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MILAN — Hundreds of incredible athletes are taking part in these Winter Games. And a number of them just happen to be dating — or engaged or married to — each other.
Some participate in the same sports, as teammates or even opponents, while others come from different athletic backgrounds.
Take U.S. Paralympians Oksana Masters and Aaron Pike, who both compete in several summer and winter sports. They first met at a Para Nordic competition in 2013, where they bonded over their love of coffee, before connecting on a deeper level at the 2014 Sochi Games.
"We had a really special moment where we kind of realized on a gondola that this is more than just a friend — like a hug that spoke a thousand words kind of thing," Masters told NPR in October. "[I] realized, 'Oh my gosh, this is not just something like a small attraction here.'"
Fast forward to 2022, and Pike proposed to Masters on a gondola in Wyoming. Masters has very publicly gone dress shopping — even bringing her two Paris 2024 gold medals with her — but they haven't announced a wedding date yet. They said they were considering getting married after the Paralympics in Italy, while their families are already gathered together.
"In Italy would be a perfect way for our forever journey [to] start together, because of skiing in the mountains," Masters said. "But, then, you need to ask him, too — more — because he's doing nothing for the planning at all."
NPR did ask Pike.
"I made a joke one time like: I proposed, now it's your turn," he said with a laugh. "And she will not let that go."
Below are some of the Team USA winter power-couples to know, plus a few honorable mentions.
Hilary Knight and Brittany Bowe
At the socially-distanced Beijing Games in 2022, Hilary Knight asked Brittany Bowe if she wanted to go for a walk.
"That became our routine," said Bowe. "We'd walk the Village after dinner and just talk. It was cool living in a bubble and not having outside distractions."
Now they're sharing another Olympics together.
It's the fifth for Knight, the women's hockey captain and all-time leading scorer for Team USA, and the fourth for Bowe, a two-time medalist in long-track speed skating. And this time, they're not isolated in a bubble.
"It's always nice to be able to support Hilary, and when we can see each other's events," Bowe said after attending Knight's first match. "Her family was there, my whole family was there. It just brings additional energy to the atmosphere."
Kaysha Love and Hunter Powell
Bobsled athletes Kaysha Love and Hunter Powell met when they were track and field stars at their respective colleges. Love switched to bobsled and made the 2022 Olympics, then urged Powell to do the same.
"She convinced me to go to #SlideToGlory [a USA recruitment event,] which I was very resistant to, but she talked me into it, and I'm so thankful that she did," Powell said from Cortina.
They got engaged in July 2025. Now, they're Olympic teammates.
"It's the coolest thing in the world," Powell added. "I'm travelling the world for the first time in my life, chasing the dream, with the woman I love and my best friend. It doesn't get cooler than that."
Red Gerard and Hailey Langland
Snowboarders Red Gerard and Hailey Langland have known each other since they were 12, and have been in a relationship for the past eight years.
They both competed at the Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018 — where Gerard won gold — and 2022 in Beijing. He is competing again this year. She's sidelined by an ACL injury, but staying with him and his parents in Italy.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates
Evan Bates took Madison Chock on a date on her 16th birthday, though it didn't immediately lead to anything.
Several years later, in 2011, they partnered up in ice dance. Six years later, Bates confessed his feelings.
"Well, I pretty much told Maddie that I loved her," Bates told NBC in 2018. "Last year I told (her) how I really felt and that changed things a lot."
The two got engaged in 2022 and married in the summer of 2024 in Hawaii, where Chock's parents are from. Bates told NPR in October that while "the skating career is short and finite, the relationship is much, much longer."
"We love what we do, but we also really love each other," Chock added. "And we're able to take this passion and use it to foster our connection as a couple. And I think from that we've grown a lot through our sport, and that's been such a great teacher for us."
They're not the only ice dance power couple on Team USA: Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik have been partners on and off the ice since 2022.
Other couples to know
- Hockey greats Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey play together for the Montreal Victoire, and for Team Canada (of which Poulin is the captain). They've been together since 2017 and married since 2024.
- Kim Meylemans and Nicole Silveira are both skeleton racers, representing opposing teams (Belgium and Brazil). They're also newlyweds, having married less than a year ago after sparking up a relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Anna Kjellbin and Ronja Savolainen met while playing together in the Swedish pro women's hockey league, before getting signed to separate teams in Canada. The now-fiances are playing for separate teams at the Olympics, too: Sweden and Finland.
- There are three married couples in this year's 10-team mixed doubles curling field:
- Italian ice dancers Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri have been together since 2009, with the on-ice PDA to prove it.
- Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant of Canada, Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann, and Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten of Norway.
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