The Real-Life Couples (and Heated Rivalries) From the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympics is in full swing, with Milano Cortina 2026 running until 22 February. And while alpine skiing, ice hockey and bobsledding have been front and centre, it is the athletes' personal lives that have been dominating our newsfeeds.
This is especially true after the success of Rachel Reid's queer romance, Heated Rivalry, with the TV adaptation following the relationship between two rival professional ice hockey players.
And just one month on from the popular show's UK release, there has been particular interest in the real-life couples competing at this year's Winter Olympics.
From Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (Norway) to Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (both Team Italy), we've rounded up the real-life couples (and 'Heated Rivalries') from the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
The Real-Life Couples From the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics
Emily Fischnaller (Team USA) and Dominic Fischnaller (Team Italy)
Emily and Dominic Fischnaller are two Olympic luge athletes who have been together for 15 years. The couple, who married last year, will be going head to head in the 2026 Winter Olympics, with Emily representing Team USA and Dominic competing for Italy.
"I tell her she can’t get hurt because I feel the pain even 10,000 times more than she feels her own pain," Dominic told The AP. "I’m extremely nervous when she’s sliding. I almost can’t watch the race."
Mikaela Shiffrin (Team USA) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (Team Norway)
Team USA’s alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin and Team Norway’s alpine skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde announced their engagement in April 2024, with the couple competing for their respective countries at this year's Winter Olympics.
"We’ve been a rock for each other," Kilde has previously explained to Olympics.com. "I think that’s how we go about stuff in general. We’ve always supported each other, we’re always trying to look at things in a positive way."
Hailey Langland and Red Gerard (Team USA)
Hailey Langland and Red Gerard are two snowboarders from Team USA who will be competing together at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The couple met when they were just 12 years old, but have been in a relationship since 2018.
"To snowboard with your girlfriend, your best friend — both of us push each other in really good ways," Gerard has previously explained of their dynamic. "She’s a lot more mellow. I have a lot more anxiety."
Blayre Turnbull and Ryan Sommer (Team Canada)
Blayre Turnbull and Ryan Sommer are both representing Team Canada at Milano Cortina, with Turnbull being an ice hockey player and Sommer, an Olympic bobsledder, being a Team Manager this year.
The couple married in 2023, with Sommer posting in a tribute to his new wife: "I’m the luckiest man in the world to get to share this life with you!"
Madison Chock and Evan Bates (Team USA)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates are a married ice dancer couple for Team USA who have been competing together since 2011, winning silver at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games.
“I remember thinking, ‘I can’t really imagine one day walking out of the rink and going our separate ways, being friends and just not seeing each other anymore,’" Bates told Us Weekly earlier this year of their relationship. "I made the realization, I shared the realization, and luckily, the realization was reciprocated. That changed everything in our relationship and our partnership."
Kim Meylemans (Team Belgium) and Nicole Silveira (Team Brazil)
Kim Meylemans and Nicole Silveira are two skeleton athletes who married last year, competing against each other for gold at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
"It was difficult at the 2022 Games," Silveira previously told the Brazilian Olympic Committee of their rivalry. "We were already together, but still on different teams, so we didn’t know what was secret and you couldn’t tell your rival."
Anna Kjellbin (Team Sweden) and Ronja Savolainen (Team Finland)
Anna Kjellbin and Ronja Savolainen are an engaged couple who play for rival ice hockey teams, the Toronto Sceptres and the Ottawa Charge. And this Winter Olympics, they will be going head to head, with Kjellbin representing Sweden and Savolainen competing for Finland.
“I don’t care who’s in front of me… if it’s going to be her, I’m going to hit her," Savolainen previously told Ottawa Citizen. "When you play, you just play. You don’t really think about who’s there. You’re friends after. On the ice, she’s my enemy. That’s how it goes."
Hilary Knight and Brittany Bowe (Team USA)
Hilary Knight and Brittany Bowe will both be competing for Team USA at Milano Cortina this year, with the Olympic ice hockey player and Olympic speed skater couple dating since 2022.
“We really got to know each other in Beijing and have really been inseparable ever since,” Bowe has previously explained. “Knowing her as a hockey player, it’s like this big, strong, powerful female,” she reflected. “But then, when we got to know each other, she was soft, genuine, kind, almost shy. That really sparked my interest.”
Marie Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey (Team Canada)
Marie Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey are a hockey power couple, both winning multiple Olympic gold medals and representing Canada as teammates this year.
"This is probably the most myself I’ve ever been," Poulin explained of going public with their relationship, shortly after they married, via CBC. "Being myself, having the community, family, and friends embracing me, embracing us, embracing this new team. And it doesn’t matter who you love, it’s who you are. And I think that’s the best part about it. I’ve always been the hockey player. But I have a wife, and I can be myself."
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (Team Italy)
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri are a professional ice dancer couple, who are competing for Team Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics, taking place in their hometown of Milan.
The couple has been working together professionally and dating for over 15 years, with Milano Cortina marking their fourth Olympic Games competing together.
"Since we are a couple in life, it's a way to share literally everything, all the emotion," Fabbri explained to Olympics.com. "It would be still very nice, of course, to achieve what we achieved separately. But since we achieved what we achieved together, it's even better because you are sharing very strong feelings and very strong emotions with the person you love, with the person you've decided to spend your life with. It's special for sure."
Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant (Team Canada)
Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant are two Canadian curlers originally from Eastern Canada, who are now married and living together in Calgary with their son. Milano Cortina 2026 will be their second Olympic Games competing together as a mixed doubles duo.
"Without mixed doubles being in the Olympics, we probably wouldn't be together today, and we wouldn't have, you know, got to do all these crazy things together," Gallant recently explained to Olympics.com. "So, really, we kind of have the Olympics to thank for the start of this."
Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Moen Skaslien (Team Norway)
Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Moen Skaslien are two Norwegian curlers who have competed together as a mixed doubles duo since 2013. The married couple, who originally met in 2008, will be joining forces this Winter Olympics to represent Team Norway.
"It's an advantage to know each other well, as then you don't have to wrap things up," Skaslien has explained of working with her husband to NBC Olympics. "You can say exactly what you mean to the other person and then you are done with it and then you can move on. So that's an advantage, but sometimes it's a challenge playing with your husband on the ice."
Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann and Yannick Schwaller (Team Switzerland)
Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann and Yannick Schwaller are a Swiss mixed doubles duo representing Team Switzerland at the Milano Cortina Games. The couple wed in 2022, welcoming their son two years later, with the 2026 Milano Cortina being their first time competing together at the Olympics.
“It’s really cool that our son — when he learns to talk — he can say that my parents were together at the Olympics, which is really cool,” Schwaller has previously explained on Instagram. "It's really nice that we can experience this whole journey as a family and take on these memories for a lifetime," Schwaller-Hürlimann recently added.
The Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games is taking place between 6 February and 22 February 2026, and is available to watch on BBC and BBC iPlayer.
