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- 🎿 Does Lindsey Vonn’s comeback include the 2026 Olympics?
🎿 Does Lindsey Vonn’s comeback include the 2026 Olympics?
Full 2026 Winter Olympic Schedule released
Black Rosie
December 11, 2024
We’re Back!
Hello BRM readers!
We’re reliving the Gold Medal Dispatch as we begin preparations for Milano Cortina 2026! We launched the GMD during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Like Paris 2024, the Milano Cortina Games are expected to be the most gender-balanced Winter Olympics, with women accounting for 47% of participants.
Elana Meyers Taylor has strongly advocated gender equity in Olympic bobsleigh and skeleton events. In 2022, Black Rosie Media partnered with American Legacy Network to share stories of Black Athletes in Beijing.
Check out my reporting for ALN to learn more about her and other Black Olympic medalists from the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Erica L. Ayala reporting from Beijing and the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Does Lindsey Vonn’s comeback include the 2026 Olympics?
In case you missed it, Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn has come out of retirement to join the U.S. Ski Team. After six years away and a knee replacement surgery, Vonn is back on the slopes!
“Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey,” Vonn told media last month. Her return to the national team is an effort to “continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women," she added.
On Wednesday, Vonn was a forerunner on the Birds of Prey course ahead of the World Cup races in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
“It felt so normal to be standing in the start gate,” Vonn told the Associated Press after her test run. “Everything felt as it should.”
This task is often given to racers breaking into competition, not four-time Olympians with 82 World Cup wins.
“It feels normal in the progression that I’m making. I mean, I would prefer to be racing here, but beggars can’t be choosers,” Vonn added.
As for the 2026 Olympics, or even the super-G competitions later this month, the 40-year-old was noncommittal.
“We’ll see. I felt really good physically out there today. I definitely skied conservatively. Very soon I’ll make a decision, but not today.”
🗓️ Mark Your Calendars!
The full 2026 Winter Olympics competition schedule is out! For team competitions, we still have to wait for matchup details, but we can circle key dates and locations.
The women’s and men’s ice hockey tournaments will compete in the new Santagiulia Arena in Milan and the Fiera Milano Rho complex. The latter was as an official venue last April after the original location was scrapped due to renovation costs.
“We have arrived at a solution that represents a benchmark in terms of flexibility: a sustainable, innovative choice in line with the identification of Fiera Milano already as a speed skating venue, which will allow Italy to be an example for future editions of the Games,” Giovanni Malagò, the president of the Milan Cortina 2026 Organising Committee said.
The Fiera Milano Rho renovations will include additional spectator seating to accommodate more than the current 6,500 maximum capacity. The Santagiulia Arena remains under construction and is expected to seat 15,000 fans.
Key Dates
4 February: Opening Ceremony at the Cortina Olympic Stadium, a historic venue from the 1956 Winter Games.
6 February: Preliminary rounds for women’s ice hockey tournament, curling, and the first day of figure skating
22 February: Men's ice hockey final and Women's curling ahead of the 2026 Closing Ceremony.
🏆 And the winner is…
The IOC announced the winners of the Olympic Golden Rings Awards, which are given biennially to honor broadcasters for their outstanding coverage of the Olympic Games.
The 2024 Olympic Golden Rings Awards winners included:
Best Content to Promote Gender Equality and Inclusion:
Gold - Globo – “Olympic Stories: Women and the fight for gender equality”
Silver - Livemode – “LaĂs Souza Returns to the Olympic Games”
Bronze - CMG Group – “Women Break Through to the Olympics”
Best Digital Offer (Web and App):
Gold - NBCUniversal – NBC Olympics and Peacock
Silver - CMG Group – CMG Mobile Olympic Tab
Bronze - WBD – Eurosport: every moment of the Olympics on Max
Best Innovations (AI/Technology):
Gold - BBC – BBC Paris studio
Silver - France Télévisions – The Torch Relay live broadcast
Silver - NBCUniversal – Peacock Olympic Daily Recap
Best Remote Studio and Presentation:
Gold - WBD – “WBD House - Paris 2024 studio”
Silver - Globo – “Globo Olympic Studio”
Bronze - NBCUniversal – “NBC’s Coverage of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad”
Best Social Media Campaign:
Gold - NBCUniversal – “NBC Olympics Social Media”
Silver - CBC/Radio-Canada – “CBC/COC’s Promotional Campaign - Brave is Unbeatable”
Bronze - Sky NZ – “Authentic Aotearoa, New Zealand Olympic Experience”
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