The Best And Worst Dressed Athletes At The 2026 Winter Olympics

From the figure skater's bejeweled costumes to the gallery-ready art of the skeleton helmets, the Winter Olympics offers more room than the Summer Games for athletes to get a little creative in their kit bag. "You get more clothes options because you have to bundle up in the cold, and in the summer you're too hot to function," said former Team U.S.A. figure skater Mirai Nagasu to People before the 2018 PyeongChang games. "[B]ut in the cold, you just don't have that problem."

It's just the practicality that allows for a more eclectic wardrobe; the nature of some of the events also allows for a higher state of fashion consciousness. For example, despite the strict rules Olympic figure skaters must follow, they dress like they're about to perform on Broadway. However, greater license to experiment sartorially can also lead to some not-so-nice looks ... we're looking at you, the Team Canada x Lululemon collab and the many wardrobe malfunctions at the 2018 games.

So, let's take a look at the gold medal outfits and also the sartorial equivalents of DNFs from the 2026 games in Milano Cortina.

"I asked myself why I was so passionately fangirling Alysa Liu tonight," wrote former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson on X. "She reminds me of the time when we were all proud of America, when we had a sense that the USA was something special." Indeed, the figure skater won hearts, minds, and medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics. But the outfit Liu wore at the women's figure skating final was also something special. The California native's metallic gold Lisa McKinnon dress, which she herself had a hand in designing, was deserving of a medal itself. The bejeweled leotard sparkled against the ice and matched her tiger-striped blond hair.

Although the dress was a serious statement and accompanied Liu to the gold medal podium, the skater said she would still have worn it if she achieved silver, bronze, or nothing at all. "I don't need this," she said, referring to skating's highest honor (via The Athletic). "But what I needed was a stage, and I got that. So I was all good, no matter what. If I fell on every jump, I would still be wearing this dress, so it's all good."

Despite retiring in 2022 and only coming back to the sport in 2024, she still knew what gold looked like, both on the rink and in her wardrobe. Speaking of Liu, why not meet the other members of the 2026 U.S. Olympic figure skating team?

"Who keeps giving Lululemon the rights to design Team Canada's Olympic kit?" asked one user on X. "Give it back to Roots FFS!" Another X user concurred, "Looks like an oven mitt." If it's not totally clear, Lululemon's big swing on big coats for Team Canada was a big miss.

We can't help but agree with social media on this one. At the opening ceremony, the Canadians strode into the San Siro stadium wearing oversize gilets, each with a large maple leaf down the center. That all sounds pretty Canada coded, doesn't it? Well, the issues here are the fit and color. The garments are predominantly brown, not Canada's signature red and white. Moreover, the outfits looked oversized in a way that looked too big, as opposed to a kind of Vetements-chic.

"[T]he Winter Games are particularly special to Canadians," read the Lululemon website. "[L]ululemon are incredibly proud to support Team Canada on the world's largest sporting stage with product designed for athletes, and with athletes." However, there's one group of people who Lululemon forgot: the Canadians themselves. You know, the people who actually might want to wear the clothing outside of the games. With a jacket retailing for hundreds of dollars, we can't imagine who is buying this gear.

With a lycra look designed in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, Shannon Abeda's outfit for his final Winter Olympics had both historical heft and defiance rolled into one, not to mention it looked eye-catching on the snow.

It was a unitard of two halves, one of which was in total technicolor patterns, whereas the other was a simple black and white. It was an idiosyncratic look, and no one else on the slopes wore anything like it. That said, Abeda has always done things his own way.

"Growing up I did struggle to see my place in this skiing community," Abeda said (via Olympics.com). "[My legacy] became more about trying to foster an environment that is more inclusive to people like me," he added. Not to mention his difficulties in getting to the 2026 games, from getting let go at his job to getting denied funding to compete. So, we're just thankful we get to see Abeda doing his thing. His awesome outfit is the cherry on top.

If there's one thing that we wish we could've left in 2025, it'd probably be Labubus. So, cue a jump scare during Sujung Hong's skeleton run at the 2026 games, when it looked like a Labubu was hurtling toward the screen at 120 kilometers per hour.

