The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are officially underway in Italy, with the opening ceremony unfolding this afternoon (Friday).
For Fairfax County viewers, eyes will be particularly fixed in the coming days on two local athletes: figure skater Ilia Malinin — a 2023 Marshall High graduate who still lives in Vienna and trains at Reston’s SkateQuest — and speedskater Brandon Kim, a 2020 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology making his Olympic debut.
A two-time reigning world champion and the overwhelming favorite to win Olympic figure skating gold, Malinin performs his short program as part of the team event. The defending champion U.S. leads Japan and Italy going into Day 2 of the three-day competition. It’s scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m. local time or 1:45 p.m. ET tomorrow (Saturday) in Milan.
The 20-year-old American phenom has waited four long years for the Milan Cortina Games, after he was controversially left off the U.S. team for the Beijing Olympics. It was primarily due to his age and inexperience — it certainly wasn’t due to his ability, which had already put him in rarified air — and it fueled Malinin during the past quadrennial to become the best in the world.
Malinin has won the past two world titles, the latest last year in Boston with relative ease. He hasn’t lost a competition in about two years, whether it be lower-level tune-ups, elite-level Grand Prix events or the national championships, where Malinin triumphed for the fourth consecutive time in St. Louis earlier this month.
The scores that he has posted along the way rival the best in history, including the standard set by his countryman, Nathan Chen.
“Ilia is a whole different, like, factor,” says his U.S. teammate, Amber Glenn. “I mean, he’s the son of two incredible figure skaters, and he’s just built, quite literally, different. And like, it’s insane. He’s both talented and hard working, and it’s amazing what he does.
Kim, meanwhile, will compete for Team USA in the short-track speedskating competition, which will begin next Tuesday (Feb. 10).
Participating in the 500-meter, 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter events as well as the mixed and 5,000-meter relays, Kim is scheduled to appear first in the qualifying heats for the men’s 1,000-meter race at 5:08 a.m. ET, followed by the mixed-team relay quarterfinals at 5:53 a.m. EST.
The mixed-team relay event will wrap up that day with finals starting at 6:48 a.m.
According to Team USA, Kim could be a “key skater” for the relays after winning a mixed-team silver medal in the 2026 world cup. He has represented the country at two world championships, winning three gold medals at the 2026 competition.
Currently a student at Stanford University, Kim told the Stanford Daily that, heading into the Olympics, he’s “just focusing on clean racing, smart racing and just not trying to let the pressure overwhelm me.”
As in past years, the Olympics are being broadcast in the U.S. by NBC, though some events are airing on USA and some will only be available through online streaming.
The timing of the men’s figure skating short program has been corrected. It will begin at 1:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, not 12:45 p.m. as initially reported.
