Belgium at the 2026 Winter Olympics: Figure skating
Belgium may not be a traditional winter sports nation, but it left the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing with two medals. It is looking to do even better at the 2026 Games in Milan-Cortina, with several disciplines offering realistic medal prospects. Today, Belga English looks at figure skaters Loena Hendrickx and Nina Pinzarrone.
At the age of 26, Loena Hendrickx has an impressive track record. Her European title in 2024 is probably the highlight of her career, but she is also a two-time world medallist and winner of two Grand Prix events. She has two Olympics under her belt, finishing 16th on her debut in PyeongChang in 2018 and 8th in Beijing four years ago.
Despite all her experience, Hendrickx will be travelling to Italy with some trepidation. Her season has been complicated by the ankle surgery she underwent at the beginning of 2025. It was only in September, seven months after the operation, that she seized her last chance of an Olympic ticket at an event in China.
“I’ve never had to deal with so much pressure before; it’s a great feeling that I succeeded,” she told Sporza. “I was in a very dark place when we didn’t really know what was going on. I thought I was too old and done with the sport. But when I was told that my ankle needed surgery, I knew this was my chance to continue performing at the highest level.”
Hendrickx struggled after qualifying. She withdrew from the Grand Prix of Finland at the end of November, citing illness and a lack of proper nutrition leading up to the competition.
She still dreams of an Olympic medal, but she also told De Morgen that “in my mind, fifth place is already quite challenging and a more realistic goal”. In any case, she can count on the expertise and support of her brother Jorik, who once was an Olympic athlete himself and has been her coach for several years.
Whether these Olympics will be the end of her career, she is leaving open for the time being. “It will depend on how my body is feeling,” she told Sporza. “In any case, I want to end on a high note.”
While Hendrickx is gearing up for her third Games, Nina Pinzarrone is making her Olympic debut in Italy. The 19-year-old from Brussels has already proved her technical skills and nerves of steel, which helped her to win two bronze medals at the European Championships, in 2024 and 2025.
Pinzarrone qualified for the Games at the World Championships in Boston, where she finished seventh. There was a lot of pressure on her young shoulders, as she had to finish in the top 10 to give Belgium the right to enter two skaters in the Olympics. She kept her cool and thus also gave Hendrickx the opportunity to qualify.
"I was in a very dark place when we didn’t really know what was going on. I thought I was too old and done with the sport"
Just like her compatriot, though, Pinzarrone has had a difficult year. A fracture in her foot in May saw her undergo surgery that kept her out of competition for months. She only competed again in November, at the Belgian Championships, which she won – but she was also the only participant.
The talented young Belgian has decided to skip the Grand Prix events this season. “This is a special season, in which we’re focusing primarily on the second half with the European Championships, the Olympic Games and the World Championships,” she told Sporza. “That way, I don’t put too much pressure on myself and I can recover 100 per cent.”
An extra motivation for Pinzarrone: as her name suggests, she has Italian roots, with her grandfather on her father’s side being Italian. So apart from the Belgians, the locals will perhaps also give her some extra support at the Games.
#FlandersNewsService | Loena Hendrickx and Nina Pinzarrone at the ISU European Figure Skating Championship, Kaunas, Lithuania, January 2024 © PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP
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