Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Preview: Predictions For Every Medal

When it comes to the Olympics – especially the Winter Olympics – viewers are so often watching sports they have not seen in four years.

As a kid, I know that I had no clue what I was watching for or what to expect. Therefore, I would idolise what publications and organisations like Sports Illustrated or Gracenote would produce

This time around, having studied the Winter Olympics closely in my role as a researcher with Australia’s Nine Network, I decided to devise a model similar to the ones created by others which I relied on at previous Olympics.

This model uses historic trends, recent form and Olympic performances to try and figure out who will hit the podium in each of the 116 medal events at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

As is always the case with sport, especially the Olympics, there will be surprises. Unsung heroes will emerge, favourites will falter and expectations will be upended. Still, this should provide a quick guide to each event.

Click below to head to each sport as well as to our predicted medal table.

Alpine Skiing
Biathlon
Bobsleigh
Cross-Country Skiing
Curling
Figure Skating
Freestyle Skiing
Ice Hockey
Luge
Nordic Combined
Short Track Speed Skating
Skeleton
Ski Jumping
Ski Mountaineering
Snowboard
Speed Skating

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Alpine Skiing

Stories To Watch

No alpine skiing gold medal has ever been won by a country located in the southern hemisphere. Alice Robinson, born in Sydney but representing New Zealand, and Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen both look capable of achieving the feat.

Pinheiro Braathen, in particular, would be a historic winner as Brazil has never claimed a Winter Olympic medal of any colour before. Even silver or bronze would be a big story. The model is also giving Lara Colturi a chance of giving Albania a first ever medal at the Winter Olympics.

American Lindsey Vonn is aiming to break the record for the longest time between first and second gold medals at the Winter Olympics. She won the women’s downhill in Vancouver 2010 and will have three chances for gold. The 41-year-old has returned with two World Cup wins in downhill and it would be a comeback story for the ages should she add a second win in that event. (Note: Since publication, she has injured her knee and was airlifted to hospital. Her Olympic bid remains in doubt.)

Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt is the world’s leading alpine skier currently. He only won one gold in Beijing but is favoured to add to his tally here. On the women’s side, it is technical sensation Mikaela Shiffrin who is the long-standing star of the sport. She has won two Olympic golds but not since Pyeongchang in 2018.

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Biathlon

Stories To Watch

Swedish sisters Elvira and Hanna Oberg are both strong contenders to win gold medals in Milano Cortina. Hanna is already an individual gold medallist, but Elvira – four years younger – is yet to win gold on her own. However, both Elvira and Hanna were part of Sweden’s 4x6km Relay team that won gold in Beijing. Elvira is the most likely of the two to land individual gold this time around.

Johan-Olav Botn makes his Olympic debut. The Norwegian has emerged as a potential successor to recently retired Johannes Thingnes Bo and he can stamp himself as a star here.

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Bobsleigh

Stories To Watch

Germany is the dominant bobsleigh nation and they could easily sweep all four races. Either Francesco Friedrich or Thorsten Margis, who will be Johannes Lochner’s brakeman in the four-man, can become the most successful bobsleigh athlete of all time should they win gold; both have four gold medals to their name already.

Laura Nolte is incredibly consistent and looks hard to beat in both women’s events. Bree Walker is aiming to become the first athlete from the southern hemisphere to win a bobsleigh medal.

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Cross-Country Skiing

Stories To Watch

At her fourth and final Olympics appearance, Jessie Diggins – who will retire at the end of the World Cup season – will attempt to win her first individual Olympic gold medal. The American won team sprint gold in Pyeongchang and two minor medals in Beijing. She is leading the World Cup standings and the skiathlon on Day 1 looks made for her.

Norway is historically the strongest nation when it comes to cross-country skiing. Their current star is Johannes Hosflot Klaebo, who can become the most successful cross-country Olympian of all time if he can win four gold medals (surpassing Bjorn Daehlie). Our model has that as likely. The other Norwegian to watch is young gun Einar Hedegart, who was hoping to go to Milano Cortina as a biathlete but switched to cross-country – for the time being at least – when he felt his shooting was not up to the standard required.

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Curling

Stories To Watch

Scotland is the spiritual home of curling – the stones are still made using granite sourced from the island of Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde. No Scottish male curler has won gold in the sport since the inaugural Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924 (although it was not contested from 1924 to 1998). Bruce Mouat gets two opportunities to win gold for Scotland – or, more accurately, Great Britain as a whole – in both the men’s tournament and the mixed doubles. He was just edged out for gold in the men’s event in Beijing and looks poised to finally get that elusive Olympic title – perhaps two of them.

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Figure Skating

Stories To Watch

Ilia Malinin is the world’s best figure skater and it will take something extraordinary for him to lose the gold medal. Known as the “Quad God”, he was the first person to land a fully rotated quadruple Axel in competition in 2022. However, he just missed selection for Team USA for Beijing. He will be one of the headline acts of these Olympics.

His fellow Team USA member Maxim Naumov may be an unlikely medal contender but the fact he is even on the ice will create one of the emotional moments of the Games. His parents died in the collision over the Potomac River in Washington DC last year that took the lives of 28 members of the American figure skating community.

Ice Dance defending champion Guillaume Cizeron returns with new partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry. Their partnership has been controversial but they are something to behold on ice.

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Freestyle Skiing

Stories To Watch

Jakara Anthony is attempting to become the first Australian athlete to win back-to-back gold medals in any event. She has been the standout moguls skier since Beijing, save for a year on the sidelines through injury. Her World Cup form has been scintillating and she is the skier to beat in both moguls, which she won in Beijing, and dual moguls, a new event for Milano Cortina.

