From 'Quad god' to a Kelce favorite, these are the potential breakout stars of the Milan Cortina Olympics

You probably already know about returning Olympic stars like Lindsey Vonn, Chloe Kim and Mikaela Shiffrin. But every Games also feature first-time Olympians who go from anonymity to the A-list overnight.

If you know the Milan Cortina Olympics start in 100 days, then you probably already know about returning stars like Lindsey Vonn, Chloe Kim and Mikaela Shiffrin. But every Games also features first-time Olympians who go from anonymity to the A-list overnight.

These are the athletes who could do just that.

Malinin, the son of figure skaters from Uzbekistan who settled in Virginia, has accomplished so much by age 20 that Olympic gold is just about his only box left to check. And all signs point to Malinin’s dominating in Milan, much as fellow American Nathan Chen did at the 2022 Beijing Games (Chen left competitive skating after his gold).

Malinin is undefeated since December 2023, including winning back-to-back World Championships and performing the greatest collection of jumps in one program in history: all six types of quadruple jumps, including the most difficult, the quad Axel, which no other skater has ever landed cleanly in competition. Malinin is expected to go for a seven-quad program this season and has teased trying a quintuple jump in the future.

Malinin unveiled separate new moves each of the last two seasons: the raspberry twist — a corkscrew-like aerial maneuver — and a backflip, which international officials previously outlawed from competition.