As the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games wind down and late-night television prepares to return to full strength, only one newly medaled athlete has so far been booked for a post-Games appearance.
During NBC Sports’ wall-to-wall broadcast, cable, and streaming coverage of the Winter Games, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers were preempted for two weeks. CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert went dark the week of February 9, while ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show were off the week of February 16.
With the Closing Ceremony airing Sunday night, all of those programs are set to return with new episodes beginning Monday, February 23.
If past post-Olympic weeks are any indication, a number of newly minted medalists are likely to pop up on late night next week. For now, however, only one appearance has been officially confirmed.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! has booked snowboarder Chloe Kim for Wednesday, Feb. 25. Kim captured silver in the women’s halfpipe at the 2026 Games, doing so just weeks after dislocating her shoulder.
Kim is no stranger to late night, having appeared on JKL in February 2022 following her two gold medals in Beijing. That same week, she also guested on The Late Late Show with James Corden and appeared on The Tonight Show ahead of her second Olympic run.
Other medalists have yet to be announced as post-Games guests. One likely candidate is Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu, who appeared on The Tonight Show in December to preview her Olympic return (see below) and went on to win free skate gold last week—becoming the first American woman to do so since 2002.
Whether Liu or other Olympians soon follow Kim onto late-night couches remains to be seen. LateNighter will continue tracking new bookings as they are announced.
