Olympics.com Podcast

The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are officially over. It's been a memorable and inspiring 16 days of Olympic greatness, and host Nick McCarvel puts the final weekend into perspective, with standout performances from the U.S. men's hockey team, free ski legend Eileen Gu and Norway's Johannes Klaebo. After six (yes, six!) golds this Games, Klaebo brings his tally to 11 overall, and is well and truly the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time.

Nick has one more exclusive for listeners on this episode too, American speed skater Jordan Stolz. The 21-year-old from Wisconsin set out for an unfathomable four medals across the 500, 1000, 1500 and mass start, and ended up with three - two golds and a silver. He reflects on his Milan experience and his unique approach to pressure, his one-of-a-kind coach, Bob Corby, his cat, Mitzi, and much more.

The Olympics.com podcast publishes every other week year-round. Subscribe and like to get regular stories of the Olympians you've followed during Milano Cortina 2026, as we round the bend to the Paralympic Winter Games, which are set to start on 6 March.

"The destiny for Cortina for me was to be peaceful, even if I didn't get a medal."
Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin is opening up after her first Olympic gold in eight years, revealing her mentality in a one-on-one sit-down with Olympics.com's Alessandro Poggi.
Another American gold medallist is also discussing her unique approach after coming back from retirement, as Alysa Liu won the Olympic figure skating title, making her the first American woman to do so since Sarah Hughes at Salt Lake City 2002.
"I don't really feel pressure," Liu says in her exclusive with host Nick McCarvel. The 20-year-old talks about how her two years away from the sport reshaped her thinking around external expectations - and how that's helped her flip the skating world on its head.
Plus, the USA women's hockey team completed a 48-hour gold rush for the Americans with a dramatic come-from-behind overtime win over rival Canada, and we hear from captain Hilary Knight and Megan Keller - who struck the game-winning goal - about their golden triumph.

In the days since his Olympic debut came to a close, Ilia Malinin has been in a reflective mood. On Tuesday, he sat down exclusively with Olympics.com podcast host Nick McCarvel in one of his few post-competition interviews, the famous Milan Duomo in the backdrop. "Medals don't really define who you are," he said in a wide-ranging chat.
Malinin discusses the pressure that he felt at these Winter Olympics, his thinking around the quadruple Axel, his plans moving forward and the amount of support he's gotten - from Simone Biles to Tom Brady and beyond - after his performance.
The podcast also features a one-on-one with another high-flying athlete, freestyle skiing mogul legend Mikael Kingsbury, who led a trio of fathers on the dual moguls podium in the discipline's Olympic debut. Olympics.com reporter Andrew Binner chats with Kingsbury. Meanwhile, Nischal Schwager-Patel discusses the gold rush of cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, the Norwegian who now has 10 Olympic gold medals - the most for any Winter Olympic athlete - ever.
Plus, a tour of Casa Airbnb at Milano Cortina 2026, the debut of ski mountaineering, Mikaela Shiffrin's emotional gold and great French success in the biathlon.

A month ago, Federica Brignone wasn’t sure she could even compete at Milano Cortina 2026. Now, the 35-year-old skier is a double Olympic champion.
“I had no pressure because it was already amazing to be here,” Brignone told reporters after her second gold, captured in the giant slalom. “I just tried to enjoy every single moment out of it. I didn't feel the pressure, [which is] crazy because I'm at a home Olympics.”
Brignone has helped spearhead a thrilling hardware haul for the Italians: a record 23 medals with still five days to go. It's more than their previous best of 20 - at Lillehammer 1994.
Brignone features on the podcast along with another skiing champion, Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who claimed not only his country’s first Winter Olympic gold - but first winter medal of any colour for all of South America.
Olympics.com producer Alessandro Poggi joins host Nick McCarvel to talk all things alpine skiing, before Nick gets the lowdown from another colleague, Grace Goulding, on all things speed skating - both short and long track.
Plus, Grace sits down exclusively with short track great Apolo Ohno, who discusses Dutch dominance in the two sports - and one of the breakout stars of these Games, 21-year-old American Jordan Stolz.

Figure skating always has a flair for the dramatic - and this Winter Olympics has been no different. Mikhail Shaidorov's shocking gold medal in the men's event came as favourite Ilia Malinin fell to eighth place. In ice dance, the competition was one of the closest in history - with Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron edging Madison Chock and Evan Bates by just 1.43 points.
Olympics.com contributor Gracie Gold joins host Nick McCarvel to help reflect on both Shaidorov and Malinin, and she also sits down with fellow American Amber Glenn, with the women's event set to anchor week two of the Games at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
The episode also features exclusive sit-downs with Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron, Chock/Bates and bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, as well as 42-year-old Canadian Deanna Stellato-Dudek, who is set to make her Olympic debut in the pairs event.
"This is obviously my second chance at this sport," Deanna tells Nick, having been retired of 16 years. "So many stars had to align; so many serendipitous occasions had to occur in order for me to even be sitting in this seat. I just feel like I owe it to my younger self and to my current self to do absolutely everything I can, put all my chips on the table, like full throttle to [chase] this dream."