This year, the 2026 Winter Olympics are being held across multiple different locations, but mainly in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. From returns to the rink, absolute takeovers, and trailblazers in their sports, the athletes competing at the Olympics are nothing short of groundbreaking and inspiring for all young athletes around the globe, including Clinton’s! 

One figure skater for Team USA has taken the world by storm with his Olympic Debut. Nicknamed the “Quad God”, Ilia Malinin has had a “12-event international winning streak”, according to the official Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics website. Interestingly, Malinin is the son of two famous Russian-born figure skaters, who wanted him to choose his own path. Luckily for the sport, he chose figure skating. At 13 he landed his first quadruple jump and at 17, he finished 2nd at the 2022 national championships in Nashville. Four years ago, in the skating world, a quadruple Axel was a feat no athlete could achieve in competition, and was thought to be almost impossible. Now, Malinin has pulled it out of his pocket on numerous occasions, including on his path to both world titles in 2024 and 2025. 

Now in Milan, he’s breaking even more boundaries. During the Olympic team event on February 8th, Ilia Malinin landed the first legal backflip in 50 years, and the second in Olympic figure skating history. He’s revolutionizing the field of skating and completely changing the look of the sport, according to the New York Times. Alice Wilding, a 10th grader at Clinton who is also on the cross country team, says “I was watching him and was so amazed. He’s literally insane and he looks like an acrobat in the air. I was definitely impressed and a little inspired too.” For any athlete dreaming big, Ilia Malinin  proves that you can achieve what others think is impossible. 

 Another athlete making Olympic history is Stevenson Savart, who as of February 8th, became the first man to represent Haiti in cross country skiing. Savart served as the flagbearer for the Opening Ceremony, and is one of only two athletes representing Haiti in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. In spite of placing 64th in the men’s skiathlon, he stole the hearts of fans, who cheered him on as he crossed the finish line. Despite not breaking any Olympic records, Savart has made a much more meaningful impact on the sport of skiing. He told Olympics.com that he wants to “counter prejudice in skiing”. He talked about how hard it was to be one of the only Black people skiing when he was younger, and how he wants to show people anything is possible through his ambition and determination. By breaking boundaries of who “can” or “cannot” play a certain sport, Savart is certainly pushing people around the world to not let anything stop them.  

Back into the figure skating world, a retired star has come back into the spotlight. Alysa Liu, who at 13 years old, was the youngest woman ever to land three triple Axels and the youngest national champion, retired at 16 years old after competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Now, she’s making a comeback with a completely new style. Alysa sports a horizontal blonde and brown dyed hairstyle, achieving the look of a halo, and a ‘smiley’ piercing, on her frenulum, a piece of tissue connecting the upper lip to the gum. In figure skating, elegant and poised looks are typically the status quo, but Liu is flaunting her own style and winning medals on the stage and in fan’s hearts. On February 6th, Liu made her official Olympic comeback with an astounding performance including a double Axel and a triple Lutz. This placed her second in the women’s short program, which was crucial to Team USA winning a gold medal. Her ability to come back to a sport she retired from 4 years ago, have a completely different style from the rest of figure skating and compete at an Olympic level again is nothing short of extraordinary, gives all athletes the confidence to be comfortable in their own skin, and make the game their own. 

Whether it’s breaking the limits, a spectacular comeback, or completely transforming a sport, these competitors are setting an example for young athletes all over; to make a change, to dream big, and to not let anything get in their way. Alessandra Weizmann, a 10th grade athlete at Clinton says, “The challenges each Olympic athlete puts themselves up to everyday, inspired me to never stop challenging myself, whether it’s on the tennis court, at the gym, or in my life.” At Clinton, we have various sports teams made up of all types of people with different interests and styles. Our basketball, volleyball and soccer players and track and cross country runners should definitely look up to these Olympians, and use their stories to break barriers in the PSAL league and believe anything is possible to achieve.