2026 Winter Olympics Medal Favorites for Figure Skating, Skiing and Top Events

Some of the best American medal hopefuls for the Milan Cortina Olympics come from figure skating and alpine skiing.

Ilia Malinin is the name to know for figure skating. The reigning world and United States champion is only missing an Olympic gold medal from his trophy case.

A few other Americans will be in medal contention as well in figure skating, but Malinin is the headliner.

Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin headline the alpine skiing team. Both women will be in the mix for gold on the slopes of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Plenty of other sports will produce medals for Team USA as well, including hockey, where another set of USA-versus-Canada duels is expected.

Figure Skating

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Ilia Malinin is the favorite to win the men's figure skating event.

The 21-year-old American captured the last three world championship titles and the last four American titles.

All that's left for Malinin to do is win in Milan. That would finish off one of the most incredible four-year stretches we've ever seen in figure skating.

The women's competition is more wide open. Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito are the American medal hopefuls.

Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, the 2022 bronze medalist, has been a perennial top-three finisher at the world championships. She won in 2024 and finished second in 2025.

The American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates reside in a similar position as Malinin going into Milan.

Chock and Bates won the last three world championships in ice dance. They should be the heavy favorite to capture gold in that discipline.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won two of the last three world championships in the pairs discipline. They have the edge as the favorites over a handful of other pairings.

Alpine Skiing

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Most American eyes will be on Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn for the alpine skiing events.

Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has her eyes on the slalom competition in February.

Shiffrin currently ranks fourth on the FIS World Cup circuit in the slalom, an event she won gold in at the 2014 Olympics.

Vonn's biggest strength is the downhill. She won gold in 2010 and bronze in 2018 in the event.

The 40-year-old won two downhill events on the World Cup circuit this winter, but she certainly won't be the favorite going into Italy.

Italy's Federica Brignone sits atop the all-around FIS World Cup rankings and has the most points earned in the downhill this season.

Brignone's countrywoman Sofia Goggia is third in the World Cup rankings. She will also be a medal threat in multiple events.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle in the downhill and River Radamus in the giant slalom are Team USA's best medal hopefuls in the men's events.

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt is No. 1 across all disciplines in the men's FIS World Cup standings.

Hockey

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The United States and Canada could be in line for a pair of epic gold-medal matches on the hockey ice.

The return of NHL players for the Milan Olympics likely means the Americans and Canadians will face off for the gold.

Canada hasn't won gold in men's hockey since 2014 and the Americans haven't stood on top of the medal podium since the "Miracle on Ice" team in 1980.

Canada and the United States are the only nations to ever win the women's hockey tournament, which began in Nagano in 1998.

Anything other than a USA-versus-Canada gold-medal game would be viewed as a huge surprise on the women's side.

Sweden, Finland and a few European countries will be competitive on the men's side, but the two North American squads boast the most NHL talent.