Meet the 8 out athletes competing for Team USA at the Winter Olympics
Team USA features at least 8 out LGBTQ athletes competing at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics, representing five sports. The post Meet the 8 out athletes competing for Team USA at the Winter Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
The Milan Winter Olympics are here, and they’re gayer than ever! A record 45 (at least) out LGBTQ athletes will be competing in the 2026 games.
While LGBTQ fans will surely be cheering on members of the community, most will also be hoping for success from their country’s athletes. Americans, for example, are generally most interested in the results of the folks representing Team USA.
Combine the two? LGBTQ athletes on Team USA? Sign us up!
Here are the eight LGBTQ American athletes who are publicly out and going for gold in Italy.
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Record 45 out LGBTQ athletes to compete in 2026 Milan Winter Olympics
Team LGBTQ will be the biggest ever for a Winter Olympics, and the number of out athletes competing for gold in Milan continues to grow.
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Breezy Johnson – Alpine Skiing
Johnson is one of the best skiers in the world right now, and she’ll get to participate in her second Winter Olympics and first since 2018 after missing the 2022 events because of injury. The Wyoming native came out as bisexual in 2022 and adds important representation for LGBTQ people. Bisexual people make up the largest part of the community, but they often get overlooked when discussing orientation diversity in sports and other media.
Amber Glenn – Figure Skating
Amber Glenn has been one of the most-discussed athletes of the Milan Winter Olympics, and for good reason. Glenn is the first out LGBTQ Olympic women’s figure skater to compete in the games. She is bisexual and pansexual, once again helping to combat bisexual erasure.
Glenn is one of the best American figure skaters in modern history. She’s the first American to win three straight U.S. National Titles in two decades, and now she can bring her greatness to the world stage.
Alex Carpenter – Ice Hockey
Alex Carpenter is one of 22 out hockey players in these games, and one of the longest-standing members of Team USA in women’s hockey. She has competed in the Winter Olympics three times and is hoping to take home her first gold medal.
Carpenter is the daughter of New Jersey Devils player Bobby Carpenter, but she’s earned her keep in hockey regardless of family lineage. She has seven IIHF World championships. Carpenter is married to Toronto Marlies assistant equipment manager Steph Klein.
Hilary Knight – Ice Hockey
Hilary Knight is perhaps the greatest American women’s hockey player of her generation, and she’ll get to captain Team USA for the first time in her fifth Winter Olympics appearance. Knight might be competing in her final Olympics, and she has already won one gold medal and three silver medals in her previous appearances. She is in a relationship with Team USA speed skater Brittany Bowe.
Cayla Barnes – Ice Hockey
If Hilary Knight is the elder stateswoman of Team USA hockey, then Cayla Barnes is the present and the future. The 27-year-old has a gold and a silver medal in the Winter Olympics and plays for the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL.
She is dating Providence College hockey player Hope Walinski, rounding out the trio of LGBTQ women’s hockey stars who juggle sports with famous romantic lives.
Maddy Schaffrick – Snowboard
Maddy Schaffrick has had one of the most interesting careers of any Olympian. The snowboarder retired at the age of 20 and became a plumber. She has rejoined Team USA after a successful run in the World Championships circuit in 2025 and looks to prove that her time out of the sports world was just a detour and not an end to her journey.
Conor McDermott-Mostowy – Speed Skating
Conor McDermott-Mostowy is the only out gay male speed skater in Milan. He feels he has a lot to prove after he missed the chance to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
McDermott-Mostowy is not just an excellent speed skater, but he also has a great fashion sense and has revealed his favorite fits before the games begin.
Brittany Bowe – Speed Skating
B O W E (@brittanybowe)Bowe is one of the most decorated speed skaters in women’s speed skating history. Her world record in the 1000-meter distance event still stands today. Her relationship with Hilary Knight is one of the feel-good LGBTQ stories of the Winter Olympics. Bowe was the only LGBTQ athlete to be a flag bearer during the previous Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
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The post Meet the 8 out athletes competing for Team USA at the Winter Olympics appeared first on Outsports.
