All eyes will be on Arianna Fontana this February.

She is already a Short Track legend and Italy’s most decorated winter Olympian of all time with 11 medals including two gold - the 500m at both PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022. She is on posters wherever you look in her homeland, and for the second time at a Winter Olympic Games, she will be Italy’s flagbearer.

At her sixth Winter Games, Fontana competes on home ice again, having made her debut at Torino 2006 aged just 15.

She hopes this partisan local support can propel her to even more remarkable achievements.

“There are going to be a lot of Italians,” she said.

“I know my family from both the US and Italy are going to be there, we’ve got a lot of friends from both countries coming to support us. I’m really looking forward to seeing them in the crowds cheering for me.

“For some of them, it’s the first time to see me live, racing, so I really hope that they will be able to share some emotions.”

Fontana leads from the front at the ISU Short Track Speed Skating European Championships in Tilburg (NED) in January 2026 © ISU 

Fontana decided to try something unusual at the start of last season: she would skate both Speed Skating and Short Track at the Games. In the end, she narrowly missed out on qualifying for the longer oval, but the experience has still been positive.

“Last season I was able to do both disciplines, because I raced the qualifying race for the team.

“Unfortunately, this season, because I got hurt, I wasn’t able to do it, and in Italy, we don’t have an Olympic qualifying competition as they have in the Netherlands, so I wasn’t able to prove myself there after I’d got better.

“So it’s a little bit disappointing, but overall, if I look back, it was a great experience for me because I put myself out there, trying something different, and it was a big challenge to put myself through at this age or at this period of my career. But mentally it was really good.

“I had to learn new things, I met new people, learned about a sport that I knew but didn’t completely understand, and that I now appreciate even more.

“So I’m really happy, because I also had a lot of support in the US and Canada, where I trained the whole summer and part of the autumn, where they understood what I tried to do. And it was really nice to also have their support.”

Fontana's foray into long-track Speed Skating ended without an Olympic place but with valuable lessons learnt that she can bring to the Short Track © Getty Images

Might the experience have given her a physical advantage she can use on the smaller oval?

“For sure, it was good training. I had the opportunity to train with the US team and with the Canadian team. I also tried to follow Jordan Stolz (USA) and it was pretty tough, but a lot of fun. I learned a lot about how he skates.”

PyeongChang 2018, and her first gold medal, was a major breakthrough for Fontana. At Sochi 2014, she had been a favourite for a gold, but crashed in the final – getting up and taking silver instead.

“I had been chasing that gold medal for a long time,” she said.

“In my mind, back in 2014, I was going to win that gold medal, but we all know what happened in that 500m final. After half a lap, three people were down on the ice and back then, it was really disappointing because if I get beaten, fine, the other girls were faster that day, but not being able to finish a race is always tough.

“That’s why that gold medal in PyeongChang meant so much. But also, because that’s when I started training with Anthony [Lobello], my husband. He became my official coach that season and we reinvented everything. We really took a completely different approach to training, diet, and mental health. All the different things that maybe we weren’t so focused on before – everything was important, and we showed up in PyeongChang and delivered.”

Fontana took all that knowledge with her to Beijing 2022, where she executed a dramatic pass to retain her gold medal in the 500m.

Will this experience benefit her in Milano?

“Sometimes it helps a lot. Racing is racing. It’s not that I’m the only one with experience out there on the ice," she admitted.

“It obviously helps when there are skaters doing their first couple of seasons, who didn’t experience everything so that I can take advantage of that, but at the Olympics, if you find yourself in a final, everyone will know how to race.”

Fontana (center) and rivals await the gun in the 500m at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in March 2025 © ISU 

She is pleased with her physical shape after some setbacks this term.

“I’m much better, compared to this autumn,” she said.

“I got injured three times, back-to-back. First my back, then my ankle and then my quad, at the first World Cup, so it wasn’t an easy build-up for the Games. But I’m really happy that right now I’m here, healthy, not injured, and can finally race more serenely.”

Her advice for those racers skating nervously to their first Olympic Games?

“Enjoy it, give everything you have, don’t be afraid and use the pressure, that you maybe feel, as a boost. Don’t be scared at all. The crowds are going to push you so just embrace it and go for it.”

Fontana, with Arianna Sighel (ITA, left) and Zoe Deltrap (NED, right) won 1500m gold at this year's ISU European Championships. Can Olympic gold follow? © ISU 

For now, it is heads down, for a couple of crucial build-up weeks to the big occasion.

“We still have a couple of weeks,” said Fontana.

“Ideally, there are few key training sessions that will help me to get ready for every distance at the Games.

“I’m still coming up to speed because with my quad, I couldn’t really do many starts or speed laps, so for sure, I’ll have to work on that.”

What would it mean to clinch that third, back-to-back gold?

“I don’t like to talk about things that haven't happened yet but the only thing that I can say is that I’m really hoping to enjoy every race,” the Italian vowed.

“The level of skaters, pretty much, there is always the same number of good athletes who could potentially win a medal. I will obviously put all of myself on the ice, I will give everything I have, race by race, to find my way to the final, and then once I’m there, fight for that podium.”