VIRGINIA – Excitement can be felt across the world as athletes from all over gear up to take to the ice and snow for the long-awaited 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
The opening ceremony will take place on Friday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. at Milan’s San Siro Stadium. It will feature performances planned by Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, Andrea Bocelli, and Sabrina Impacciatore of the HBO show “White Lotus.” The event will then conclude with the traditional lighting of the Olympic flame and the parade of nations with participating athletes from around the globe. You can watch the start of the Olympic Winter Games on-air on WSLS 10.
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There are several Olympians from the Commonwealth who will be in the idyllic Italy mountains competing for gold.
Here’s a look at those who will be representing Virginia:
FIGURE SKATING
Illia Malinin, a 21-year-old figure skater who has redefined the sport, is set to take the Olympic stage. He’s from Vienna, Virginia, and graduated from George Mason University. Nicknamed the “Quad God,” Malinin has been figure skating since he was six and is widely recognized as the best figure skater of his generation, capable of landing jumps that many people deemed impossible.
For decades, a quad-axel was said to be impossible in an actual competition, but Malinin went against the grain and defied the odds. A quad-axel is defined as an edge jump in figure skating that involves four full rotations. This incredible feat earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
His professional figure skating accolades include:
- 2x World Figure Skating champion (2023-2024, 2024-2025)
- 3x Grand Prix Final champion (2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
- 4x U.S. national champion (2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
He also won the World Junior Championship during the 2021-2022 season, not to mention his international first-place finishes.
SPEEDSKATING
Brandon Kim grew up in Fairfax, and his passion for speedskating was ignited at an early age. At just nine years old, he watched short track on TV during the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010 and was fascinated by how fast the skaters were going on the track. That was when he decided to try his hand at the sport and joined a local speedskating club near his house.
It was only up from there. As a junior in high school, Kim secured a bronze medal at the World Junior Short Track Speedskating Championships as part of the men’s relay team.
He also represented TEAM USA at two world championships, earning national titles in all three events contested at the 2026 U.S. Championships. He broke a nearly 13-year-old mark set by three-time Olympian J.R. Celski, racing the men’s 500-meter in just 39.83 seconds.
The impressive short track skater attends Stanford University, with plans to attend medical school and specialize in orthopedics, like his dad, John, or neurosurgery.
SLED HOCKEY
Evan Nichols, of Haymarket, Virginia, isn’t one to let a challenge stand in his way.
Born with Arthrogryposis, which affected his knees and ankles, and later diagnosed with a hip condition called Bilateral Perthes, he had to relearn how to walk not once, but seven times as a kid after multiple surgeries. But Evan’s love for sports never faded. He gave soccer, swimming, and archery a shot before a childhood friend invited him to try sled hockey in Washington, D.C.
When the pandemic shut down his local rink, Evan’s parents didn’t let that stop him. They drove him four hours to Pennsylvania to play with the Pittsburgh Mighty Penguins, and that extra time on the ice really sharpened his game.
By 17, Evan made his debut on the U.S. national sled hockey team, the youngest player on the squad that took home gold at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing.
SKELETON
Mystique Ro, the second-oldest of 11 siblings, made her mark at Queens University of Charlotte competing in track and field, including hurdles, sprints, javelin, and the heptathlon.
In 2016, she got a shot at a USA Bobsled/Skeleton rookie camp. Coaches told her she was “a little small” for bobsled and nudged her toward skeleton instead.
Fast forward to 2023, Mystique made her World Cup debut, and just a year later, she became the first American in eight years to win a skeleton race on the World Cup circuit.
At the 2025 World Championships, she snagged silver, the first American world medal in skeleton in 12 years, and then took gold in the mixed team event with teammate Austin Florian. That mixed team skeleton event is set to make its Olympic debut in Milan Cortina.
Off the track, Mystique is a total animal lover and a “girls’ girl.” She’s adopted a beagle mix from Charlotte Animal Services and dreams of one day opening an animal sanctuary.