Olympic dreams often start small. A dad coaching his sons at the local ice rink outside Detroit. A girl going down Boyne Mountain before turning two.
One of those sons was Dylan Larkin. Years before he was a captain for the Detroit Red Wings, his father Kevin coached Dylan and his brother Colin at Lakeland Ice Arena in Waterford Township.
“Some of the best memories for me,” Larkin said of those times.
That little girl was Kaila Kuhn. Before competing for gold medals, her rewards for hitting the slopes were sweeter.
“My parents can attest when I was really, really, really little the one thing that motivated me to go out skiing was the hot cocoa after a run or two,” Kuhn, 22, said, adding a ski lift operator would put candy in her hood before sending her up Boyne Mountain.
Larkin and Kuhn are two of dozens of athletes with Michigan ties competing from Feb. 6-22 in Italy for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina. While also representing their country, some see themselves as also representing Michigan.
“I’m representing myself, my family, the state of Michigan (and) the Red Wings,” Larkin said.
Larkin has multiple Michigan ties, from his hometown just northwest of Detroit to skating for the University of Michigan in 2014-15 to captaining the state’s NHL franchise.
Lakeland still holds a place in his heart, he said.
He is one of a handful of Michiganders on Team USA’s hockey squad. NHLers Kyle Connor, Zack Werenski and Connor Hellebuyck all hail from metro Detroit, while Jack and Quinn Hughes are both fellow Wolverines.
Larkin considers himself lucky to have stuck around in his home state for most of his hockey career.
“It’s a lot of luck,” he said. “Doesn’t really turn out this way for a lot of guys.”
The Michigan crew on Team USA all bond during the summer by skating or playing golf, Larkin said.
A picture of Kaila Kuhn (center), an aerial skier who will compete in her second Olympics in February for the 2026 Games in Milan-Cortina. Her father Chris (left) and mother Tammie (right) surround her. Photo provided with permission by Kaila Kuhn.Photo provided with permission by Kaila KuhnKuhn was born and raised in Boyne City until she pursued aerials full-time when she was 13. She first went down Boyne Mountain before she turned two, she said.
She remembers having to hit the slopes without her parents at a young age. The lift operators, or lifties, took good care of her and are still longtime family friends, she said.
She had Olympic inspiration early on, as two-time Olympic ski racer Cary Adgate also hails from Boyne. He showed her that “no matter where you came from, big or small, you can go out and do really big things,” she said.
Despite traveling all over the country for training and the world for Olympic competitions, she goes back to Boyne several times a year to visit family, she said. The Boyne Mountain resort is also one of her personal sponsors.
“Apart from representing Team USA at the Olympics, representing Boyne City, Michigan is really my biggest source of pride,” she said. “I have the most supportive community there: old teachers, people at local restaurants, there are no more supportive people for me than the ones in my hometown.”
Biathlete Deedra Irwin, a Michigan Technological University alum entering her second Olympics, remembers competing in alpine skiing in the Upper Peninsula for the Huskies.
“The Michigan Tech ski trails and snowy winters shaped the skier that I am today. Made me resilient in the cold weather and helped me appreciate beautiful, cold, snowy winters. Michigan Tech taught me so much and I’m so grateful to the 5 years I was able to spend as a student-athlete there,” Irwin, 33, said.
One last note from Irwin: “Go Huskies!”
Here is a list of Olympic athletes for the 2026 Games with Michigan affiliations:
Bobsled
Jasmine Jones, former Eastern Michigan University track and field athlete
Biathlon
Deedra Irwin, attended Michigan Tech University
Figure Skating
Ice dancing
Evan Bates, Northville, UM alum
Madison Chock, Novi
Christina Carreira, St. Clair
Emilea Zingas, Grosse Pointe Farms
Pairs
Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez, alternates, train at Arctic Edge Ice Arena in Canton
Freestyle Skiing (Aerials)
Kaila Kuhn, Boyne City
Hockey
USA Men’s
Kyle Connor, Shelby Township, played for UM
Dylan Larkin, Waterford Township, played UM
Zack Werenski, Grosse Pointe, played for UM
Connor Hellebuyck, Commerce Township
Jack Hughes, played for UM
Quinn Hughes, played for UM
Seth Jones, attended Ann Arbor Pioneer High School
Tage Thompson, attended Ann Arbor Pioneer High School
USA Women’s
Kirsten Simms, Plymouth
Megan Keller, Farmington Hills
Germany Men’s
Mortiz Seider, plays for the Red Wings, played at UM
Lukas Kaelble, played for Lake Superior State University
Sweden Men’s
Lucas Raymond, plays for the Red Wings, played at UM
France Men’s
Louis Boudon, played at Lake Superior State University
Snowboarding
Jake Vedder, Pinckney