1908 – Figure skating makes its Olympic debut at the London Summer Games, marking the sport’s first appearance on the world stage. [17]

1924 – Figure skating becomes a permanent fixture of the Winter Olympics in Chamonix, establishing the classic five‑event program that endures today. [17]

1928 & 1948 – Skeleton features in the St. Moritz and St. Moritz Games, respectively, before disappearing for decades. [10]

2002 – Skeleton returns permanently to the Olympic program at Salt Lake City, reviving the high‑speed sled sport for modern audiences. [10]

2014 – Women’s ski jumping debuts at Sochi, expanding gender equity in a historic winter discipline. [26]

2018 – The International Olympic Committee bars NHL‑contracted players from the PyeongChang Games, ending professional hockey’s Olympic participation for that cycle. [1]

2022 – COVID‑19 restrictions keep NHL players out of Beijing, prolonging their Olympic hiatus. [1]

2022 – The United States wins the figure‑skating team gold after Russia is penalized for Kamila Valieva’s doping violation, a result that fuels U.S. confidence for 2026. [11]

2024 – The delayed medal ceremony at the Paris Summer Games finally awards the 2022 U.S. figure‑skating team their gold medals, adding emotional weight to their 2026 title defense. [12]

Jan 6, 2026 – The skeleton schedule is set for Feb 12‑15 at the Cortina Sliding Center, with men’s, women’s and the inaugural mixed‑team events slated for a four‑day showdown. [10]

Jan 7, 2026 – U.S. ski‑jumping officials announce the final roster will be released by Jan 20, as the 2026 program adds a women’s large‑hill event and replaces the men’s team event with a super‑team format. [26]

Jan 12, 2026 – Team USA unveils its full figure‑skating lineup, featuring Alysa Liu, Isabeau Levito, Amber Glenn, Ilia Malinin, Maxim Naumov, Andrew Torgashev, pairs teams Kam/O’Shea and Chan/Howe, and three ice‑dance duos, with all events to stream live on Peacock. [16][25]

Jan 26, 2026 – The U.S. Olympic Committee announces a record 232‑athlete winter roster, surpassing the 2018 high‑water mark and highlighting 98 returning Olympians and 18 champions. [14][23]

Jan 26, 2026 – Organizers confirm the Games will open on Feb 6 in Milan and Cortina, featuring a record 195 medals, the debut of ski mountaineering, and the highest ever female participation at 53.4 % of events. [15][24]

Jan 31, 2026 – UK Sport sets a target of four‑to‑eight medals for Team GB, while Italy aims for at least 19 medals despite pre‑Games injuries to flagbearer Federica Brignone and others; IOC President Kirsty Coventry, the first woman in the role, pledges a “new normal” of sustainability for the dispersed Games. [1]

Feb 2, 2026 – Norway tops the all‑time Winter Olympic medal table with 405 medals, the United States sits second with 330, and the U.S. delegation is led by Vice President JD Vance amid protests in Milan over ICE deployment. [4]

Feb 3, 2026 – Colorado supplies the most U.S. Olympians (31), followed by Minnesota (24), as the total U.S. traveling team reaches a historic 234 athletes. [13][21]

Feb 4, 2026 – Mixed‑doubles curling kicks off the competition before the opening ceremony, while the Games officially begin with daily events running through Feb 22 across six venue clusters. [3][9]

Feb 5, 2026 – Training and early competition start a day early: mixed‑doubles curling round‑robin and women’s ice‑hockey preliminaries begin, and alpine downhill runs launch in Bormio. [7]

Feb 5, 2026 – The opening ceremony launches at Milan’s San Siro, featuring simultaneous cauldrons in Milan and Cortina, a “Harmony” theme, and performances by Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli and others; IOC President Kirsty Coventry defends the dispersed format as “the new normal” despite added complexities. [8][18]

Feb 6, 2026 – The opening ceremony unfolds at 2 p.m. local time, lighting two Leonardo‑da‑Vinci‑inspired cauldrons and heralding the start of the Games; hours later the U.S. figure‑skating team begins the team event, aiming for back‑to‑back gold after a delayed 2024 medal ceremony. [11][18][19]

Feb 12‑15, 2026 – Skeleton races take place at the Cortina Sliding Center, with Britain’s Matt Weston favored for men’s gold and Austria’s Janine Flock a top contender for women’s gold; the United States fields the reigning mixed‑team world champions Mystique Ro and Austin Florian. [10]

Feb 19, 2026 – Ski mountaineering (skimo) makes its Olympic debut with individual three‑minute sprint races, where athletes attach “skins” for climbs, swap boots, and descend in rapid succession. [2]

Feb 21, 2026 – The skimo mixed‑relay, featuring a man‑woman pair completing four alternating laps, concludes the sport’s inaugural Olympic program. [2]

Feb 17, 2026 – Day 11 highlights include the men’s 4×7.5 km biathlon relay in Anterselva, Nordic combined Gundersen races in Tesero, and Italy’s men’s team pursuit speed‑skating gold in Milan. [6]

Feb 18, 2026 – Day 12 photo gallery captures Sweden’s women’s team‑sprint cross‑country gold, Canada’s Steven Dubois winning the 500 m short‑track, and dramatic ice‑hockey quarterfinals featuring a helmet loss by USA’s Jake Sanderson. [5]

2030 & beyond – The dispersed, sustainability‑focused model pioneered in Milan‑Cortina is slated for future Games in the French Alps (2030), Utah (2034) and a Swiss bid for 2038, cementing the new format as the standard for Winter Olympics. [8]