Presenting Ralph Lauren’s ambassadors for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Milano Cortina 2026
In the north of Italy, preparations are almost complete—and in the United States, 12 Ralph Lauren ambassadors are packing their bags and getting ready to vie for the gold as athletes for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Milano Cortina 2026. Across disciplines, generations, and backgrounds, each one is a leader both on and off their playing fields—whether a hockey rink, ski run, or skating track—and they are more than ready to represent Ralph Lauren and Team USA as the Games head to Italy for another edition of the world’s greatest athletics event.
Red Gerard
Snowboarding
In 2018, Red was just a teenager from a small town in Colorado when he stunned the snowboarding world. Entering the final round of the men’s Slopestyle event in the PyeongChang Olympic Games 2018, he was in dead last, but he then proceeded to put down a staggering run that earned him a gold medal, and the honor of being the youngest American snowboarder ever to win an Olympic medal, having just turned 17 a few weeks prior. While he just narrowly missed the Olympic podium in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, he’s taken home scores of other medals, including Slopestyle golds in the 2024 and 2025 X Games in the years since, and is now gearing up for his third Olympic Games.
“When I’m in the start gate, I have to tell myself, ‘CCC.’ Which is something me and another teammate came up with, and it means ‘calm, cool, collected.’ If I get super hyped, I’m gonna explode. It keeps me chill and focused.”
Brenna Huckaby
Para Snowboarding
Brenna may already have three Paralympic gold medals to her name, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to slow down. Originally training to be a gymnast while growing up in Louisiana, Brenna lost her right leg to bone cancer at age 14. On a group ski trip not long after, Brenna found she had a knack for snowboarding, too, after insisting against everyone’s advice to stick to para skiing. Just two years after first taking up the sport, Brenna won her first World Championships, and has been dominant atop Olympic and other global podiums ever since.
“I had to advocate really hard, because they didn’t like above-the-knee amputees learning how to snowboard at the time—but I was like, ‘I can do this. I promise.’ And it paid off.”
Jack Hughes
Ice Hockey
These days, he’s one of American ice hockey’s brightest young stars. But it was just seven years ago that The New York Times, profiling his rapid ascent into the NHL, described this hockey phenom as “a skinny 16-year-old named Jack Hughes.” While still a teenager, he was chosen as the number one overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, and has had an impressive career since as an elite scorer in both the NHL and on the world stage—a fast, playmaking, breakout talent on the ice. Which all makes sense, given his family tree: parents who are former hockey standouts (his mother, Ellen, even has a World Championship silver medal to her name) and two brothers who share the ice as professional players themselves. Now, with professional NHL players able to compete for Team USA for the first time since 2014, Jack is ready to help lead the men’s team to the podium.
“One thing NH-ers say is to leave the game in a better place than you came to it. For me, I see kids wearing ’86 Hughes jerseys. I was once that kid growing up—the next Jack Hughes is out there. So, [my goal is to] help someone achieve their dreams.”
Jaelin Kauf
Freestyle Skiing
Jaelin Kauf is fast. Really fast. At the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, she shredded down the moguls with a high-scoring run that earned her a silver—Team USA’s first women’s moguls podium spot in eight years—and has rocketed her way to too many titles, medals, and championship victories to count in the years before and since. Which might come as no surprise, given that she grew up with two former professional mogul skiers as parents and the mountains of Wyoming as her backyard ski slopes. But despite her ferocious speed on the moguls, Jaelin’s goal is to find the fun in competition, and to “deliver the love”—the personal motto she keeps in mind on every run.
“Before I push out of the start gate every time, I tell myself to deliver the love, and that that’s why I’m there. I ski and compete because I love it. So it’s my little reminder to do it for the love of it, and not [get] too caught up in the rest.”
Jack Wallace
Sled Hockey
As the back-to-back Paralympic gold medalist—plus a few World Championship wins in between—Jack is leading the charge to grow sled hockey’s profile on the world stage. While he grew up playing stand-up ice hockey, a childhood boating accident led to the loss of his right leg. At the hospital, a doctor told a young Jack that his days of competitive sports were over, but that only fueled the fire he had to get back on the ice. It wasn’t long before he discovered sled hockey, fell in love with a new form of his old sport, and became a teenage phenom by competing on national and then international teams, while also earning a college degree in biomedical engineering, mentoring other young amputee athletes, and advocating for adaptive sport accessibility.