Labubus are, of course, supremely popular, with Pop Mart (the company behind the furry fiends) earning over $4 million worth of revenue in 2025 (via Reuters). There is obviously something there that people like. However, it's fine to have one attached to your handbag or on a keyring, but on something you wear to an Olympiad ... well, that's a different story. When Pierre de Coubertin started the modern Olympic Games in 1896, could he have ever imagined that one day competitors would wear helmets like this one? We don't think so.

When we said the skeleton helmets had gallery-ready designs, we only meant some of them.

British figure-staking duo Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson repped one of their nation's finest cultural exports on the ice in Italy ... The Spice Girls. They referenced the band's iconic 1997 Brit Awards performance, with the former channeling her inner Geri Halliwell in a tight Union Jack dress, and the latter going all Scary Spice in a leopard print vest. Fittingly, the pair also danced to a Spice Girls mash-up. Everything was in sync, the music, the outfits, and, most importantly, the routine. It gets 3 figure points from us.

Their outfits also got the Mel B stamp of approval via a comment on Instagram. "We love Mel B, she's great, but we want the other four to comment too, where's Victoria [Beckham]?" said Fear in response (via Team G.B.). "Get into the comments section girls, we'll teach you all to skate whenever you want." Time will tell if any other members of the group will say they'll be there. In case you were wondering, here's what the Spice Girls are doing today.

Given that Brooklyn Beckham lifted the veil on his family feud with a scathing David and Victoria Beckham takedown, Fear and Gibson's 'fit was a much-needed W for the wider Spice Girls universe in early 2026.

Kazakhstan's Olympic outfit designers dealt Nadezhda Morozova a bad hand at the 2026 Winter Olympics. While other nations had some sleeker looks, like Canada's superhero-style lycra or Italy's all-blue minimalism, Kazakhstan's instead looked a little childish.

The Kazakhstan team had what looked like animals and stick figures printed on their kit. It looked like something you'd find in the children's section of Target. Some eagle-eyed Reddit users did provide more clarity. They found that the piece had references to the petroglyphs of Tanbaly, which feature similar-looking animals etched into rock and have been around since before the birth of Christ. But despite the impressive cultural references, the execution was most definitely not there. If the speed skating design team is able to incorporate these ideas in a more mature-looking way in the future, they might be onto something.

While many of those participating in the skeleton event at the 2026 Winter Olympics went with a maximalist approach for their helmets, the German competitors chose something much classier and more classically minded.

Their statement yellow helmets featured the German federal coat of arms, also known as the Bundesadler. It's so classic that it actually originates from the 1200s. Talk about vintage! The coat of arms was matched with Germany's flag colors of yellow, black, and red. It was chic, it was simple, and it fit with the country it represented. Considering Germany has a long and storied history in the sliding sports (spoiler alert, they won 19 medals in that sporting genre in 2026), it's only right that their helmets had a similar heritage.

Although helmets are typically seen as a way of self-expression in a sport where the participant's face is covered, sometimes, less is more. Sometimes, the old school is still the best school.

There's a time and a place for a suit: a wedding, a job interview, a funeral. The Winter Olympics? We're not sure about that last one. Stephen Gogolev, Canada's figure skating former child prodigy, however, clearly was sure. Although some online said he looked like an anime character in his all-black three-piece suit and tie, it's not quite the usual dress-to-impress-ness we usually expect from a figure skater. Where's the sparkle? The glitter? The glam? To use a technical figure skating term, where's the pizazz?

Gogolev faced a lot of adversity to get to the games in Italy, including multiple injuries and considering retirement in his early 20s, so we have to give him his flowers for that. However, this outfit just wasn't suited to this grand a stage. While we admire that Gogolev changed it up, when it came to his outfit, it was too smart but not showbiz enough.

If we're talking fashion, then Italy is the place we need to be. It's useful, then, that that's where the 2026 games were held. It's a place that has serious style heritage, with the likes of Versace, Prada, and Bottega Veneta hailing from the Winter Olympics ' host nation. So, when speed skier Francesca Lollobrigida wore Emporio Armani while picking up a gold medal, it was a match made in heaven. More specifically, she was wearing EA7, the sportswear and athleisure wing of the Armani empire. Lollobrigida paired her sleek white EA7 zip-up with a white "Italia" branded headband. An all-Italian affair, in every way.

