WINTER NOTE | In 2026, the world of winter sports starts to revolve around Milano–Cortina.
This winter feels a little different from a usual season. In February, Italy will host the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Against the backdrop of the Alps and the city of Milan, athletes will battle for medals in 16 disciplines and 116 events.
Here, from a WINTER NOTE point of view, we’ve organized the “must-watch points of winter sports in 2026” around three main pillars: curling, figure skating, and speed skating. If you follow just these three, you’ll already get a lot out of this winter.
1. The central axis – Milano Cortina 2026 in February
The biggest highlight this year is, of course, the main Milano–Cortina Winter Olympics, held from 6–22 February (local time). The Opening Ceremony will be at San Siro, the Closing Ceremony at the Verona Arena – a “decentralized” Games spanning both city and mountains.
Figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding, curling, ski jumping… Even if you look only at the Japanese team, there are multiple medal contenders in what can fairly be called a “bumper winter.” Here we’ll narrow things down to three key storylines that Japanese fans will especially want to follow.
1-1. Women’s curling – Fortius, from Kelowna to Milano
In December 2025, at the Olympic Qualification Event (OQE) held in Kelowna, Canada, the Japanese women’s team Fortius (Team Yoshimura) defeated Norway 6–5 to book their ticket to Milano–Cortina. That result brought Japanese women’s curling to a milestone: eight consecutive Olympic appearances, from Nagano 1998 onward.
They lost 10–9 to Norway in a dramatic comeback the day before, then faced the same opponent again in the playoff the very next day – and this time won it 6–5. That sequence is a “prequel” well worth knowing before you watch the main event this year.
Skip Sayaka Yoshimura, third Kaho Onodera, second Yuna Kotani, lead Anna Ohmiya, alternate Mina Kobayashi, and coach Yumie Funayama. How will Fortius update the reputation that Loco Solare built – that “Japan’s women can battle with the world’s best”? In Milano, the key viewing window will likely be the back half of the round-robin and into the playoffs.
◆ Official posts to prep for watching Fortius
1-2. Japan’s figure skating team – Kaori Sakamoto’s final Olympics and the new generation
Figure skating will once again be a “main character” sport for Japanese fans in Milano–Cortina. Based on the results of the All-Japan Championships at the end of 2025 and the announcement by the Japan Skating Federation, the Japanese roster will look roughly like this:
| Discipline | Skater(s) | Key point |
|---|---|---|
| Men’s Singles | Yuma Kagiyama | Beijing 2022 silver medallist, now heading to Milano as a skater “aiming for gold.” |
| Men’s Singles | Shun Sato | His quads and expression are finally coming together at just the right time for his first Olympics. |
| Men’s Singles | Kao Miura | Known for his attacking layouts, taking on the world head-on as one of the “Manji Boys.” |
| Women’s Singles | Kaori Sakamoto | The first Japanese woman to skate in three straight Olympics. This season is her grand finale. |
| Women’s Singles | Mone Chiba | A rock of consistency with World Championships medals already on her résumé. |
| Women’s Singles | Ami Nakai | A 17-year-old rising star who hit the world podium in her very first senior season. |
| Pairs | Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara | World champions and Grand Prix Final winners, among the favourites for gold. |
| Pairs | Yuna Nagaoka / Sumito Moriguchi | A new pair who surged into the top ranks in one season, now challenging their first Olympics. |
| Ice Dance | Utana Yoshida / Masaya Morita | Expected to feature especially in the team event, representing the “current state” of Japanese ice dance. |
The big storylines here are Kaori Sakamoto’s “career culmination”, the men’s singles summit clash centred on Yuma Kagiyama vs Ilia Malinin, and how far Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara – so dominant at Worlds – can push their own standard of skating on the Olympic stage.
Including the team event, Japan now has “a squad with multiple medal contenders.” This year it will be worth paying attention to finer details like the order of competitions (team event → individual) and which skaters are used where – in other words, the team strategy.
◆ Official video that lets you feel the Milano–Cortina atmosphere in advance
1-3. Speed skating – the “double headliners” Yoshida and Takagi
At the fourth leg of the Speed Skating World Cup in Hamar, Norway, Yukino Yoshida claimed her first 500m win of the season (and third World Cup victory overall), all but securing her place on the Milano–Cortina team. Her time was 37.65 – a near-ideal race in which she hardly slowed from start to finish.
At the same competition, Miho Takagi took a double victory in the 1500m and 1000m. The women’s team pursuit squad (Momoka Horikawa, Miho Takagi, Ayano Sato) reached the podium in all three World Cup races so far, giving the impression of a steady climb toward the Olympics.
This year, the key viewing points will be:
- Women’s 500m: How Yukino Yoshida measures up against the world’s top sprinters
- Women’s 1500m / 1000m: Whether Miho Takagi can once again hunt multiple medals, as in Beijing
- Women’s team pursuit: How the new lineup builds a “characteristically Japanese” train
These three. In particular, the 500m and team pursuit are easy to follow in terms of race development, and are excellent entry points even for viewers who don’t usually watch speed skating.
◆ Official posts to review the Hamar World Cup
2. This year, you’ll want to follow overseas stars “in parallel” too
Even just tracking the Japanese athletes could keep you busy all winter, but Milano–Cortina will also be a dense season for the stories of overseas stars.
- Figure skating, men – Ilia Malinin: The only skater in history to land a 4A, and the “jump monster” who landed seven quads in one free skate last season. His showdown with Yuma Kagiyama will be one of the biggest highlights of the entire winter.
- Ski jumping – Domen Prevc: Opened the year with back-to-back wins at the Four Hills Tournament. He could quickly seize the role of “odds-on favourite for gold.”
- Women’s ice hockey – USA vs CAN: After losing at Beijing 2022, the United States heads to Milano with a clear “revenge” mission against Canada. Since the women’s tournament is almost always a two-nation race between these teams, it’s worth marking your calendar for a final that practically feels preordained.
Knowing some of these overseas storylines makes it easier to compare with the Japanese squad, and helps the whole Olympics come into three-dimensional focus.
3. Winter 2026 continues after the Olympics – “checking answers” and “the next step”
Once Milano–Cortina ends in February, you might imagine the season is “over in a flash.” But in reality, the winter of 2026 continues beyond that point.
Curling still has the World Championships to come, and figure skating and speed skating have their own Worlds and selection events. How will athletes adjust and correct the issues exposed at the Olympics? Through team reshuffles and new lineups, a series of tournaments running into spring will feel like a kind of “answer check” to the Games.
By year’s end, the All-Japan Championships and other domestic events will roll around again, and a “post-Milano generation” will begin to emerge. That’s why 2026 is a year worth following not only during the Games themselves but also during the “rebound” before and after.
In closing – where will you start watching this winter?
Trying to follow everything can be overwhelming, so I’d recommend starting with just these three: (1) Fortius and women’s curling, (2) Japan’s figure skating team, and (3) speed skating (Yoshida & Takagi). Beyond that, just dipping into official posts and highlight videos as they drift across your timeline is more than enough.
Here at WINTER NOTE, we’ll keep trying to gently widen the “entryway into winter” by following each sport and athlete one by one throughout the year.
