2026 Winter Olympics: Which American athletes compete today, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026?
As Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo gear up for this evening’s Opening Ceremony, a few American athletes will be in action in Friday’s program.
The first events of Milan Cortina 2026 began on Wednesday and the tournament proper, the 25th edition of the Winter Olympics gets into full swing today after the the Opening Ceremony at San Siro.
Some of the disciplines which take longer to complete, or which involve a lot of teams, such as curling and ice hockey, are already underway, and we have already seen practice session for other events such as figure skating and snowboarding.
The United States send biggest roster ever to the Winter Olympics
Team USA picked up a total of 25 medals (including nine golds) at the last Winter Olympics in Beijing four years ago, and sits second overall in the historic standings with a total of 330 medals (114 gold, 121 silver and 95 bronze) behind Norway, the most successful nation at the winter games.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee has sent 232 athletes to Italy, including 98 returning Olympians. Some of them have already started competing.
Two wins for curling pair, Thiesse and Dropkin
The curling mixed doubles tournament was the first to get underway, with the first round-robin games taking place at Cortina Olympic Stadium on Wednesday. Team USA’s Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin took to the ice on Thursday, scoring a surprise 6-8 win over Norway, which they followed up with a 7-5 win against Switzerland. Two wins from two which leaves the United States second in the standings (the top four teams advance to the playoffs).
Thiesse and Dropkin have two games scheduled for Friday, the first against Canada at 04:05 ET / 01:05 PT (10:05 local time CET), then they will return to face the Czech Republic at 08:35 ET / 05:35 PT.
John Wroblewski‘s Ice hockey team off to a winning start
Team USA’s women’s ice hockey team enjoyed a positive start to their campaign beating Czechia 5-1 in the opening preliminary round game on Thursday. The result left John Wroblewski‘s team top of Group A. The players will get the chance to rest on Friday and are back in action on Saturday, when they face Finland (11:40 a.m. ET / 8:40 a.m. PT).
Time to get your skates on
Team USA have 16 athletes taking part in the various Figure Skating tournaments - eight in the men’s category and eight in the women’s. The first three team events start on Friday.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates will perform their routine in the rhythm dance event, which starts at 04:55 a.m. ET / 01:55 a.m. PT. Flying the flag for the US in the pairs’ short program will be Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea. Their event starts at 06:35 a.m. ET / 03:55 a.m. PT.
The women’s single skating short program begins two hours later at 08:35 a.m. ET / 05:55 a.m. PT. with 2025 World champion Alysa Liu aiming to go one better and repeat or improve on the bronze she picked up four years ago in Beijing.
Elsewhere on Friday, other competitors will be limbering up with the official pre-tournament training sessions in Luge, Ski Jumping and Alpine Skiing.
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