There are a number of Winter Olympians with Connecticut ties that will be competing in the Milano Cortina Games, which begin Friday with Opening Ceremonies and run through Feb. 22 in Italy.
Speed skater Kristen Santos-Griswold, who grew up in Fairfield, is one of the favorites for a medal at multiple distances on the short track after coming close in the 2022 Games in Beijing. Santos-Griswold was in medal contention but finished fourth in the 1,000 meters after another competitor crashed into her.
“That was something that was really, really hard for me to deal with,” Santos-Griswold said earlier this month.
But she has made her peace with the result and hopes to be able to enjoy her Olympic journey more this time around.
Skeleton racer Austin Florian of Southington, who was the world champion last year in the mixed relay, is also a medal favorite in that event.
The most heart-wrenching story, of course, is that of figure skater Maxim Naumov, who grew up in Simsbury where his parents Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were skating coaches at the International Skating Center of Connecticut. Naumov lost his parents, who were also his coaches, in the plane crash in Washington, D.C., last Jan. 29. Last month, as he showed off pictures of his parents, he made it to his first Olympic Games.
This Olympics will be different for the athletes that went to the 2022 Games as the world was still dealing the effects of COVID-19 and spectators and family and friends were not allowed to go to Beijing.
“It was definitely a totally different vibe than I’m anticipating this one to be,” Santos-Griswold said. “I feel like we were lucky to have experienced a ‘COVID Olympics’ in a sense. While obviously there were a lot of things that were different and we missed out on, there were a lot of special things that happened, without having family or friends there. You really saw athletes lean on each other for support and I think that’s something that was special about it – we were each other’s support systems there.
“But obviously I’m looking forward to having my family at the upcoming one. This journey hasn’t been just me, they’ve been supporting me the whole time – driving me to practices, picking me up when I’m feeling down – all of that so for them to be able to experience it as well is something really special.”
Here is a look at each of the athletes with state ties and how to watch (all times EST):
Austin Florian, skeleton
CT connection: Lives in Southington
Competition dates: Feb. 12 (Heat 1, 2), Feb. 13 (Heat 3, medal finals), Feb. 15 (mixed team relay)
How to watch: Feb. 12 (Heat 1, 3:30 a.m. (live), Peacock; Heat 1-2, USA, 1:45 p.m.); Feb. 13 (Heat 3, 1:30 p.m. (live), Peacock; Heats 3-4, 5:30 p.m., USA); Feb. 15 (Mixed team, 12 p.m. (live), Peacock; 1:15 p.m. NBC)
Of note: Florian, 31, grew up in Southington and started ski racing at Mount Southington when he was 2 because his father was a ski racer. He went to Clarkson University, where he studied engineering and was a collegiate ski racer. On a trip one day to nearby Lake Placid, he noticed a skeleton tryout and decided to do it in 2014. Last year, he finished sixth in the world championships in singles and won the gold medal in the mixed relay. This is his first Olympic Games.
Emily Fischnaller, Luge
CT connection: Grew up in Suffield, went to Suffield High School
Competition dates: Feb. 9 (Heat 1 and 2), Feb. 10 (Heat 3, medal finals)
How to watch: Feb. 9 (Run 1, 11 a.m., Peacock and USA; Run 2, 1 p.m., Peacock and USA. Also a re-air, 8 p.m., USA). Feb. 10 (Run 3, 11 a.m., Peacock and USA; Medal run, 12:45 p.m., NBC; also a re-air of Run 3 and medal run, 5:30 p.m., USA).
Emily Fischnaller of Suffield competes in her third heat during the women’s luge final at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Of note: Fischnaller, 32, will compete in her third Olympic Games. She won the bronze medal at the World Championships last year. At the 2018 Games, she crashed during a run and broke two bones in her back and neck, sprained her ankle and had a concussion. She came back to win a bronze medal in her first World Cup that year in December. In 2022 in Beijing, she finished 26th. She is married to 2022 Olympic luge bronze medalist Dominik Fischnaller from Italy.
Mac Forehand, Freeski
CT connection: Grew up in Fairfield
Competition dates: Feb. 7 (Slopestyle, qualifying), Feb. 10 (medal finals), Feb. 15 (Big Air, qualifying), Feb. 17 (Big Air medal finals)
How to watch: Feb. 7 (Slopestyle, 8 a.m., Peacock and NBC; re-air at 1 p.m., USA); Feb. 10 (Slopestyle medal finals, 6:30 a.m., Peacock and USA, re-air at noon, NBC). Feb. 15 (Big Air qualifying, 1:30 p.m. (live), Peacock, 1:40 p.m., NBC); Feb. 17 (Big Air medal finals, 1:30 p.m., Peacock and NBC).
Mac Forehand of the United States competes during the men’s freestyle skiing big air finals of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Of note: Forehand, 24, started as a mogul skier at age 6 and switched to slopestyle and park skiing when he was 12. His family moved from Connecticut to Vermont so he and his sister could go to Stratton Mountain School. He was a 2022 Olympian, where he finished 11th in the Big Air competition. Forehand won the silver medal in slopestyle at the 2025 World Championships. He enjoys surfing and mountain biking. He won the X Games Big Air gold medal Jan. 23 in Aspen.
Olivia Giaccio, Freeski
CT connection: Grew up in Redding
Competition dates: Feb. 10 (moguls, qualifying), Feb. 11 (moguls, medal finals).
