With less than a year until the 2026 Winter Olympics, here are some Minnesotans to watch

It’s now less than a year until the opening ceremony of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. And the first step for Minnesotan Olympic hopefuls for a spot on Team USA begins Monday at the Olympic trials for mixed doubles curling in Lafayette, Colo.

Here’s what you need to know about the 2026 Winter Games and the Minnesotans who might be making their mark there.

These Italian Olympics will run from Feb. 6-22, 2026. It’s the fourth time the country has been an Olympic host.

Right off the bat, these Olympics will be quite different from those that came before it. Split among eight locations across Italy and headlined by the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Games will cover nearly 10,000 square miles, making them the most widespread Olympics in history.

While there are a few new events coming next year, the main novelty in Italy will be a sport completely new to the Games: ski mountaineering. The event, which has deep roots in Italian mountain culture, consists of ascents and descents done both on foot and on skis.

Jessie Diggins, cross-country skiing

One of the state’s biggest winter stars, cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, will be among those hoping to return for more in Milan. The Afton native became the most decorated American cross-country skier in Olympic history at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and is in search of her fourth Olympics. She is already an Olympic champion and three-time medalist.

“I am always striving to improve, always looking to fine-tune the little details that help me become a better skier, athlete and team leader,” Diggins told the Minnesota Star Tribune last November.

Diggins, the reigning overall World Cup champion, currently leads the standings again this season. She will most likely know by late January 2026 if she’s officially made another Olympic team.

Lindsey Vonn and Paula Moltzan, Alpine skiing

Next up on Minnesota’s radar, also on skis, is St. Paul native Lindsey Vonn. The Alpine skiing legend returned after six years of retirement in December at age 40 and has her sights set on her fifth Olympics. The three-time Olympic medalist has had mixed results in her first few meets back, but she is dedicated to making a full comeback.

“Clearly, not everything is working as well as it should. I know I can be stronger,” she told the Associated Press at the world championships last week. “I know I can get my material to work better.”

Another skier who got her start at Buck Hill like Vonn, Paula Moltzan of Prior Lake, won her first individual world championship medal on Thursday, finishing third in the giant slalom. She also finished third in a World Cup giant slalom race last month as she pursues a second Olympic berth at age 30.

The qualification period for Alpine skiing — the time during which race results count toward Olympic team consideration — is July 1, 2024 through Jan. 18, 2026.

Greta Myers, speedskating

Myers, 20, of Lino Lakes, who switched to speed skating after 12 years as a hockey player, is on a roll just in time. She was a member of the women’s team pursuit squad that set a U.S. record in the event Feb. 2 at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Milwaukee, and she won the World Cup women’s mass start race in Calgary a week earlier.

Giorgia Birkeland of White Bear Lake, a 2022 Olympian, is also a member of the national team for the 2024-25 season.

U.S. Speedskating usually holds its Olympic trials about a month before the Games.

The curlers

Minnesotans are bound to have a curling team to root for, one way or another.

For the past decade, the top American men’s team has been led by John Shuster, a Chisholm, Minn. native who trains with his team in Duluth. He’s been to five Olympics, winning gold in 2018, and has dominated the American curling scene.

That is, until Korey Dropkin’s team dethroned Shuster’s team at the national championships in Duluth on Feb. 2. Dropkin, who also trains in Duluth, leads a younger curling squad, which includes Mark Fenner of Bemidji, and is hoping to take over the American curling mantle.

In the women’s competition at the national championships, Team Peterson, with Eagan sisters Tabitha and Tara Peterson, won its third consecutive title. Team Peterson represented the U.S. at the 2018 and 2022 Olympics.

Only one men’s team and one women’s team will go to Italy. Which ones will be determined in November at the U.S. Olympic Curling Team trials in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Shuster and Dropkin are members of mixed doubles teams competing for a chance at an Olympic berth next week in Colorado. Dropkin and Cory Thiesse, also of Duluth, won the 2023 world championship in the event. Shuster is on a team with fellow Olympian Aileen Geving, also of Duluth.

Other curlers with Minnesota ties competing next week are: Aidan Oldenburg of Mapleton; the husband-and-wife team of Clare Moores and Lance Wheeler, Minnesota natives who now live in Denver; Lexi Daly of Duluth and Luc Violette of Edmods, Wash.; Andrew Stopera and Sarah Anderson, who are originally from the East Coast but have relocated to the Twin Cities to train.

The mixed doubles curling trials will stream live on Peacock; the best-of-three championship series on Feb. 22 and 23 will also air on CNBC. The winner will have more work to do to qualify for the Olympics. The team advances to the world championship April 26-May 3 in New Brunswick; the top seven countries, combining results from the 2024 and 2025 world championships, will earn trips to Italy. The U.S. team of siblings Becca and Matt Hamilton was 10th at the 2024 event.

Some of Minnesota’s highest-profile Olympians in Italy will be playing hockey.

This will be the first Olympics in which the NHL will allow its players to compete since the 2014 Sochi Games. Most Olympic rosters likely won’t be decided until next January, but the rosters for the current 4 Nations Face-Off — a tournament between the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland that started Wednesday — are a good indicator of the possibilities.

The Wild players on those rosters are Matt Boldy and Brock Faber (Maple Grove) for the United States, and Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek and goaltender Filip Gustavsson for Sweden. Jake Oettinger of Lakeville, Jake Guentzel of Woodbury and Brock Nelson of Warroad are also on the American team.

Wild star Kirill Kaprizov will most likely not be in Italy, due to the current ban on the Russian national team by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The International Olympic Committee will make the final decision on Russia’s exclusion before next February.

The Frost’s roster is chock full of Olympic veterans looking to return.

Kendall Coyne Schofield, Lee Stecklein (Roseville), Kelly Pannek (Plymouth), Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior), Nicole Hensley, Maddie Rooney (Andover) and Taylor Heise will be contenders for the Team USA roster. And they have significant Olympic experience; Heise (Lake City) is the only player on that list who has never been to an Olympics. Britta Curl-Salemme of the Frost, Abbey Murphy of the Gophers, Izzy Daniel of Minneapolis, Gabbie Hughes of Lino Lakes, Mannon McMahon of Maple Grove, and Rory Guilday of Minnetonka have also been on recent U.S. rosters for Rivalry Series games against Canada.

The Frost’s Denisa Krizova is likely to suit up in Italy for Czechia. Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques will be contenders for Team Canada.

Team USA will be looking to avenge their loss to Canada in the gold medal game in Beijing.