Milan-Cortina 2026: Here's spotlight on three global stars— Shiffrin Gu, Malinin to watch

In less than 48 hours, the world’s elite athletes will be part of the Milan Cortina 2026, as northern Italy is all set to host the universe’s top winter athletes.

Social media is buzzing at a fever pitch with the Milano-Cortina 2026, as the Olympics are about to host 2,900 of the world’s best athletes displaying magic on ice in Italy this mid-winter.

Let’s dive deep and break down some of the global winter stars:

Mikaela Shiffrin—alpine skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin is the GOAT alpine skier, and she is taking part in her straight fourth Olympics.

She had faced a disappointment in Beijing along with serious injury and mental health challenges.

The American legend Skier has been World Cup champion for five times, with 108 World Cup races, including 108 World Cup triumphs, and opened the season with five straight slalom victories.

At Cortina the two-time Olympic champion will be locking targets to the podium, while her fiancé, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, is also making a comeback from a bad injury.

Emily Harrop—skimo

The French Skier, Emily Harrop is debuting at Milan-Cortina with chances that she could be the next big thing, after UK failed to make its way in the Games’ new sport, Ski mountaineering, or ‘skimo.’

Harrop had closed her previous season with seven triumphs out of seven races at the Skimo World Cup, winning both crystal globes (sprint and overall) for the fourth straight season.

Eileen Gu—freestyle skiing

Eileen Gu, a freestyle skier who was born and raised in California, made headlines for China during the Beijing 2022 Olympics.

At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Gu was just 18 years old; she bagged gold in the big air and freeski halfpipe events and silver in the slopestyle.

However, that's not all; Gu is also a two-time world champion and triple Winter X Games gold medalist.

Gu is a serious competitor and a potential candidate for the podium this time, due to her strong portfolio.

Off the slopes, Gu is one of the most buzzing winter sports athletes in the world and has participated in major fashion weeks: New York, Barcelona, Paris, and Milan.

Currently, Eileen Gu is pursuing quantum physics at Stanford University.

Illia Malinin—figure skating

Illia Malinin has the credit of successfully landed the quadruple Axel, skating’s most challenging jump, in competition, prompting the nickname the ‘Quad God.’

The American-born Malinin has figure skating in his genes. He was born to Olympic skaters Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, is the odds-on favorite for the men’s singles title in Italy, with previous routines including seven quads and a backflip.