Olympic 2026 Winter Games

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💔 1 for the road: Honoring "Johnny Hockey"

Photo: Andrea Branca/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images The victorious Team USA poses with the two children and the No. 13 jersey of the late Johnny Gaudreau, who likely would have made the team. The team brought Gaudreau's 3-year-old daughter, Noa, and 2-year-old son, Johnny Jr., onto the ice for the post-game celebration. Dylan Larkin and Zach Werenski carry Noa and Johnny Gaudreau Jr. onto the ice after winning the gold medal yesterday. Photo: Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters Gaudreau, known as "Johnny Hockey," was fatally struck by an SUV while bicycling with his brother on the eve of their sister's wedding in 2024. Watch the tribute.

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🥅 1 for the road: Fish in the net

Photo: Fabrizio Carabelli/PA Images via Getty Images Team USA hockey goalie Connor Hellebuyck stood on his head for three periods plus overtime in a 2-1 gold-medal victory against Canada yesterday — so it's a good thing he had some iconic noggin protection. 🐟 Hellebuyck's Olympic mask — now going viral — featured American flag imagery, a bald eagle and, yup, a largemouth bass on the side. 🎣 The Michigan-born netminder says he's a big-time fisherman. "I wanted to feature a guy actually fishing and catching a bass, because that's what I do in the USA, and I love it." (Watch.)

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🥇 1 for the road: Milan's massive ratings

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The Milan Olympics delivered a ratings success for NBCUniversal with the highest Winter Games viewership since Sochi 2014 — up 96% from Beijing 2022, Axios' Kerry Flynn writes. NBCUniversal announced yesterday that the games averaged 23.5 million viewers during live afternoon and U.S. primetime programming across NBC, Peacock, digital platforms and Versant's CNBC and USA Network. Between the lines: NBC's broadcast of this year's Winter Olympics benefited from a favorable time zone, strong storylines and a robust streaming strategy. After two consecutive Winter Games in Asia, the European time zone made it easier to watch marquee events live. Keep reading.

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Finding my focus at the Olympics

At the Winter Olympics this year, I added a new title to my reporting job: credentialed photographer.

• 🇮🇹 The big picture: The gig gave me a literal front-row seat to history in Milan. Covering my third Olympics for Axios, it also dealt me a learning curve I had to navigate for more events than in past years.

🎥 Armed with some of the best gear on earth, I still felt like a novice — fumbling the focus, missing split-second moments, wondering if I was in over my head.

The surprise: The photographers around me were generous and encouraging, offering tips between plays.

• "You learn every time you pick up a camera," New York Times photographer Doug Mills told me as we shot side-by-side at the women's hockey bronze medal game. Like me, he was using the Olympics as a chance to step outside of his usual beat covering the White House.

U.S. women's hockey players Grace Zumwinkle and Taylor Heise celebrate their gold medal win. Photo: Ina Fried

🫶 Between the lines: What stayed with me the most weren't just the action shots I did or didn't get, or even the medal ceremonies, but rather the very human moments that came just after the formal festivities wrapped up.

• There were the expected scenes: flags draped over shoulders, selfies, athletes goofing off on the ice.
• But there were also quieter, unscripted ones, as athletes rushed to the stands to share the moments with family and friends.

Standing there with a camera, I realized the lessons weren't just about photography. They were about life.

My advice after the experience:

1. 🧪 Experiment.

• I tried different sports, lenses and angles whenever I could — a fisheye lens for players crashing into the boards; a giant zoom that required a monopod; shooting from ice level and from high in the stands.
• At hockey, the spot behind the net was thrilling — and occasionally put me on TV — but I eventually learned the side angle worked better for me. Trying things is the only way to find your lane.

2. 🎯 Go all in.

• I couldn't be everywhere. I chose short-track speed skating over a men's hockey quarterfinal that turned into an overtime thriller.
• The lesson: Embrace the moment you're in, not the one you might be missing — whether it's an event, a job or simply the seat you've got.

3. 🧠 Stay curious.

• Each day I tried to identify the one thing holding me back.
• Often, it was something simple — a technical setting I still didn't fully understand, even after owning the camera for a year. Progress came from asking for help, not pretending I had the answers.

4. 💪 Don't give up.

• Missed shots happen. The bigger mistake was dwelling on them long enough to miss the next opportunity.

✨ The bottom line: I came to Milan to write about the Olympics. I left reminded that starting something new — even in the middle of a career — is uncomfortable, humbling and deeply rewarding.

• Sometimes the best lessons aren't in the story you're covering, but in the way you choose to see it.

Go deeper: Photo gallery courtesy of Ina