The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) confirmed on Monday that the United States will send 232 athletes to the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Milano Cortina, marking the largest U.S. Winter Olympic team on record.
The delegation will include 115 women and 117 men. The previous high for U.S. Winter Olympic participation was 228 athletes at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Among those named to the roster are 98 veteran Olympians, led by alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin. The selection also highlights a collection of proven medal contenders and long-tenured competitors across winter sports disciplines.
Rocky Harris, the USOPC Chief of Sport & Athlete Services, described the team with an emphasis on organizational progress. "We have a lot of confidence in the 2026 team because our winter sport programmes have made significant progress over the quad. We made an intentional effort to focus on winter sports," Harris told reporters on Monday. He added that the United States has invested "significant resources" in winter sport, citing areas such as coaching, athlete stipends and technology.
While the United States has typically led the medal table at Summer Games, that level of dominance has been far rarer at the Winter Olympics. The nation has topped the Winter Games medal standings only once, in 1932. At the most recent Winter Games in Beijing, the United States finished third on the medal table.
The team includes several of the sport’s most decorated athletes. Canadian-born monobob champion Kaillie Humphries, who changed her competitive allegiance to the United States prior to the 2022 Games, holds three Olympic gold medals and is the most decorated athlete on the roster in terms of golds. Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin and snowboarder Chloe Kim each have two Olympic gold medals.
Bobsleigh veteran Elana Meyers Taylor carries the largest overall Olympic medal count among U.S. Winter athletes on the roster, with three silver medals and two bronze medals accumulated across four prior Olympic appearances.
Meyers Taylor will be among seven athletes on this team making their fourth Olympic appearance. The other four-time Olympians named are Kaillie Humphries, figure skater Evan Bates, snowboarders Nick Baumgartner and Faye Thelen, ice hockey player Hilary Knight and alpine skier Lindsey Vonn.
What this means
The USOPC frames the size and composition of the team as the result of a deliberate focus and resource allocation to winter sport programs over the last quad. Officials point to investments in coaching, stipends and technology as central to building depth and experience across disciplines.