Team USA Is Finally Set

With just 11 days until the Olympic Opening Ceremony on February 6^th, the final US Olympic Team roster was set today.

And if I could borrow a financial metaphor, the Winter Olympic team chosen for Milano-Cortina is like a stock portfolio combining legacy brands and disruptive newcomer start ups. In the business of gold medals, the U.S. is betting on a portfolio of human assets that balances the stability of legends like Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn with the high-growth potential of “unicorns” like Jordan Stolz and Ilia Malinin.

The Blue Chips

Mikaela Shiffrin is like the Coca Cola of professional skiing. She just keeps paying dividends quarter after quarter, in good times and bad. With 101 World Cup victories and 16 Crystal Globes already on her resume, Shiffrin is defending a monopoly on excellence. Heading into her fourth Olympics, she remains the favorite to break the record for most Olympic gold medals in American alpine history.

Next of course is Lindsey Vonn. I wrote about Vonn in November of last year attempting what seemed then unfathomable. At 41, after nine knee surgeries (and a titanium replacement) and a brief retirement she was attempting a comeback. Many of her peers thought she was crazy. For goodness sakes, I thought she was crazy. Just stop and realize that her events (the giant slalom and downhill) involve speeds of up to 80 miles per hour and forces with up to 8 g’s (that means a skier experiences their weight/force at up to 8 times normal). How could a 41-year-old athlete possibly be competitive with such extreme demands put on her body?

In addition, these races start (on average) at 7500 feet elevation (a mile and a half high) which means less oxygen to handle all that stress. Vonn’s “unretirement” is therefore the ultimate corporate turnaround story. Her second-place finish in the Sun Valley Super-G in March 2025—making her the oldest woman to ever stand on an alpine World Cup podium—proved that her brand still has life.

Other veteran leaders stabilizing the U.S. portfolio include: Jessie Diggins (Cross-Country Skiing): The most decorated U.S. cross-country skier in history, Diggins is expected to compete in six events, targeting gold in the 10km freestyle;

Chloe Kim (Snowboarding): A heavy favorite for her third consecutive gold in the halfpipe, Kim continues to innovate with “product upgrades” like the 1260 and double cork 1080s; Olympic champions Red Gerard and Nick Baumgartner, who is making his fifth Winter Games appearance, will join Kim;

Hilary Knight (Hockey): Entering her final Olympic cycle, the team captain and all-time leading scorer at the IIHF World Championships aims to exit on a high note with another gold; Madison Chock and Evan Bates (Ice Dancing): Chock and Bates have been the best in the world the last three years and this will be their ninth Olympics between the two of them. It’s finally their turn for gold.

The Unicorns: Disrupting the Status Quo

If Shiffrin is the Coca-Cola of Team USA, Jordan Stolz is the AI startup destined to redefine the industry. The 21-year-old speed skating phenom holds countless records and World Cup titles, but he lacks the one thing his “business plan” requires: Olympic hardware. Experts predict Stolz could become the first American since Eric Heiden in 1980 to win multiple speed skating medals at a single Games.

In figure skating, Ilia Malinin, also just 21 years old—known as the “Quad God”—has established a technical moat that competitors find nearly impossible to cross. As the first and only skater to land a quadruple Axel, Malinin has been undefeated for over two years, making him the clear favorite for gold in Milan.

Meanwhile, the “comeback kid” of the 2026 cycle is Alysa Liu. After a two-year retirement that began at just 16, Liu returned to win the 2025 world title, ending a 19-year American drought in women’s singles. Her return is a masterclass in managing burnout and refocusing a career for long-term sustainability.

The Emerging Markets: New Talent and New Categories

The 2026 Games features the debut of new “product lines,” including ski mountaineering and mixed-team skeleton. Team USA is looking to capitalize on these new categories with athletes like Mystique Ro, who became the first American to win a world championship medal in skeleton in eight years after being recruited from track and field. Other newcomers to watch include: Nathan Pare (Snowboard Cross): The Maine native and 2024 FIS Rookie of the Year is quickly emerging as a top contender after a podium finish at the 2025 World Championships; Laila Edwards (Hockey): A rising star in the PWHL, Edwards is part of a younger core expected to lead the U.S. women’s hockey team into a new era; Campbell Wright (Biathlon): A dual citizen who previously competed for New Zealand, Wright represents the best chance for the U.S. to finally earn its first-ever Olympic medal in biathlon.

The Bottom Line

“Throughout this season, we’ve seen quite remarkable results from our athletes across all 10 of our sports and I know this is one of the strongest teams we have sent to the Games. I am excited to cheer for them on the biggest stage in sports,” U.S. Ski & Snowboard chief of sport Anouk Patty said recently in a statement.

For Team USA, the 2026 Winter Games are not just a series of athletic events; they are a massive deployment of human capital. The depth and diversity of this particular Team USA squad should translate at these Winter Olympic Games into a very high return on investment indeed.