These West Michigan Locations Feel Like You’re At The Olympics

The first week of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics is wrapping up, and it has been full of highs and lows, from acclaimed Olympian Lindsey Vonn's tragic crash to Illia "Quad God" Malinin landing the first-ever Quadruple Axel in a competition. These Olympians spend their entire lives perfecting their craft, honing their skills.

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Most of us, however, spend our time sitting on the couch watching them instead, amazed by their talent while snacking on pretzels. But the fun part about the Olympics is getting that feeling like "psh, I could do that." 

If you want to get a taste of the Olympian life, there are plenty of spots around West Michigan where you can do the sports you're seeing take place in Italy.

Olympic Winter Sports

In total, 15 events are taking place at the Winter Olympics. While many of them, like Skiing and Snowboarding, can be done at one of Michigan's more than 40 ski areas (the second-most in the country), more specialized events like luge, hockey, bobsleigh, and curling require specialized arenas.

READ MORE: Meet the 14 Michigan Olympians in The 2026 Games

However, it helps to live in a state synonymous with snow and cold, because Michigan has more access to these facilities than most.

Bobsled/Luge/Skeleton & Cross Country Skiing

The perfect example of this is Muskegon Luge Adventure Sports Park, one of only four bobsled courses in the United States. The Sports Park hosts weekly luge lessons. Also available are a variety of cross-country skiing trails ranging from 2K to 5K.

Curling

Of all the Olympic sports, Curling has the lowest barrier to entry, in part due to West Michigan's very own Grand Rapids Curling Club. The club hosts public classes and leagues at the Cedar Rock Sportsplex in Cedar Springs. Alternatively, there is also a curling club in Kalamazoo.

Skating

Before you can figure skate, speed skate, play Hockey, or anything on ice, you have to know how to skate. Griff's Ice House and Patterson Ice Center both offer skating lessons.

READ MORE: Meet the 14 Michigan Olympians in The 2026 Games

Figure Skating

Once you know how to skate, you can take this to the next level by taking figure skating lessons with the Greater Grand Rapids Figure Skating Club. 

Speed Skating

You can take speedskating lessons with the West Michigan Speedskating Club, with locations in Grand Rapids and Muskegon.  However, if you want to compete, you'll want to look into the Michigan Speedskating Association

Ski Jump - Iron Mountain

Ski Jumping is a unique sport that relies on a tall, curved ramp that descends a hill, allowing athletes to take to the "skies". There are only around 33 ski jumps in the US, and one of them is here in Michigan, albeit it requires quite a hike to get there.

It isn't anywhere near West Michigan, so if you're trying to fly on skis, take a trip to Iron Mountain's Copper Peak, which is in the midst of a $20M transformation to be a summer and winter ski jumping facility.