Welcome to your go-to information to the 2026 Winter Olympics. We’re monitoring every part—from real-life heated rivalries (sure, they exist) to under-the-radar sports activities and shock standouts—so you possibly can atone for all of our protection in a single place.
For those who binge-watched Heated Rivalry, you’re accustomed to the grab-the-popcorn heady romance between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, each rising stars in Main League Hockey—however on opposing groups. They’re fairly scorching and fiercely aggressive. It’s all extremely steamy, and it is on ice.
The story looks as if it might solely be fodder for novels and a scripted TV present, however followers of the collection could also be delighted to study that the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics has a actual heated rivalry of its personal.
Meet Anna Kjellbin and Ronja Savolainen, a pair competing on opposing hockey groups in Italy this month. Kjellbin is representing crew Sweden, whereas Savolainen performs for crew Finland. Their love story began whereas each had been a part of the Swedish Girls’s Hockey League, and after 5 years of courting, they’ve been engaged since 2024.
However don’t let their love story idiot you. They continue to be fierce opponents on the rink.
“I don’t care who’s in entrance of me…if it’s going to be her, I’m going to hit her,” Savolainen advised the Ottawa Citizen in 2024. “While you play, you simply play. You don’t actually take into consideration who’s there. You’re mates after. On the ice, she’s my enemy. That’s the way it goes.”
Savolainen is a veteran Olympian, who gained two bronze medals with Group Finland in 2018 and 2022. This yr’s Video games can be her third, whereas her fiancé Kjellbin returns for her second Olympic video games. Finland and Sweden usually are not scheduled to play one another within the Olympic preliminary rounds, however the couple will almost certainly face off in a medal spherical.
Julie Mennano, LMFT, a {couples} therapist and writer of Safe Love: Create a Relationship That Lasts a Lifetime tells SELF it’s potential to place apart your love and take care of a companion, but nonetheless preserve a wholesome relationship, as you each combat for a similar dream.
“Companions competing towards one another will undoubtedly carry up complicated emotions that may all co-exist, like jealousy, pleasure, disappointment, and admiration,” says Mennano. “The connection gold medal goes to {couples} who can handle these emotions with well being as a substitute of letting them contaminate the connection.”