How to watch: Feb. 10 (moguls, qualifying, 8:15 a.m. (live), Peacock, re-air at 10:30 a.m.); Feb. 11 (qualifying, 5 a.m. (live), Peacock; qualifying, 7:30 a.m., USA; medal finals, 8:15 a.m., Peacock and USA, final re-airs noon, NBC)
United States’ Olivia Giaccio competes in the women’s moguls finals at Genting Snow Park at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Of note: Giaccio, whose last name means “ice” in Italian, finished sixth at the 2022 Olympics in the moguls. The 25-year-old, who lives in Park City, Utah, is a 2024 graduate of Columbia University with a degree in psychology and is going to graduate school to be a social worker. She started skiing at age 2 and went to school at Killington Mountain School in Vermont. In 2024, she was ranked third in the world overall, singles and duals. She broke her collarbone last February before the world championships and was unable to compete.
Hilary Knight, women’s ice hockey
CT connection: Graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford
Competition dates: Feb. 5 through Feb. 19 (gold and bronze medal games)
How to watch: Feb. 5, USA vs. Czechia, 10:40 a.m., USA (re-air, 5:30 p.m. and Feb. 6, 10:30 a.m., USA); Feb. 7, USA vs. Finland, 10:40 a.m., USA (re-air 6 p.m., 11 p.m., USA); Feb. 9, USA vs. Switzerland, 2:40 p.m., USA (re-air 11 p.m., USA); Feb. 10, USA vs. Canada, 2:10 p.m., USA (re-air 11 p.m., USA).
Hilary Knight of Team United States puts her own rebound into the net for a shorthanded goal against Ann-Renee Desbiens of Team Canada in the second period during the Women’s Ice Hockey Gold Medal match between Team Canada and Team United States at Wukesong Sports Center on Feb. 17, 2022 in Beijing, China.
Of note: Knight, 36, is one of the most decorated American Olympians, a four-time Olympic medalist (three silvers and one gold, in 2018) and is the captain of the Olympic women’s hockey team. Knight, who graduated from Choate in 2007, told the Courant in 2021 that she had “to give that experience so much credit for who I am as a person, for preparing me to succeed.” Knight also played for the Polar Bears, an elite girls hockey team in Connecticut.
Maxim Naumov, figure skating
CT connection: Born in Hartford, grew up in Simsbury, went to Simsbury High
Competition dates: Feb. 10 (short program), Feb. 13 (free skate, medal round)
How to watch: Feb. 10 (short program, 12:30 p.m., Peacock and USA), Feb. 13 (free skate, 1 p.m., Peacock and USA, medal round, 3 p.m., Peacock and USA)
Of note: Naumov, 24, made it to his first Olympic Games almost a year after his parents were among 67 people tragically killed in a plane crash in Washington, D.C. His parents Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were his coaches and when Naumov decided he wanted to try to make it to the Olympics, he contacted their friends and fellow coaches from the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, Vladimir and Elena Petrenko, to coach him. Naumov grew up at the ISCC, where his parents coached and learned to skate there.
Kristen Santos-Griswold, speed skating
CT connection: Grew up in Fairfield, Fairfield Warde graduate
Competition dates: Feb. 10 (500-meter heats, mixed team relay qualifying, medal final), Feb. 12 (500 quarterfinal, semifinal, medal final), Feb. 14 (1,000-meter heats), Feb. 16 (1,000 quarterfinal, semifinal, medal final), Feb. 18 (3,000-meter relay qualifying, medal final), Feb. 20 (1,500-meters qualifying and medal final)
How to watch: Feb. 10 (500 heats and mixed team relay qualifying, medal final, 4:30 a.m., Peacock, 11:30 a.m., USA); Feb. 12 (500 medal final, 2:15 p.m., USA; 2:55 p.m., NBC); Feb. 14 (1,000 meters heats, 2:15 p.m., Peacock); Feb. 16 (1,000 meter medal finals, 5 a.m., Peacock; 6:35 a.m., USA; 12:45 p.m., USA); Feb. 18 (3,000-meter relay medal finals, 2:15 p.m., Peacock; 2:30 p.m., USA); Feb. 20 (1,500 meter heats, 10:30 a.m., Peacock; 11 a.m., USA; 1 p.m., NBC; 1,500 meter medal final, 2:15 p.m, Peacock and USA)
Kristen Santos of the United States, races in her quarterfinal of the women’s 1500-meters during the short track speedskating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Of note: Santos-Griswold grew up in Fairfield and graduated from Fairfield Warde High School. She was a figure skater who discovered speed skating after seeing a commercial on the Disney Channel and she pestered her mother to take her speed skating, which her mom finally did when she was 10. In the 2022 Olympics, she was in medal contention but was taken out by a fellow competitor, who was disqualified, and Santos-Griswold finished fourth. After the 2024-25 season, she was the No. 1-ranked short track speed skater in the world and is a favorite to win a medal in Italy.
Tage Thompson, men’s ice hockey
CT connection: UConn
Competition dates: Feb. 12 through Feb. 21 (bronze/gold medal games)
How to watch: Feb. 12, USA vs. Latvia, 3:10 p.m., USA (11 p.m. re-air, USA); Feb. 14, USA vs. Denmark, 3:10 p.m., USA (11 p.m. re-air, USA); Feb. 15, USA vs. Germany, 3:10 p.m., USA (11 p.m. re-air, USA).
Of note: Thompson played two years at UConn, from 2015-2017, leading the Huskies with 19 goals and 32 points his sophomore year before he left college to sign with the St. Louis Blues. Thompson, 28, who now plays for the Buffalo Sabres and could compete against two of his Sabres teammates, Rasmus Dahlin of Sweden and Pekka Luukkonen of Finland. He is the first UConn men’s hockey player to make the Olympic team.