BEST 2026 WINTER OLYMPICS WEEKEND 2 BETS

With the Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, we turn our attention away from incessant doomscrolling to the wonderful distraction that is the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games.

For some reason, we don’t number the Winter Olympics or call it an Olympiad, maybe because no ancient Greeks were flying face down a skeleton track with their “luge” hanging free. Who can say? This year’s Winter O officially kicked off the day before the Super Bowl, which seems like bad timing, considering they front-load a lot of the best events in the first few days. It’s tough to focus on Alpine Skiing when Drake Maye is getting pancaked repeatedly into the Santa Clara turf. 

With the foozebawl behind us, we can now focus on these Nordic sports for the first time in four years and for the last time for the next four years. There’s literally nothing else happening. 

And, yeah, I know there’s basketball and some other stuff. Maybe cornhole? Competitive lawn darts? I’m not watching that nonsense. 

Let’s take a look at our snowy picks for this weekend.

MEN’S SLALOM

Atle Lie McGrath (NOR) +500

Loic Meillard (SUI) +500

Clement Noel (FRA) +600

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA) +600

Manuel Feller (AUT) +600

HenriK Kristofferson (NOR) +700

Paco Rassat (FRA) +1000

Tanguy Nef (SUI) +1100

Timon Haugan (NOR) +1200

Alex Vinatzer (ITA) +5000

Benjamin Ritchie (USA) +15000

This isn’t the whole list, obviously, but I’ve boiled it down to the actual players, with a couple of interesting wildcards tossed in for fun. 

Your current top five World Cup slalom leaders are all represented here, along with the Italian skier, to represent the home games advantage that shows up in every Olympics (and has already worked the slopes pretty well in this one) and, of course, the best American because we all want to see Old Glory represented abroad, even if things aren’t going so great at home. 

BEST BET: Paco Rassatt (FRA) +100)

While the top five men in the World Cup standings are separated by a measly 69 points, Rassat is No. 1 for a reason. Especially with that +1000 payout, he looks like a solid risk to me. On the women’s side, the Italians have done extremely well, so considering he’s likely skied this hill more than anyone, Alex Vinatzer deserves a solid look at +5000 for the story alone. And if you’re a regular watcher of both the Summer and Winter Games, you know that the stories sometimes show and win medals.

MEN’S DUAL MOGULS

Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) -160

Julien Viel (CAN) +350

Ikuma Horishima (JPN) +350

Walter Wallberg (SWE) +1000

Nick Page (USA) +1100

Benjamin Cavet (FRA) +1400

 Matt Graham (AUS) +1400

First off, I’m bummed there’s not a single Italian listed here, so I can talk up a local guy that’ll get featured prominently and then lose horribly. It’ll be a feel-good story as he crashes into the snow and goes full GTA rag doll. 

Ikuma Horishima, Mikael Kingsbury, and Walter Wallberg all medaled at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, with Horishima getting bronze, Kingsbury silver, and Wallberg gold.  There’s a reason they are three of the top four favorites.

BEST BET: Ikuma Horishma +350

While Wallberg looks like a solid payout at +1000 for a defending Olympic champion, we’re trying to win here and Horishima practically lapped the field in Olympic qualifying. Tuesday, he posted an 85.42. Julien Viel was nearly six points behind at 79.56. Wallberg was back at 77.37.

The good news for the Red, White & Blue is that Nick Page was sixth in qualifying and has a real shot at the podium. Not gold, but he could sneak in a bronze.

Follow Adam Greene on Blue Sky @AdamGreene13, threads @adam.greene and Twitter @TheFirstMan