RivCo Athlete Qualifies For Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics

EASTVALE, CA — Just one athlete from Riverside County has qualified so far for the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy next month, but more could be added to the Team USA roster in the coming weeks.

Cayla Barnes, a two time Olympian — 2018 and 2022 — from Eastvale, will be competing in ice hockey, according to her Olympic athlete bio. She's got two medals under her belt, a gold from the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang and a silver from the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Barnes, 27, is the daughter of Michelle Church and Scott Barnes. She has four brothers, Mathew, Aaron, Nicholas and Ryan. Her hobbies include roller hockey, soccer, lacrosse and reading.

She is one of three athletes from the Golden who have qualified. Here are the other two:

• Chloe Kim - A two time Olympian (2018, 2022) from Torrance competing in snowboarding.
• Jen Lee - A three time Paralympian (2014, 2018, 2022) from San Francisco competing in sled hockey.

So far, the Team USA hockey rosters are complete for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, taking place from Feb. 6 to 22, and the accompanying Paralympic Games, scheduled for March 6-15. Athletes have also been named in skiing, skating, curling, snowboarding, ski mountaineering and other teams that are still taking shape.

With competition sites in the city of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the winter resort in the Dolomites that is more than 250 miles away by road, this will be the most spread-out Winter Games in history. Athletes also will compete in three other mountain clusters besides Cortina, while the closing ceremony will be in Verona, 100 miles east of Milan.

Although the opening ceremony isn’t until Feb. 6, competition begins on Feb. 4 with curling. Here are other key dates:

• Feb. 7: First gold medal events.
• Feb. 8: Gold medal, women’s Alpine skiing downhill.
• Feb. 13: Gold medal, men’s figure skating.
• Feb. 18: Gold medal, women’s Alpine skiing slalom.
• Feb. 19: Gold medal, women’s figure skating. Gold medal game, women’s ice hockey. First gold medals in ski mountaineering, a new Olympic sport.
• Feb. 22: Gold medal game, men’s ice hockey. Closing ceremony.

Dozens of countries will stream or air each day's events, with some delaying broadcasts until primetime depending on the time zone. That will be the case in the U.S., where Eastern time is six hours behind Milan and Cortina. NBC will carry showcase events at night while streaming sports on Peacock.
Among athletes to watch are two of the most decorated Alpine skiers in history, 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin.

The pair opened the World Cup season in dominant form, raising American hopes of a golden run in Cortina. Chloe Kim is back in snowboarding. And NHL players are back on Olympic ice for the first time since 2014, so keep an eye on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby.

It’s unclear if Russian athletes will compete. Some sports federations are deciding whether to let Russians compete as neutral athletes, but only after they are cleared by an independent review to ensure that they have not publicly supported the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with Russia’s military or other forces.

Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut while skeleton has added a mixed team event, luge has added women’s doubles and large hill ski jumping added women’s and men’s super team events.