“It makes training that much easier when every other part of my life is fulfilling as well. You can be the best in your sport, but if you don’t have any type of personal life or goals outside of that, then things can get really shallow.”
Hilary Knight
Ice Hockey
A true icon of ice hockey, Hilary has been a brilliant ambassador of the sport since her 2010 Olympic debut at just 20 years old. She’s also one of American women’s hockey’s most decorated players, with not one, not two, and not even three, but four Olympic medals, among a score of Women’s World Championship medals (including 10 golds) and countless other accolades. A hard-charging, high-scoring leader across teams, she’s been pivotal not just on the ice, but off it, blazing a trail of advancement, equality, and inclusion for women’s hockey, and serving as an encouraging role model for future generations.
“There’s a whole support system that goes into that one amazing moment that people see when we’re victorious on a world stage. And so it’s really every day—it’s the spoken, it’s the unspoken, it’s the love that I have, whether it’s at home or from afar, from people. It’s just incredible, and I’m so grateful for it.”
Erin Jackson
Speed Skating
When Erin made the podium at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, winning by just eight hundredths of a second, she was also making history: her gold medal in the 500-meter speed event skating made her the first in 20 years for American women in speed skating, and the first Black woman ever to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Hailing from a small central Florida town—not exactly a capital of winter athletics—Erin took to the pavement with inline skating and roller derby before ever stepping foot onto the ice for speed skating, and is now one of the sport’s fastest athletes who’s ready for another shot at Olympic gold.
“I’ve loved skating and racing for as long as I can remember. I just like going fast.”
Evan Bates
Figure Skating
For this veteran of American ice dancing, Milano Cortina 2026 will mark his fifth Olympic competition over the course of a long and illustrious career on the ice. With astonishing longevity and consistency, Evan has been one of the sport’s most passionate leaders, and one of its most prominent and successful competitors, for close to two decades. Together with his wife and partner, Madison Chock, he recently achieved three straight gold medals for the ice dance World Championships—a first for any American ice dance team—and now has his sights set firmly on Milano Cortina 2026 for another shot at Olympic gold.
“I love the creative freedom that figure skating brings. We’re able to create a story and create a moment on the ice that becomes kind of magical when you surrender to just being present and telling a story, creating a moment for the audience and for yourself.”
Madison Chock
Figure Skating
A creative, graceful, and determined ice dancer, Madison and her husband and dance partner, Evan Bates, already have plenty of medals to their name: Milano Cortina 2026 will be her fourth time competing in the Olympics, and she and Bates have together won scores of national championships, Grand Prix titles, and more. Pushing boundaries of creative choreography and performing with incredible precision, she credits her aptitude for ice dance with an early appreciation for the sport fueled by supportive parents: She started skating at just 5 years old, inspired by seeing Michelle Kwan on TV.
“It’s so fluid and free. I love the feeling that you can kind of create anything you want when you step on the ice. It’s free. It’s going to feel a little bit different every time, and it becomes addicting to kind of find that flow, that magic spot when you’re skating.”
Jordan Stolz
Speed Skating
At just 21 years old, Jordan is already well on his way to the very top of the long-track speed skating world, as the sport’s breakout American star who made his Olympic debut (while still a teenager) at the Olympic Games Beijing 2022. Not long after his first Olympics, he swept the World Single Distances Championships by taking home the gold for the 500-meter, 1000-meter, and 1500-meter races in both 2023 and 2024—the first man to ever do so, and the youngest single-distance world champion in history. As the sport’s standard-bearer, all eyes will be on Jordan as he lines up on the ice for Milano Cortina 2026.
“It’s the first act, putting on the outfit—but it’s more so a tradition in a sense, like you’re finally there representing your country, putting on the Opening Ceremony’s clothing. It’s something you see on TV. Everybody’s watching the Opening Ceremony and now you’re wearing it, walking in the ceremony.”
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