caliber together, he'd be a threat.

For people who don't know Marco Odermatt (SUI), can you explain what makes him so great?

Ligety: When you watch his skiing, you’re like, what is he doing differently that makes him so dominant? Technique-wise, it's not super apparent, but his timing is amazing. 

You think of a hitter in baseball, the timing off the pitch to swing the bat is really important, and to be able to take a full swing at it and hit the ball is a really tough skill. Not many people can take a full swing at the ball, and Odermatt’s timing for a turn is unbelievable. He’s able to take a full swing at every turn and get the maximum amount of speed, which is extremely hard. Very few guys put together a turn where it's perfectly timed and they get all the energy and rebound out of the ski and generate speed turn after turn. 

He also just has this amazing ability across disciplines, across course sets, across any conditions to hit that timing perfectly. That's kind of his superhuman skill.

There are so many stories about Odermatt off the piste. Can you share any insights as to what he’s like as a person?

Ligety: As we all know, ski racing is an individual sport that you compete on with a team. Generally, a lot of stars, when they reach a certain point, they kind of do the private team within a team, and do their own program. Marco has made a real concerted effort to hoist up the rest of that Swiss team. He’s a team player. He helps out some of the younger guys, he’s fully immersed in trying to make the rest of them as successful as possible, which is very rare in the sport. 

People think of the Swiss as being these really stiff and personality-less guys. But he's definitely not like that. He has a great time, and after a race — even if there's a race the next day — he's getting rounds of beers with the guys and having fun. Keeping it under control, but still enjoying life. 

It's not all about being a machine and just going through the steps of only performing on race day. It's about enjoying the experience and enjoying it with the rest of his teammates. You could really credit him as changing the culture on that Swiss team to the point where they have so many athletes that can win across so many disciplines. They’re a real powerhouse, and so much of that credit goes to Odermatt.

Outside of Odermatt, who are a couple of international skiers that American fans should keep their eye on?

Ligety: I think the interesting story is men’s slalom. There are like 20 different people that can win the race. It’s wide open. I don't think we've ever seen an Olympic slalom where there was so clearly no favorite. Paco Rassat (FRA), who's brand new, basically nobody had heard of him before this year, he’s won two slaloms. 

There’s a new resurgence on the Austrian team, like they'd been struggling the last couple of years, getting owned by the Swiss. Marco Schwarz (AUT) coming back from injury, he’s been on the podium for super-G, giant slalom and slalom. He's a three-event threat. 

There’s Raphael Haaser (AUT), who shocked the world and won the GS (giant slalom) at the World Championships last year. He’s a two-event threat in the super-G and giant slalom. 

Stefan Brensteinner (AUT), 34 years old, he’s having the best season of his life. I mean, that's pretty wild to think. He’s out there challenging Odermatt in some races.

Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) is another veteran guy. He’s been around a while, won a lot of races. He’s having a good season as well. 

It's funny, it's largely Swiss versus Austrian everywhere but the slalom.

Dominic Paris (ITA), he's dominated the Bormio World Cup in the past. Bormio is a little bit of a different beast in February versus December. Like December, it's the scariest course in the World Cup because it's so icy, there's no snow, it’s just bumpy and dark. The sun never hits the trail. 

At the Games, the hill will have some sun on it, there will be a little bit more snow. It’s a bit friendlier. The teeth are shaved down on that downhill. Paris is a veteran and has done amazingly well on it. He's had some good races this year as well on hills that don't necessarily favor him, so he’s definitely a guy to look out for in the speed events. 

How about on the women’s side for international athletes?

Ligety: Cami Rast is one you have to watch out for. Two-event favorite, giant slalom and slalom. To say she came out of nowhere is not entirely true, but she’s come out of nowhere at this level. I mean, she wasn’t in the conversation before. 

Frederica Brignone (ITA) is looking good since she’s returned. It’s kind of shocking to think that she could be a challenger there, but at the same time, her level of speed and where she was last year, I don't count her out. That'd be an amazing story, from breaking her leg at Italian Nationals to coming back and competing at the Olympics. 

Alice Robinson (NZL) is doing amazing in giant slalom. Julia Scheib (AUT) has also been dominant in GS. Being in Italy, Sofia Goggia (ITA) is a big star there. She’s been a bit up and down but she’s figuring it out and I imagine will step it up there. 

If you could give one piece of advice to an Alpine skier racing in their first Olympics this year, what would it be?

Ligety: Embrace the experience. It's a different beast. Everybody's trying to race like it's any other race. It’s not. I think you’ve got to acknowledge everything around it is going to be different. It's going to disrupt your routine. You don't go through a metal detector to get to the race hill anywhere else besides the Olympics, and so, you have to realize there's going to be some disruptions. But when you put your poles over the start gate, you just have to let yourself ski.

Who is your pick to win each event?

Men’s slalom: I'm going Clement Noel (FRA). He’s the fastest slalom skier on the World Cup tour, most high-end speed. He hasn’t shown a lot of consistency of late, but he's the defending Olympic champion. It's a pretty moderate-to-easy hill in Bormio, so that suits him as far as having that drag racing capacity.

Women’s slalom: It’s hard to bet against Mikaela, but if you want to throw a little excitement into the prediction, Cami Rast has a real chance of beating her.

Men's giant slalom: Odermatt. I’d say the betting odds are 50 percent the field, 50 percent Odermatt. He's on fire. It's a hill that suits him. He’s shown himself to be good in these big events. I can't bet against that.

Women's giant slalom: I like Alice Robinson (NZL), and I think she has the highest end speed on the women's World Cup. I love the way she skis, great technique. She's been in the title hunt for GS and kind of skied her way out of it at times. But you know, when there’s a time to just focus on a single event, I think she could pull through at the Olympics.

Men's downhill: I’m going Dominik Paris. He’s experienced, he loves this hill. You’ve got to have an Italian in the mix in one of these events, and this is the place where he can make that difference. Some home field advantage.

Women’s downhill: Lindsey. I think she's gonna get her Cinderella story.

Men's super-G: Marco Odermatt. It's hard to beat him in super-G. He’s so consistent, so good at the inspection side of it. It's a hill that suits his technique. He's gonna be tough there.

Women's super-G: Let's go Ester Ledecka (CZE). Super-G reincarnation from PyeongChang where she took gold. She hasn't necessarily shown the full speed this season, but she’s been on the podium. She could surprise. It’s another dark horse thrown in there. Not the obvious person.

Also, somebody like Brignone is so good in super-G on that hill. Obviously, she’s coming back from injury so it’s another wild stab in the dark. I think as a whole, super-G is going to be a wild stab in the dark. I don’t think there’s an obvious pick.

Men's team combined: The Swiss probably take it on the men's side. They have three amazing downhill skiers. I'm not sure yet if Odermatt is gonna do it. They have a handful of pretty good slalom skiers, although they have been a little bit hit or miss. I think that's probably the strongest team. 

Women’s team combined: I mean, come on. It’s the Americans. Mikaela and Lindsey are the dream team. It’s like, can they pull it off? Or maybe it’s Mikaela and Breezy. Or Lindsey and Paula. Whichever way, it’s a pretty good team.

*Ligety's predictions came prior to Lindsey Vonn's recent crash and ACL injury on Jan. 30.