Experiencing curling withdrawals? Same. Luckily, the Milano Cortina Paralympics officially begin with today’s 2 p.m. ET Opening Ceremony, marking the 50-year anniversary of the Paralympic Games. Here are three storylines to watch as it all begins in Italy.

Yesterday, Parity followed up its recent report on the Olympics with one about fan interest in the Paralympics, which officially kick off tomorrow. Parity’s data illustrates how those who are fans of the Paralympics and women’s sports — spaces where equity is front and center — are excited about Para women athletes and are very aware of brands in the space.

This week, StubHub launched HerSportsHub, the first dedicated place for reselling tickets to women’s sports events. The platform will include access to WNBA, NWSL, PWHL, and NCAA women’s basketball games, aligning with StubHub’s latest data-driven insights on how fandom is surging across these sectors.

In December 2024, girls empowerment brand Rebel Girls entered the sports chat for the first time, making a splash through partnerships with two emerging women’s sports leagues: LOVB and AUSL. Rebel Girls saw its audience of Gen Alpha girls organically respond to its sports-centric content, so the brand leaned in. Over a year later, Rebel Girls is going even deeper into the sports world. Rebel Girls announced four new sports-inspired series this week, while also naming 14-year-old Pepper Persley as its first-ever brand ambassador and Emma May-Bradley as chief content and marketing officer.

Things happen fast when you’re rapper Flavor Flav. The ‘90s icon is known for his avid women’s sports fandom after supporting athletes during Paris 2024. Initially a fan of the Team USA women’s water polo team, Flav extended his endorsement to many more athletes, and the same happened at the Winter Olympics.

Let’s be clear: Advertisers do portray mothers across advertising, more so than women without children. But the standard portrayal features mothers as caretakers engrossed in domestic tasks and has changed little since the 1950s.

The Winter Olympics are underway and seem to be trekking in the footsteps of Paris 2024, a.k.a. the “Social Media Olympics.” Once again, we’re seeing trends play out in real time as athletes and celebrity fans play an increased role in driving brand engagement. We’re breaking down the top headlines out of Milano Cortina this week.

Super Bowl (SB) ads are often a pulse check on trends in the year to come, at least from an advertising perspective — after all, these are the companies betting big on reaching the most Americans possible in a single spot. And this year, many SB ads featured AI companies and some were even created by AI, although a majority of SB viewers didn’t like them.

Annika Malacinski has the kind of Olympic story media outlets and marketers dream of. The 24-year-old daughter of a ski instructor grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado — one of the only areas in the U.S. with the infrastructure to facilitate Nordic combined, a marriage between cross-country skiing and ski jumping.