Philly connections to the Winter Olympics, from a young figure skater to Donovan McNabb’s niece

The Winter Olympics are already underway — and will officially begin with the opening ceremony on Friday night. Team USA will feature 232 athletes — 117 men, 115 women, 98 returning Olympians, and 18 Olympic champions. So of course there are a few Philly natives competing in Milan and Cortina.

Here’s look at some Olympians with ties to the area and how to watch them compete …

Isabeau Levito, who was born in Philadelphia and lives and trains in Mount Laurel, will make her Olympic debut in front of family in Milan, where her mother was born and some family still lives. The 18-year-old Levito, who has been skating since she was 3 years old, burst onto the scene with a third-place finish at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and won the event the next year when she was 15. She also won a silver medal at worlds in 2024.

How and when to watch? The women’s figure skating competition doesn’t take place until the second half of the Winter Games. The women’s singles short program is on Tuesday, Feb. 17 (12:45 p.m. Philadelphia time), and will air on NBC (Part I) and USA Network (Part II). The women’s singles free skate is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 19 (1 p.m.), and will air on NBC. Both events will stream live on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Olympics app, and the NBC app. You can check out the full women’s singles figure skating TV schedule here.

» READ MORE: A beginner’s guide to watching figure skating at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics

Taylor Anderson-Heide, another Philadelphia-born Olympian, grew up in Broomall and graduated from Marple Newtown High before attending the University of Minnesota. Anderson-Heide began curling with her identical twin sister, Sarah Anderson, when she was 3 years old, and trained at the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli.

Anderson-Heide is a five-time national champion, winning twice in mixed doubles (2015, 2018), three times in the women’s event, including twice alongside her sister (2019, 2021) and again in 2025. While Anderson-Heide has finished in the top three in women’s curling in two U.S. Olympic trials, the Milan Games will be her first Olympic events.

How and when to watch? Mixed doubles curling is already underway, but Anderson-Heide is competing in the women’s event, which doesn’t begin until Feb. 12. The U.S. women’s team has round-robin sessions every day between Feb. 12-19, and if it advances, the semifinals take place on Feb. 20. The women’s bronze medal match is on Feb. 21, and the women’s gold medal match takes place on Feb. 22. You can check out the women’s curling TV schedule here, as the games will air at different times and on a trio of networks — CNBC, USA, and NBC — throughout the tournament.

» READ MORE: Curling is back at the Olympics. What are the rules? Why do people love it? And how can I watch it?

Heo, the son of South Korean immigrants, grew up in Warrington. He followed his cousins and older brother into speedskating and made his first U.S. national team at just 17. Three years later, he made his Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Games, finishing seventh in the men’s 1,000-meter race and eighth in the 2,000-meter mixed relay. After Beijing, Heo won his first world medal, a bronze, and in 2025 he won his first ISU Short Track World Tour race, the 500 meters. Also helping Heo at this Olympics: His parents will be able to attend, after COVID-19 restrictions forced them to watch from their home in Bucks County in 2022.

How and when to watch? Men’s speedskating runs from Feb. 7-21, with events airing on NBC, USA Network and streaming live on Peacock. Heo will compete in the 1,500- and 500-meter races, and the 2,000-meter mixed relay. The mixed relay finals will be held on Feb. 10; the 1,500-meter finals will be held on Feb. 14; and the 500-meter finals will be on Feb. 18. For more specific time and channel information, click here.

In addition to Philly natives, there are also some Olympians from Penn State.

Tessa Janecke, ice hockey: Janecke, 21, holds the title for most career goals, assists, and points in Penn State women’s hockey history. She was named to the U.S. women’s hockey team three years ago and scored the golden goal in the 2025 IIHF World Championships when the U.S. defeated Canada, 4-3. Janecke was raised in Warren, Ill., and started playing hockey at age 3.

The U.S. women’s hockey team began its schedule with a 5-1 win over Czechia on Thursday, and Janecke recorded a pair of assists. The team’s three remaining preliminary games run through Feb. 10. The knockout rounds begin with the quarterfinals on Feb. 13, and the tournament wraps up with the gold and bronze medal games on Feb. 19. Women’s ice hockey will be live primarily on Peacock, which will stream every game. TV coverage is also available for select games on NBC, USA, and CNBC.

» READ MORE: Penn State’s Tessa Janecke will fulfill ‘my dream’ in Milan with Team USA women’s ice hockey

Dan Barefoot, skeleton: Another Nittany Lion, the 35-year-old Johnstown, Pa., native didn’t take up skeleton until his mid-20s. Barefoot was inspired to start training after looking up online which Olympic sports a novice could learn later in life with little to no experience. When the skeleton was the search result, he got to work. Since then, Barefoot, who graduated from Penn State with a degree in landscape architecture, has competed in three world championships for the U.S. and finished 11th at the 2025 IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. The 2026 Games will be his Olympic debut.

Skeleton events can be watched live on Peacock, NBC, and USA Network from Feb. 12-15.

There are more athletes just a bit farther outside the Philadelphia area, as well as one with a familial connection to the city. You can check out the times and TV information for their events here.

Summer Britcher, luge: Britcher was raised in Glen Rock, Pa., in York County and is no stranger to the Olympic stage. She is a veteran of four Olympic Games, and was the youngest member of the U.S. luge team at the 2014 Sochi Games when she was just 19. Britcher has five career World Cup victories, making her the all-time singles leader in U.S. luge history.

Kelly Kurtis, skeleton: Kurtis first made history at the 2022 Beijing Games when she became the first Black athlete to compete for Team USA in skeleton. She was raised in Princeton, N.J., and grew up hating the cold. She first took up bobsled in 2013 before transitioning to skeleton a year later after watching the event during the 2014 Olympic Games. In the 2022 Olympic Games, Curtis finished 21st overall.

Brianna Schnorrbusch, snowboarding: Schnorrbusch grew up in Monroe Township, N.J., and was just 17 when she was named to the U.S. snowboardcross Pro Team. Her specialty is women’s snowboardcross, while her sister, Ty Schnorrbusch, competes in slopestyle snowboarding. Now, at just 20 years old, Schnorrbusch will make her Olympic debut.

Chloe Kim, snowboarding: A household name for Team USA, Kim made her Olympic debut in the 2018 Pyeongchang games where she won gold in the women’s halfpipe at 17 years old, making her the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal. She defended her title in the 2022 Beijing Games. Kim, who attended Princeton, is also the first athlete to win titles at all four major snowboarding events — the Olympics, Youth Winter Olympics, X Games, and FIS World Championships. At age 25, the Torrance, Calif., native is already tied with Shaun White for the most halfpipe wins in X Games history (8).

Sarah Nurse, ice hockey: Nurse isn’t from the area — and doesn’t even play for Team USA — but she’s one of the stars of women’s hockey and is an Olympic veteran. So why should Philadelphians care? She’s also Donovan McNabb’s niece. But the family’s athletic bloodlines extend beyond the former Eagles quarterback. Nurse’s cousins, Darnell and Kia Nurse, play in the NHL and WNBA, respectively. And their father, Nurse’s other uncle, played in the CFL. Nurse has helped Canada, the favorite again this year, to a pair of Olympic medals — gold in 2022 and silver in 2018 — and three World Championships titles.