South Jersey at the Milano Cortina Olympics

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With the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics kicking off this weekend, there are plenty of South Jersey natives to root for this year. The 2026 Winter Olympics run from February 6th to 22nd and take place across Northern Italy. There are three South and Central Jersey athletes in 2026’s Team USA from all different disciplines and there are also two hosts from South Jersey covering the Olympics, with one Rutgers alum within the pair.

From Mount Holly, Isabeau Levito is a women’s figure skater representing Team USA this year. At only eighteen, Levito is the 2023 US National champion and 2024 World silver medalist. Currently, she is the 2026 US National bronze medalist, which got her an Olympic spot this year. Levito trains in Mount Laurel with the Skating Club of Southern New Jersey at Igloo Ice Rink. US Figure Skating has named Levito and her fellow US women’s figure skaters the “Blade Angels,” modeling the three women after Charlie’s Angels as they compete for the Olympic podium this year.

In Team USA snowboarding, Bri Schnorrbusch is from Monroe Township. Currently, Schnorrbusch has two top ten finishes at the World Championships, eleven podium finishes at the North American Cup, and is also the 2022 Junior World Champion. US Ski and Snowboarding has described Schnorrbusch as “one of the brightest young talents in snowboard cross.”

Both Schnorrbusch and Levito are sharing their experience at the Olympics on their social media pages. Isabeau Levito has posted vlogs, comedy, and skating videos from the Olympics on her Instagram and TikTok pages, @isabeau.levito. Similarly, Bri Schnorrbusch has shared Olympic hauls and vlogs on her TikTok and Instagram accounts, both under @bri.schnorrbusch.

Two-time Olympic skeleton athlete Kelly Curtis is another South Jersey native from Princeton. At the last Winter Olympic Games in 2022 in Beijing, China, Curtis placed twenty-first and placed tenth at the 2025 World Championships. Curtis is one of only two women chosen to compete in Team USA’s skeleton team.

A couple of NBC’s 2026 Olympic hosts are also South Jersey natives, including Rutgers-New Brunswick class of 2003 alum Kathryn Tappen. From Morristown, Tappen is a hockey host for NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics. Milano Cortina is Tappen’s seventh Olympics with NBC after joining the company in 2014. Tappen has been working in broadcast journalism since graduating from Rutgers, working for New England Sports Network, the NHL Network, and NBC. This year she’ll serve as the on-site hockey reporter in Italy on NBC and Peacock.

Traitors star and NBC Figure Skating host, Tara Lipinski, is also a South Jersey athlete. The gold medal Olympian is from Sewell, New Jersey, and started learning to skate at the Deptford Skating Center and trained at the University of Delaware. Milano Cortina is Lipinski’s fourth Winter Olympics with NBC, and she will be one of three figure skating commentators alongside Johnny Weir and Terry Gannon.

Fans can watch these South Jersey athletes on NBC and Peacock starting on February 6th. Women’s snowboarding begins on Sunday, February 8th, to see Bri Schnorrbusch compete and continues until the 17th. The full snowboarding schedule can be seen on the Olympic’s website. Isabeau Levito has not been announced to compete in the team events, so her first skate on Olympic ice will be during the Women’s short program on February 17th. If she qualifies, she will also compete in the Women’s Free Skate on February 19th. Kelly Curtis will compete in women’s skeleton on February 13th and 14th, with the team event taking place on February 15th; however, it has not been announced who will compete in the team event.