“They Waited Until the Final Minutes — Then Dropped This.” 
With the Closing Ceremony just moments away, NBC made a last-minute announcement that immediately sent fans into speculation mode. No long build-up. No early leaks. Just a carefully timed reveal as the 2026 Winter Olympics prepared to sign off.
That familiarity was reinforced on Friday when the network tapped its veteran booth of Terry Gannon, Tara Lipinski, and Johnny Weir to host Sunday’s closing ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Live coverage from Verona begins at 2:30 p.m. ET, followed by a 5 p.m. hour-long “Best of Milan Cortina 2026” recap and a primetime encore at 9 p.m..
NBC positions the trio as natural anchors for a telecast blending ceremony storytelling with athlete reaction and cultural context, areas where they’ve consistently excelled across multiple Games.
… | Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Gannon is an American sportscaster with a résumé stretching across golf, gymnastics, college basketball, and Olympic figure skating. A former NCAA champion basketball player at North Carolina State, he joined NBC Sports in 2010 and has been a key Olympic play-by-play voice, including hosting figure skating and multiple ceremonies.
Lipinski is one of the most decorated U.S. figure skaters of all time, winning Olympic gold in 1998 at just 15, the youngest individual Winter Olympic champion in history. After retiring from competition, she transitioned into broadcasting, joining NBC in 2011 and becoming a lead analyst known for sharp technical insight and media versatility.
Weir is a two-time U.S. champion and two-time Olympic figure skater whose charismatic personality and deep sports knowledge have made him a staple NBC figure skating analyst since 2013.
Together, the Gannon-Lipinski-Weir trio has proven to be a major ratings and social-media draw. Their blend of technical precision (Lipinski), emotional edge (Weir), and broadcast composure (Gannon) gives NBC a repeatable formula to close the show on a high note.
Longer term, keeping the same trio for marquee moments further cements their brand identity with Olympics viewers, making them more likely to be the network’s “go-to” voices for future Games.
