From thrilling performances to hard-earned medal wins, the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics has already delivered moments that will go down in sporting history.
Unfolding against a backdrop of global uncertainty, the Games are bringing together more than 3,500 athletes from 93 countries.
And there have been plenty of wins for Team USA.
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Skier Breezy Johnson flashed the first U.S. gold medal before reporters at the base of the mountain at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, while Alysa Liu returned from a two-year retirement to help the U.S. team secure gold in the figure skating competition.
Speedskater Jordan Stolz set a new Olympic record in his first Milano Cortina race, earning gold after he crossed the finish line of the 1000m event in 1 min., 6.28 sec. Figure skater Maxim Naumov received loud cheers as he made his poignant Olympic debut a year after his parents and former coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, died in a plane crash over the Potomac River.
And figure skater Ilia Malinin continued redefining the sport, performing a jaw-dropping backflip.
There have also been less celebratory moments.
Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Games over wearing a helmet that depicted the war dead. And in a scene that concerned onlookers, American skier Lindsey Vonn was airlifted to hospital after crashing during a race.
Below is a selection of the most striking images from the 2026 Winter Games so far.
The post The Most Striking Photos From the 2026 Winter Olympics appeared first on TIME.
