Olympic Moments

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games officially began on February 6, with an elaborate opening ceremony that lasted nearly three hours. It took place in Milan, the second most populous city in Italy. Athletes from each participating country marched, waving their national flags as the crowd cheered. The ceremony also honored Italian culture. Performers wore giant heads to represent famous Italian composers. Giant paint tubes floated above the stage to honor Italian artists.

International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry gave a speech. “Thank you for believing in the magic of the Olympic Games,” she said.

The Games continue until February 22. Below are some of TFK’s favorite moments, so far.

Daring Backflip

ZERO GRAVITY Ilia Malinin performs a backflip during a figure skating routine on February 7 at the Games in Milan, Italy.

American figure skater Ilia Malinin landed two backflips on the ice during his first two programs at the 2026 Winter Olympics: one on February 7 and one on February 8. He landed the second of these on a single skate blade. The feats made Malinin the first Olympian to land a legal backflip since a ban by the International Skating Union outlawed the trick from 1977 to 2024.

The backflip didn’t totally disappear during that time. For example, France's Surya Bonaly landed a backflip on one blade at the 1998 Nagano Games, even though the move was illegal. The International Skating Union officially reversed its backflip ban starting in the 2024–2025 season, explaining that it was “not logical anymore to include them as illegal movements.”

Minion on Ice

BANANA? Spanish skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté competes in full Minion getup on February 10.

Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté, a figure skater from Spain, brought a Minion-inspired routine to the men's single skate short program. On February 10, Sabatė wore a yellow-and-blue costume inspired by the mischievous creatures and skated to music related to the Minions. He said the routine “felt amazing.”

Mini Mascots

CUTE CRITTER Italy's Dorothea Wierer poses with her medal and Tina, the mascot of the Milano Cortina Olympic Games, at the Anterselva Biathlon Arena, in Anterselva, Italy, on February 8.

Sports fans are cheering for their favorite Olympic athletes—but they’re also cheering for this year’s Olympic mascots, a pair of stoat siblings named Milo and Tina. Stoats are small, fuzzy mammals in the weasel family. They’re native to the Italian Alps, where the Olympic events are taking place. The mascots were made into cuddly plushies, though these are largely sold out at many of the official Olympics stores, the AP reports.

Record Breaker

WATCH HIM GO Jordan Stolz competes in the men’s 1000-meter speed skating event during the Games on February 11.

On February 11, American speed-skater Jordan Stolz set an Olympic record: He completed the men’s 1000-meter speed-skate event in just 1 minute and 6.28 seconds. (A thousand meters is about 3,300 feet, or about .6 of a mile.) Stolz had to wait for the judges to confirm his victory: Late in the race, they allowed his opponent, Dutch skater Joep Wennemars, to redo the course. Wennemars skated again, but his final time didn’t touch the record set by Stolz.

Upcoming: Skier to Watch

YOUNGBLOOD Abby Winterberger competes in Aspen, Colorado, on January 10.

Freestyle skier Abby Winterberger, 15, is the youngest Olympian representing the United States in any sport at this year’s Games. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in fully,” she told NBC News.

We’ll be keeping an eye out: Abby competes in the women's freeski halfpipe event on February 19.