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CMS Sportscast: 2026 Winter Olympics Preview

by Cameron Moore (8th)

*San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, home of Serie A’s AC Milan and Inter Milan, as well as the 2026 Olympic Opening Ceremony.*

It’s crazy to think that we are in an Olympic year once again. The first Olympic events begin today, Wednesday, February 4, with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, February 6. The best athletes in the world in the 15 Winter Olympic sports are now gathered in northern Italy for the flagship event of international sport. Let’s go through them one by one, with everything you need to know in between.

If you want to know schedules for your favorite Olympic events, here is the official Olympic schedule from their website.

Events

Let’s look at the events that will be held throughout the games. I’ll tell you a little about each, and for some of the bigger sports, additional info to know.

Alpine Skiing

One of the trademark events of the Winter Olympics, Alpine Skiing has five main variants, called disciplines:

Downhill: a straight shot down the mountain. This is the fastest paced discipline.
Slalom: the most technical race. This has the shortest course and quickest turns, as the gates are very close to each other.
Giant Slalom: Similar to slalom, but a little faster.
Super-G: Short for ‘Super Giant Slalom,’ this is a mix between the speed of downhill and the technique of giant slalom.
Combined: A two-person team race. One skier does a downhill race, another does slalom.

Biathlon

There are many different types of biathlon races, but all of them are made of two events: cross-country skiing (distance varies based on type of race) and shooting, which they stop to do a certain amount of times.

Bobsleigh

I already heavily covered the sport of bobsleigh in my most recent article, but here is the basic summary. A group of one, two, or four sledders race down an icy track on board a heavy, skating sled. The fastest time wins.

Cross-Country Skiing

Cross-country skiing is another very interesting sport to me. It has many individual and relay formats, but the Olympic sport is broken down into two main techniques.

Classic: the skier goes through tracks in the snow and keeps their skis parallel to each other, for the most part.
Free (skate): the skier does not have tracks to rely on and has to be able to effectively move through the snow, using proper skiing techniques and pole usage.

Curling

Curling is one of the most popular sports at the Winter Olympic games, and is basically shuffleboard but better. One of the few indoor sports at the games, curling matches are, except for mixed doubles, played over 10 rounds, or ‘ends,’ and each team throws 8 stones. Athletes need a perfect throw and efficient sweeping techniques to score a stone as close to the center of house, or the target, as possible.

Figure Skating

Probably the most beautiful sport at these Olympic games, figure skating is broken into five disciplines: men’s and women’s singles, pairs, ice dance, and team. Singles and pairs has two programs: a short program that must have specific technical elements, and a free program with a bit more freedom. Both programs do allow skaters to pick their own music, too.

Freestyle Skiing

This sport is broken down into seven events: moguls, dual moguls, aerials, ski cross, halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air. This sport is basically all of the fancy tricks, but on skis. Cool, I guess.

Ice Hockey

You know it. You love it. Probably the most popular sport at the winter games, hockey involves players on an ice rink using sticks to shoot the puck into other goals. Let’s see how far the US goes in these games.

Luge

Luge is crazy. It’s the fastest paced sport at the games, as athletes lie on their backs through an icy track going 93 mph (150 km/h) with no brakes and little control. I’m looking forward to seeing this one.

Nordic Combined

This sport involves two other sports: cross-country skiing and ski jumping (which I’ll get to, don’t worry). Not much else to say here.

Skeleton

I also talked about this in my most recent article. In skeleton, the racer starts standing, but then jumps onto the sled and rides through the track face down. This sport is also nuts.

Ski Jumping

See! I told you I’d get to it!

Anyway, ski jumping is pretty cool. The athlete has to go as far as possible, determined by the jump’s length and technique. It’s not just riding down a giant ramp. There’s a lot more technique that must be used here.

*NEW SPORT* Ski Mountaineering

Making its debut at this year’s Milan-Cortina games, ski mountaineering is a very interesting sport. Racers use a combination of skiing and walking on foot to traverse uphill and downhill sections of a course. This should honestly be very interesting to see.

Snowboarding

Another popular sport, snowboarding is broken down into a few categories: giant slalom, snowboard cross, halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air. All of these events require snowboarders to do many flips and tricks throughout to increase their scores.

Speed Skating (and Short Track Speed Skating)

Speed skating is honestly wild. These events are held on two-lane, 400 m tracks (basically, the length of the track around the football field) with varying styles and distances.

Short track speed skating takes place on a much tighter track. The sport is not so much about speed, but a lot more of technique, strategy, and overtakes. Racers have to be smart to be given a gold in short track.

And, that is it, actually. This took a lot of research to make, as you may expect. I have listed descriptions of each sport from the official website of the Olympics below, which includes additional information and some explainer videos if you’re interested in any other sport in particular.

So, happy Olympics, and cheers to 3 AM wakeups to watch some world-class athletes play in the snow.

Article references: (Yeah, there’s a lot of them.)

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/alpine-skiing

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/biathlon

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/cross-country-skiing

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/curling

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/figure-skating

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/freestyle-skiing

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/ice-hockey

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/luge

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/nordic-combined

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/short-track-speed-skating