We're a week away from the Opening Ceremony: From the Sports Desk
- - We're a week away from the Opening Ceremony: From the Sports Desk
The Sports DeskJanuary 31, 2026 at 8:30 PM
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This is the online edition of our new free newsletter focused on the biggest players, moments and narratives of every sports season.
The industry is undergoing major shifts as people treat sports more like entertainment: Athletes are becoming the new celebrities. Games and the hype around them are huge cultural touchpoints. Fans are wagering on the action like never before. Our veteran NBC News sports reporters and editors will break this all down, without worrying about the play-by-play.
Sign up here for The Sports Desk, which will be sent daily during the Winter Olympics.
Live from Milan Cortina
Our coverage kicks off at a big moment. “Legendary February,” as we call it here, is upon us, featuring the Milan Cortina Olympics, the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star Game. It’s all on NBC.
NBC News will have about a dozen correspondents and reporters across northern Italy at the Olympics, and you’ll get their recaps, analysis and behind-the-scenes reports from the slopes and ice every day. Here’s who you’ll see in this newsletter, on our broadcasts on the NBC News app and on Peacock— your hub for streaming every moment of the Games.
Peter Alexander, Shaquille Brewster, Stephanie Gosk, Andrew Greif, Claudio Lavagna, Rohan Nadkarni, Greg Rosenstein and Anne Thompson will be in Milan, where figure skating, hockey and speedskating will take place.
Molly Hunter, Gadi Schwartz and Savannah Sellers will be in Cortina, home to women’s Alpine skiing, curling and sliding sports, like luge and bobsled.
Sam Brock will be in Livigno, hosting snowboarding and freestyle skiing.
Steve Kornacki’s subscriber-first series, “Keeping Score with Kornacki,” will help you understand the rules of many of the events.
We’ll also give you a daily viewing guide, so you’ll know when the best events are happening and where to watch. And we’ll profile the day’s main character, whether that’s an athlete who won gold or the viral star everyone is talking about.
The opening ceremony is next Friday. Let the Games begin.
Athletes to Know
More than 230 athletes are set to represent Team USA in Italy. Here’s what makes some of them so special.
Skating under a rainbow flag
Amber Glenn, 26, clinched her first Olympic berth after a record-setting performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, positioning her to potentially become the first U.S. woman to medal in Olympic singles since 2006. She says her recent success is closely tied to personal growth and confidence gained after coming out publicly as bisexual and pansexual, making her the first out woman to compete in Olympic figure skating and helping her skate free of expectations and stereotypes.
Amber Glenn skates in Making the Team: Presented by Xfinity, an exhibition after the 2026 United States Figure Skating Championships at the Enterprise Center on January 11, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images) (Matthew Stockman)Proving he’s the best
Ilia Malinin, 21, has won virtually every major figure skating competition over the past three years. As he approaches the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the question in the figure skating community isn’t whether he will win gold — but how much will he win by.
Competing for a gold medal to honor his father
Charlie McAvoy says his NHL career was shaped by his father, who sacrificed his own hockey dreams and steered his son away from the family plumbing business so he could fully pursue the sport he loved. From late nights at a local rink to a work ethic forged on job sites, McAvoy credits his father’s support and example for giving him the chance to chase — and reach — bigger goals.
When to watch
Though the opening ceremony is next Friday at San Siro stadium in Milan, some athletes will have already begun competing by then. Curling, a fan favorite every Winter Games, gets going on Wednesday.
Here’s the full schedule over the first few days (all times Eastern):
Wednesday, Feb. 4
1:05 p.m.: Mixed doubles curling round-robin (Sweden-South Korea, Great Britain-Norway, Canada-Czechia, Estonia-Switzerland).
Thursday, Feb. 5
4:05 a.m.: Mixed doubles curling round-robin (Great Britain-Estonia, Sweden-Czechia, Norway-USA, South Korea-Italy)
6:10 a.m.: Women’s hockey pool play (Sweden-Germany)
8:35 a.m.: Mixed doubles curling round-robin (USA-Switzerland, Norway-Canada)
8:40 a.m.: Women’s hockey pool play (Italy-France)
10:40 a.m.: Women’s hockey pool play (USA-Czechia)
1:05 p.m.: Mixed doubles curling round-robin (Canada-Italy, Switzerland-South Korea, Estonia-Sweden, Czechia-Great Britain)
1:30 p.m.: Snowboarding: Men’s big air qualifying
3:10 p.m.: Women’s hockey pool play (Finland-Canada)
Friday, Feb. 6
3:55 a.m.: Figure skating: Team event women’s short, rhythm dance, pairs’ short
4:05 a.m.: Mixed doubles curling round-robin (Sweden-Great Britain, Italy-Switzerland, USA-Canada)
6:10 a.m.: Women’s hockey pool play (France-Japan)
8:35 a.m.: Mixed doubles curling round-robin (Czechia-USA, Estonia-Italy, South Korea-Great Britain, Sweden-Norway)
8:40 a.m.: Women’s hockey pool play (Czechia-Switzerland
2 p.m.: Opening ceremony
That’s it for now! We’ll be back on Wednesday with our first reporting from Milan.
Source: “AOL Sports”
