Alyssa Roenigk (L) and fellow ESPN Olympics reporter D’Arcy Maine pose before the Duomo in Milan, Italy. (Alyssa Roenigk/ESPN)
Working as her own producer, Roenigk sets up her own shot for SportsCenter in downtown Cortina, Italy. (Alyssa Roenigk/ESPN)
This massive ice sculpture welcomes visitors to Livigno, a city where ESPN's Alyssa Roenigk covered multiple Winter Olympics competitions.
“I love Livigno!” Alyssa Roenigk says of the Winter Olympics Italian venue city. (Alyssa Roenigk/ESPN)
In Cortina, Alyssa Roenigk meets Tina, the official mascot for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. (Alyssa Roenigk/ESPN)While she has covered 10 previous Olympics, ESPN reporter Alyssa Roenigk is finding new adventures while moving around the mountains of Italy for skiing and snowboarding events during the Winter Olympics.
With more than a week left, Roenigk already has been in four different hotels, with two more to go, and has been in three Olympic cities and venues. She also has driven through neighboring Switzerland twice while moving between locations.
“Every Olympics has its challenges, and they usually center around transport,” said Roenigk. “The 2008 Beijing Olympics were probably the most difficult in that regard, but now I’m having flashbacks of being stuck on buses in Rio in 2016 and Torino in 2006.
“The Olympics has moved to a decentralized model where we rely on public transit instead of Olympic buses, which means we have to plan farther ahead. And because these Games are so spread out, it’s tough for journalists and fans to move between venues. The trip from Livigno to Cortina took a full day.”
This Winter Olympics also has come with a new situation for Roenigk — being her own producer for SportsCenter appearances while on her own at remote venues.
“This is absolutely a first for me and certainly has added to the chaos of the Olympics,” she said. “But as I told my producer, Jim Witalka, I’m grateful for how much I’ve learned by doing it.
“The fact that I am in a remote mountain town in northern Italy chatting live on SportsCenter with [anchor] Hannah Storm using just two iPhones, a tripod and a blue-tooth microphone kit is incredible. I’ve also learned how to frame a shot, light myself and edit videos.”
Working the mountain areas has also had an unexpected benefit for her.
“Once you’re in a venue city, the transport is fairly easy, if physically challenging,” she said. “You don’t need a hotel gym if you’re covering mountain sports like alpine ski racing and halfpipe snowboarding.”
Roenigk’s Winter Olympics coverage on ESPN.com |ESPN.com’s Winter Olympics coverage