Eileen Gu was the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Winter Olympics in Beijing. Gu represents China, although she grew up in the United States, and she looks a chance in all three events once more. Halfpipe does look her best chance of gold.

Finley Melville Ives and his twin brother Cameron are both gold medal chances for New Zealand; Finley in freestyle skiing, Cameron in snowboard.

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Ice Hockey

Stories To Watch

NHL players return for Winter Olympics action for the first time in 12 years. Canada have won the last two gold medals in which NHL players were able to participate, while Finland won in Beijing.

The main rink has had all sorts of construction issues and is still not entirely complete ahead of the Games. A test event in January saw a hole open up in the ice but, after it was fixed, everything went smoothly. It is smaller than international specifications so it may affect the flow of play but hockey bosses are confident that it will work out.

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Luge

Stories To Watch

German superstar Felix Loch is experiencing a late-career resurgence and could surpass Beijing 2022 gold medallist Johannes Ludwig as the oldest men’s singles Olympic champion.

Loch, a 14-time world champion across multiple disciplines, won singles gold in Vancouver in 2010 and in Sochi in 2014; he also won mixed team gold in Sochi. However, he was surprisingly beaten out of the medals in Pyeongchang and Beijing. He has returned to form this World Cup season and enters as a leading contender.

Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt are looking to win the doubles and the team relay, likely with Loch and Julia Taubitz, for the fourth consecutive Games. Should they win either, they will become the most successful luge Olympians of all time.

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Nordic Combined

Stories To Watch

The retirement of stars like Jarl Magnus Riiber and Jorgen Graabak has allowed new contenders to emerge. Brothers Jens Luraas Oftebro and Einar Luras Oftebro shared the podium in a World Cup event in January and they look like strong candidates, while Johannes Lamparter might be the long term heir to those retired stars.

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Short Track Speed Skating

Stories To Watch

Short track speed skating is fast, rough and unpredictable – Steven Bradbury’s extraordinary win in Salt Lake City in 2002 is a perfect example of that. It might be tough, therefore, to figure out who to watch. Perhaps it can be William Dandjinou, current world champion in the 1500m, 2000m mixed relay and 5000m relay, and Courtney Sarault, who has been in fine form on the ISU World Tour, who can lead Canada to its best ever Olympic performance.

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Skeleton

Stories To Watch

Matt Weston has been the world’s dominant skeleton racer over the last four years. The Brit is the reigning world champion and European champion and he has been the form athlete this World Cup season.

Beijing was the first time since the sport was introduced in Salt Lake City in 2002 that Great Britain didn’t win at least one medal in skeleton but they look well placed to win at least two – Weston or Marcus Wyatt should win the men’s event and the mixed team looks theirs for the taking as well.

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Ski Jumping

Stories To Watch

The Prevc family already has two Olympic medallists from five children – Peter won mixed team gold in Beijing as well as two individual silvers and a bronze, while Cene won team silver in Beijing. Both are now retired but stepping up are Domen and Nika Prevc.

While Domen is the current large hill world champion, Nika is the star of the show and the one who is likely to be the name to remember after these Games. She could win as many as three gold medals at the tender age of 20.

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Ski Mountaineering

Stories To Watch

Ski mountaineering – or SkiMo in the sport’s parlance – makes its debut in Milano Cortina. Spain has only won one gold medal at the Winter Olympics, that coming when Francisco Fernandez Ochoa won gold in the men’s slalom in Sapporo in 1972 (his sister Blanca won bronze in the women’s slalom in Albertville in 1992).

Oriol Cardona Coll, the men’s sprint world champion, can break that 54-year drought in the men’s sprint. If not, he can combine with Ana Alonso Rodriguez to claim mixed relay gold on the penultimate day of the Games – if they can see off French stars Thibault Anselmet and Emily Harrop.

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Snowboard

Stories To Watch

Three women will attempt to become the first snowboarders to win the same event in three consecutive years: Ester Ledecka (parallel giant slalom), Anna Gasser (big air) and Chloe Kim (halfpipe). Ledecka will also attempt to add to her alpine skiing gold in super-G from Pyeongchang in what will be the main dual sport story of these Olympics.

Few snowboarders are as famous as Scotty James; perhaps only the legendary Shaun White can eclipse him as far as snowboarding men go. The one thing missing from James’ resume? An Olympic gold medal. He heads to Italy in tremendous form after claiming his fifth straight X Games gold and his third straight Laax Open in halfpipe.

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Speed Skating

Stories To Watch

Jordan Stolz could potentially aim to win five gold medals, equalling the haul of Eric Heiden in Lake Placid in 1980. The American sensation is the one to beat in the sprints, while he is also set to contest the team pursuit and the mass start – although the team pursuit is not yet confirmed.

Anything less than three gold medals will be considered a disappointment, such is the aura around Stolz. The Wisconsin native hit the podium at the 2025 world championships despite strep throat and pneumonia and he has been all but unstoppable otherwise.

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Predicted Medal Table

Here is how the medal table will shape up should the model prove correct in every event.

Should this be the final tally, it would mean:

• The United States will record their best ever gold medal haul. They have never won more than 10 gold medals at a single Winter Olympics.
  
• It would be the first time that host nation Italy reaches 10 golds or wins more than 20 medals.
  
• Great Britain has never won more than one gold medal at a single Winter Olympics. This is their best chance to win multiple gold medals.
  
• Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand would win more than two gold medals for the first time.
  
• It would be a first gold medal (or a medal of any colour) for Brazil and Georgia and a first medal of any colour for Albania.

Tune into the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Nine in Australia, BBC in the UK, NBC in the United States and through a host of international broadcasters.