The upcoming Winter Olympics, also known as the Milano Cortina 2026 is scheduled to occur from February 6-22. With about 200 members of Team USA, here’s a look into the AAPI athletes qualified to compete.
Chloe Kim, 25
Sport: Snowboarding
The Korean American snowboarder was born in Torrance, California. She made history and opened up doors for women in the sport by winning gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and being the first woman to win gold consecutively at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The medals and accolades of Kim are long and impressive with predictions of her winning gold again.
In a terrible update last week, she suffered an injury to her shoulder while training in Switzerland, a tear in the labrum. She updated fans saying she wasn’t sure about whether or not she would continue to compete. Thankfully, she announced yesterday that her tear was a less severe version than what could have stopped her from competing. She’s continuing her healing journey and will not be able to hit the slopes until right before the Olympics take place.
Emily Chan, 28
Sport: Figure Skating
The 28 year old figure skater was born in Texas to a Hong Kong born father and Taiwanese mother. She began figure skating at the age of 4. She started her career competing in women’s singles and became the 2016 national junior champion.
She will be competing in the Olympics with her skating partner, Spencer Howe, who she had been partner skating with since 2019. The pair went on to win multiple medals with the most recent being bronze at the 2025 CS Trialeti Trophy.
Madison Chock, 33
Sport: Ice Dancing
Madison Chock, with her father being Hawaiian and her mother having various European ancestries, was born in Redondo Beach, CA. She began skating at the age of 5 and made her Olympic debut at Sochi in 2014. She owns her own business offering design services for figure skaters. She married her skate partner, Evan Bates in 2024.
This will be Chock’s fourth Olympics she will be participating in with her last gold medal won in 2022 at Beijing for Team – Mixed.
Andrew Heo, 24
Sport: Short Track Speed Skating
The Korean American short track speed skater was born in Pennsylvania. He represented Team USA in the 2022 Winter Olympics making this his second Olympics he will be participating in.
Heo’s recent medals include bronze in the 2024 World Short Track Championships in Rotterdam for the 2000 m mixed relay and gold in the 2023 Four Continents Championships in Salt Lake City for the 2000 m mixed relay.
Spencer Akira Howe, 29
Sport: Figure Skating
The half Japanese figure skater was born in Los Angeles and in his early career participated in partner skating for Japan. Since 2022, he coaches both figure skating ad hockey at the Skating Club of Boston. In 2024, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and is a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program.
He will be competing in the Olympics with his skating partner, Alysa Liu, who he had been partner skating with since 2019. The pair went on to win multiple medals with the most recent being bronze at the 2025 CS Traleti Trophy.
Ellie Kam, 21
Sport: Figure Skating
The Chinese American figure skater was born in Yokota Air Base and grew up in California.
She is an American pair skater. With her skating partner, Danny O’Shea, she is the 2024 Four Continents bronze medalist, four-time Grand Prix medalist, four-time Challenger Series medalist, and 2024 U.S. National Champion.
Alysa Liu, 20
Sport: Figure Skating
The Chinese American figure skater was born in California and was the youngest skater in history to land a title Axel in an international competition at the age of 13. Other accomplishments include being the youngest women’s champion at 14, winning two senior titles.
This is the second Olympics she’s competing in. After the Beijing Olympics in 2022, she announced her retirement, but a ski trip in 2024 reminded her of why she loved the sport and brought her return back to the rink.
Brandon Kim, 24
Sport: Short Track Speed Skating
The Korean American short track speed skater was born in Virginia. After watching speed skating in the Olympics at age nine, he was inspired to try it out at a local club. The current Stanford University student does not have a local rink to train in and took the past year off to train for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Eunice Lee, 21
Sport: Short Track Speed Skating
The Korean American speed skater was born in San Diego, California and grew up in Tacoma, Washington at the age of six after living in South Korea for two years. She qualified for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but did not compete due to being a backup on the team.
Lee’s recent medal was silver in the 3000 m relay at the World Speed Skating Championships.
Jen Lee, 39
Sport: Sled hockey
The Taiwanese born Paralympian sled hockey player moved to the United States at the age of six. After being introduced to sled hockey in 2009 by “Operation Comfort,” an organization dedicated to assisting injured U.S. service personnel, he began competing in the sport.
His most recent medals include three gold medals won in the 2022 Beijing, 2018 Pyeongchang, and 2014 Sochi Paralympics.
