We are now just one day away from the roar of the opening ceremonies of the

2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy.

Team USA is on the hunt for gold as figure skater, Ilya Malin, who some have dubbed the

quad god, pushes the sport of ice skating to dizzying heights.

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt.

I'm Dana Taylor.

Today is Thursday, February 5, 26.

Join me now to discuss one of America's favorite events, ice skating, and what else to watch out for at Milano Cortina, 2026, is USA Today National Sports columnist Christine Brennan and Olympic

gold medalist Brian Boytano, the host of USA Today's Milan Magic Olympics podcast. Christine and

Brian, it is so wonderful to have you here on the excerpt. Thanks for joining me.

Thank you so much for having us. Thanks. Yeah. You know what? We're getting a little sick of each other,

just the two of us, so it's good to have you join. Christine, of course, anything can happen at the Olympics, but Team USA is stacked.

Who are the megastars will be watching?

You certainly mentioned one right off the bat, Eelian Malin, who is the quad god,

as you said, he is two-time world champ, four-time U.S. national champ.

He is the prohibitive favorite to win the men's gold medal early in the Olympics, the first week.

So it's, in fact, the team competition is beginning on the same day as the opening ceremony.

So you'll see, Elia, you know, probably quite early in the Olympics.

But as Brian knows well, you know, probably quite early in the Olympics. But as, as Brian knows well,

you know, the winter sports by design are ice and snow. And that means that they can be very slippery. It's not like someone swimming in a pool. And yes, something can go wrong for Katie

Ludecki, but the odds are it's not going to be the elements.

And yet with ice, with snow, that skating is a slippery sport.

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