It was a mutually beneficial relationship for both the manufacturer and the athletes. "Working for and with Italian athletes is always a pleasure and a great source of pride," said Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani a year prior to the games in 2025 (via NSS Sports) and a matter of months before he died. "I chose just one color, white, to suggest harmony with the snow-covered peaks," he continued. "I have expressed it through an idea of simplicity, cleanliness, and purity." Well, he certainly achieved his vision with these uniforms. But heck, the uniforms looked even better with a gold medal held beside them.

We've seen some strange linkups over the years, like Ralph Lauren and shoot 'em-up game "Fortnite" and Taylor Swift's problematic collab with Ice Spice. Another that we weren't expecting was the sport of figure skating and Denis Villeneuve's science fiction epic "Dune." Well, these two vastly different worlds — Arrakis and Milano Cortina — collided at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

While Spain also went with the same film-inspired theme, the pick of the "Dune" bunch was Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov. He went the whole hog and with a costume so similar to the one worn by Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides that he might have well have stolen it from the film's set. With Shaidorov having equally similar locks to boot, on the ice, he looked like a doppelganger for the French-American actor.

Despite the faithfulness of the outfit to films, the whole look makes it seem like Shaidorov had double-booked figure skating at the Winter Olympics with a Comic-Con. Rather than do his own take on the outfit, as the aforementioned Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson did with their Spice Girls look, Shaidorov simply copied and pasted his costume from the films. We'd like to see a little bit more individuality here.

When you think of figure skating wear, it's probably something sparkly and smart. Heck, Ilia Malinin himself even wore a bejeweled leotard when he was competing. However, for his final skate at the games, the American decided to go very Gen Z in the best way.

At the Figure Skating Exhibition Gala, Malinin, otherwise known as the "Quad God," wore Balmain jeans that cost upward of $1,300 and a gray hoodie. It was a ballsy move for the 21-year-old. Malinin hadn't had the best Games,falling multiple times in his free skate, so we totally understand if he wanted to play it safe on the ice and wear something a little more ... inconspicuous and hightail it out of Italy.

To his credit, Malinin showed that figure skating isn't a stuffy old sport. He wasn't paying attention to the fashion rules Olympic ice skaters must follow. Instead, he showed us what the next generation of skaters could look like. Although he didn't take home gold, he deserves a medal for this outfit.

Seeing as the Winter Olympics only happen every four years, you'd think Nike could've come up with something a little more interesting for France's ice hockey team. Well, they seemingly didn't have time. France's jersey was almost far too minimalist, featuring three key elements: the country's name, the stripes in the middle, and the Nike logo. For a country that's home to fashion powerhouses like Dior and Givenchy, this was quite the disappointment.

Hockey fans online also weren't too happy with the ultra-minimalist strip. "They really want you to know it's FRANCE," said one user on Reddit, sarcastically referring to the multiple lines under the country's name. "[T]his legitimately might be the worst, most boring hockey jersey I've ever seen," added another Reddit user. It seemed the French national team also wasn't too keen to shout from the rooftops about it either. "An Olympic tunic," they wrote on their official X account. "[T]o be worn with passion and pride." Somehow, mes aimes, we don't think so.

Égalité, it ain't. Sacre bleu!

Who is Eileen Gu? Well, the Olympian J.D. Vance tore into is now more visible than ever, partly due to her supreme stylishness on the slopes. Gu herself moonlights as a model and has worked in fashion since she was 14 years old, so when it came to co-designing her own jacket for 2026, it's no shock she knocked it out of the park. Or, should we say, jumped high on the slopes? Either way, it was a look she put a lot of thought into.

"This outfit, which I custom-designed with [Chinese sportswear brand] Anta, is one of one. And my inspiration for it was Chinese ceramics," Gu told Olympics.com. The outfit was notably different as it also didn't include the red of the Chinese flag. Instead, it was white and blue. "Instead of a big flag, which most countries do for the Olympics, I thought of something more cultural."

The deep thought she put into the look certainly paid off. Not only did the freestyle skier wear it when she won gold, but the outfit was also praised by the internet. "Look good, feel good, and hopefully ski good as well," Gu added when speaking to Olympics.com. Tick. Tick. Tick.