Start 2019 the right way with five inspirational Olympic stories

If you fall in love with the world of figure skating every four years, this episode is for you. Host Nick McCarvel and fellow Olympics.com producer Lena Smirnova sit down to discuss the biggest storylines in the sport ahead of February's Winter Olympics at Milano Cortina 2026. And there's a lot of them!From the "Quad God" Ilia Malinin's dominance to the fascinating story of 42-year-old Deanna Stellato Dudek to the surprise comebacks of Olympic medallists and more, Nick and Lena bring reporting and insights into the must-know stories ahead of the Games. Lena also pulls the curtain back on the Olympics.com series Ink on Blades, which dives into the artistic process that Olympic programs go through before being presented to the world.Plus, hear from Malinin and fellow top American Isabeau Levito on everything from how they package their programs to creating a community of support among their fellow skaters.

12 Marras 57min

Believe it or not, the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are only 100 days away!Host Nick McCarvel is joined by Olympics.com colleagues ZK Goh, Chloe Merrell and Nischal Schwager-Patel for a special countdown roundtable, focusing in on their Winter sports: Ice hockey, curling and ski jumping, respectively.They preview the top storylines in those disciplines and beyond, including the NHL’s return to the men’s hockey event, the inspiring story of the Filipino curling team, a 44-year-old Swiss ski jumper and much more.Plus, Nick speaks one-on-one with U.S. women’s hockey legend Kendall Coyne Schofield, who has returned to the Team USA roster after giving birth to a son in 2023. The goal? Gold. “That is absolutely correct,” she laughed.

29 Loka 54min

For the first time since last year's Paris Olympics, the biggest stars in gymnastics are set to gather in one place - this time for the 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships - held in Jakarta, Indonesia."It's going to be interesting to see some of these new talents and how they step up into the spotlight," says Olympics.com gymnastics producer Scott Bregman, who joins host Nick McCarvel to help preview the event. Bregman is referring to an open opportunity for the women in attendance as Simone Biles, Rebeca Andrade and reigning U.S. champion Hezly Rivera are all set to miss the competition.Bregman breaks down the big storylines to watch out for, including the return of another American, Skye Blakely, who has proven resilient after injury prevented her from making the U.S. Olympic team - twice.On the men's side, Scott says it could be a three-way race among 2021 world champion Zheng Boheng and the two most recent Olympic champions, Oka Shinnosuke (2024) and Hashimoto Daiki (2021). Don't sleep on Filipino Carlos Yulo, either, who will have plenty of support at the first-ever Gymnastics Worlds held in Southeast Asia.

15 Loka 33min

With World Mental Health Day set for October 10th, this episode of the Olympics.com podcast checks in on the mental health movement in the Olympic space - which has morphed by leaps and bounds over just the last five years. In a roundtable discussion, Olympic figure skating medallist Gracie Gold, an IOC Mental Health Ambassador, is joined by Scott Sloan, the IOC's senior project manager for mental health, in conversation with host Nick McCarvel."When we say mental health, it's about aspiring to have good mental health... something in the shift there [that] I think is important," says Sloan about the changing mental health world."I think athletes are [now] feeling more comfortable to say like, 'There's this problem and I don't know how to fix it,'" added Gold, who wrote a memoir that detailed - in part - her own mental health journey. Now, she says, the response is: "'Let's just continue to find the answers. And knowing that while it's okay to not know the answer, it's not okay not to do anything about it."

1 Loka 37min

There will never be another Olympian quite like Carl Lewis - on or off the track.The athletics superstar is a nine-time gold medallist, and navigated a nearly two-decade-long career that was full of headline-grabbing controversy. It’s all featured in a new Olympic Channel documentary, I’M CARL LEWIS!, which is out now and available for viewing in the USA and Japan.Lewis joins Olympics.com producer Scott Bregman for a discussion on the documentary, his reflections on his historic career, his turn as a pop culture phenomenon, as well as his thoughts on fellow Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles, teenage sensation Gout Gout - and much more.Find the full documentary on Olympics.com now.

17 Syys 35min

It's been a big season on the track for athletics stars Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Kenny Bednarek of the USA.McLaughlin-Levrone is the two-time reigning Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400m hurdles, but has thrown her version of a curve ball at the sport - switching events to the 400m flat.Bednarek, meanwhile, claimed his first-ever American title, winning the 100m last month before finishing runner-up to rival Noah Lyles in a heated final metres in the 200m, the two exchanging words after.Both McLaughlin-Levrone and Bednarek sit down with Olympics.com podcast host Nick McCarvel to discuss their respective successes, their memories from Paris 2024 and what's changed this season - all in the lead-up to the 2025 World Athletics Championships, which begin 13 September in Tokyo.

3 Syys 30min

The US Open tennis tournament is underway in New York City - where some of the biggest stars, like defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka are aiming for the year's final Grand Slam.But there are plenty of players who are looking for their next big breakthrough, too. Enter 23-year-old American Emilio Nava, son of parents who met at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and enters the event at a career-high world number 101.The Southern California native joins host Nick McCarvel to discuss what it was like to be raised by not one but two Olympians, then discusses what he took from four years of training in Spain under the eye of former world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero - and alongside Carlos Alcaraz.While Nava would like to finally break into the world's top 100, he doesn't want to stop there: "My goals and my dreams are definitely a little bit bigger than that," he told us. One of them? To compete at LA 2028 for Team USA. "That's the absolute goal," he said of what would be a home Games for him - right where he grew up.

20 Elo 26min

"There were a lot of intense emotions that went with it," says gymnastics superstar Simone Biles when recounting her triumphant return to the Olympic stage, just over a year ago at Paris 2024. "There was always a part of me that thought, 'What if?' And I think that was my anxiety talking. So if I could lower that voice, then I felt more comfortable competing."We all know what happened next: Biles scooped up a second individual all-around gold days after leading the U.S. to the Olympic team title. For this episode of the Olympics.com podcast, she speaks one-on-one with longtime gymnastics reporter Scott Bregman, sharing with him that, yes, she had dealt with cases of the twisties that haunted her at Tokyo 2020 in 2021 ahead of Paris. But she wasn't going to let them get in her way, and cleared her path to success with consistent therapy and strict boundary-setting.Scott also speaks with Tokyo champion Sunisa Lee, who had her own comeback story in Paris after battling a rare kidney disease that threatened to end her career.Host Nick McCarvel gets Scott's perspective on the post-Paris lay of the land for American gymnastics, with the U.S. Gymnastics Championships set for 7-10 August in New Orleans.

6 Elo 56min