2026 Winter Olympics: Which American athletes compete today, Feb. 5, 2026?
Three events feature on Thursday’s program, ahead of Friday’s Opening Ceremony. The women’s ice hockey team take on Czechia.
The 2026 Winter Olympics officially gets underway on Friday February 6 with the Opening Ceremony. But three events get underway before the two cauldrons are simultaneously lit in Piazza Dibona in Cortina d’Ampezzo, and in front of the Arco della Pace in Milan.
The curling event kicked off on Wednesday at Cortina Olympic Stadium, and will conclude on the last day of the games. The United States have three teams taking part in the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles events.
Team USA dominate most of the Olympic medals tables - but curling, which was reintroduced to the program at Nagano 1998, is one of the sports in which the U.S. has achieved moderate success. The men’s team are the only medal winners so far - picking up gold at Pyeongchang 2018 and the bronze - curiously, in Italy at Turin 2006.
The men’s and women’s teams feature five members each, with Cory Thiesse doubling up to star in the mixed doubles alongside Korey Dropkin.
Different spellings. Perfect match. 🥌@koreydropkin and Cory Thiesse are looking good in their new #WinterOlympics threads. pic.twitter.com/oI5tnj9jeM
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) January 31, 2026
Tough opener for Team USA in the mixed doubles
The curling mixed doubles event started on Wednesday with the United States entering the round-robin stage with a tough matchup against Norway - medalists in both of the last two editions. That opening contest starts at 10:05 local time CET (04:05 ET / 01:05 PT). Thiesse and Dropkin are back in action for their second inning of the day, taking on Switzerland at 08:35 ET / 05:35 PT.
9 #WinterOlympics in one photo...Iconic if you ask us 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/QePR6duwO1
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 3, 2026
Ice hockey favorites
There are high hopes for Team USA’s women’s ice hockey team in Italy. John Wroblewski‘s team, who lifted the IIHF Women’s World Championship last April, enter the preliminary round on Thursday against Czechia. The puck will be dropped at 10:40 a.m. ET / 7:40 a.m. PT and the game will be aired live on USA Network and Peacock.
Rising halfpipe star Alessandro Barbieri has his sights set on qualifying for #MilanoCortina2026 and the chance to compete in front of his extended family in Italy! 🏂 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/S1AGiqNHdV
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) September 12, 2025
Snowboarding also starts on Thursday, with the Men’s big air event programmed at 01:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT. Representing the US will be 17-year-old Alessandro Barbieri.
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