US Olympians are greeted at Milan's airport with star-spangled Ralph Lauren uniforms

VARESE, Italy (AP) — Freestyle skier and Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf’s first stop Wednesday for the Milan Cortina Winter Games was at a Milan airport hotel. She and her U.S. teammates were giddy as stylists fitted them with their Ralph Lauren uniforms for ceremonies.

Kauf bounced with enthusiasm as if at a competition's starting line while checking out her closing ceremony look: A knit turtleneck bearing the U.S. flag, french-tucked into belted canvas twill trousers, which in turn were given the traditional Ralph Lauren-tuck into striped socks. Hiking boots finished the look.

She tried on a red-white-and-blue puffer jacket emblazoned with "2026" and "USA" and a Nordic-style knit cap with two tassels that she bobbed playfully, alongside moguls teammates Olivia Giaccio, Tess Johnson and Elizabeth Lemly.

They took selfies in the wall-size showroom mirror, as their trousers were marked for hemming and stylists offered personalized touches.

“This is such a fun, special experience to be a part of,’’ said Kauf, a three-time Olympian. “It is making the Olympics real. We are in Italy, we are kicking it off getting the outfits, and they are looking so good. It is exciting to be stepping into it and feel the excitement building up to the Games. “

Most U.S. athletes arriving to compete in the Winter Games pass through the Milan airport hotel, where sponsors have prepared garb, sunglasses and other swag to make sure the competitors are properly outfitted for ceremonies, the medal podium, press conferences and free time.

A Starbucks stand offered a caffeine boost for those arriving after a long journey.

The athletes have been sharing their exhilaration at the bounty in social media posts, undergarments from SKIMS, a novel inflatable jacket from Nike for medals ceremonies and sunglasses from Oakley — in addition to the Ralph Lauren looks.

For the opening ceremony, Ralph Lauren provided a winter white duffel coat, Nordic-style knit turtleneck with the U.S. flag and Olympic rings, and soft, pleated wool trousers.

Giaccio raved about the softness of its fabric, saying “very classy,’’ and Kauf marveled at the branding on the duffel coat, down to “TEAM USA” written on the wooden buttons and inside the hood.

“Zero notes,’’ chimed in Johnson.

This is the sixth Winter Games' collaboration between Ralph Lauren and Team USA; besides the ceremony looks, athletes are getting 30 pieces of village wear.

“This is the best team outfit ever, full stop. I have been doing this since 2010, since Vancouver and by far this is the best,’’ said Peter Zeytoonjian, senior vice president of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committee’s commercial arm.

“My favorite piece for village wear is what I’m wearing,'' he said, sporting a red-white-and-blue cable-knit turtleneck. ”And then for closing, I love the flag sweater. It screams red, white and blue and Team USA. ‘’

The women's moguls team is riding high after first-ever sweep of the top four spots in dual moguls at a World Cup event last month, en route to the freestyle 2026 Winter Games venue in Livigno, near the Swiss border, where the discipline is making its Olympic debut.

The result “just speaks volumes about this women’s team,'' Kauf said. "We are just such strong skiers, such strong competitors. We came here to win. I think this is going to be a really fun event for all of us.''

United States' Olivia Giaccio speaks with her teammates as they wear the Team USA uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

United States' Elizabeth Lemley wears the Team USA uniform designed by Ralph Lauren, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

United States' Jaelin Kauf speaks with a journalist during an Associated Press interview as she wears the Team USA uniform designed by Ralph Lauren, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

From left, United States' Tess Johnson, Olivia Giaccio, Jaelin Kauf and Elizabeth Lemley pose for a photographer as they wear the Team USA uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

From left, United States' Tess Johnson, Jaelin Kauf, Olivia Giaccio and Elizabeth Lemley pose for photographers as they wear the Team USA uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia General Assembly ended its annual session early Friday without a plan for new equipment to overhaul the state's voting system by a July deadline, plunging into doubt the future of elections in the political battleground.

The lawmakers' failure to offer a solution after months of debate raises uncertainty about how Georgians will vote in November and leaves confusion that could end in the courts or a special legislative session.

“They’ve abdicated their responsibility,” Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper said of inaction by Republicans who control the legislature.

Currently, voters make their choices on Dominion Voting machines, which then print ballots with a QR code that scanners read to tally votes. Those machines have been repeatedly targeted by President Donald Trump following his 2020 election loss, and Trump’s Georgia supporters responded by enacting a law in 2024 that bans using barcodes to count votes.

But state law still requires counties to use the machines. No money has been allocated to reprogram them, and lawmakers failed to agree on a replacement.

“We’ll have an unresolvable statutory conflict come July 1,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Victor Anderson, a Cornelia Republican who backed a proposal to keep using the machines in 2026 that Senate Republicans declined to consider.

Republican House Speaker Jon Burns said he would meet with Gov. Brian Kemp and “take his temperature” on the possibility of a special session.

Kemp spokesperson Carter Chapman said he Republican governor will examine the situation.

“We’ll analyze all bills, as well as the consequence of those that did not pass,” Chapman said Friday.

House Republicans and Democrats backed Anderson's plan, which would have required that Georgia choose a voting process that didn't use QR codes by 2028. Election officials preferred that solution.

“The Senate has shown that they’re not responsible actors,” Draper said. She added that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump-endorsed Republican running for governor, seemed more interested in keeping Trump's backing than “doing right by Georgia voters.”

A spokesperson for Jones didn't immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.

Joseph Kirk, Bartow County election supervisor and president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said he’ll look to the secretary of state for guidance and assumes a judge will rule to instruct election officials how to proceed.

“This is uncharted territory,” he said.

Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is also running for governor, said officials are “ready to follow the law and follow the Constitution.”

Burns told reporters that his chamber was seeking to minimize changes this year.

“You can’t change horses in the middle of the stream,” Burns said.

Anderson said without action, the state could be required to use hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots in November.

Election officials say switching to a new system within just a few months, as advocated by some Republicans, would be nearly impossible.

“They made no way for this to happen except putting a deadline on it," Cherokee County elections director Anne Dover said of the switch away from barcodes. Dover said one problem under some plans is that a very large number of ballots would have to be printed.

Lawmakers seemed more concerned about scoring political points than making practical plans, Paulding County Election Supervisor Deidre Holden said.

“If anyone is resilient and can get the job done, it’s all of us election officials, but the legislators need to work with us, and they need to understand what we do before they go making laws that are basically unachievable for us,” Holden said.

Supporters of hand-marked paper ballots say voters are more likely to trust in an accurate count if they can see what gets read by the scanner.

Right-wing election activists lobbied lawmakers for an immediate switch to hand-marked paper ballots, but the House turned away from a Senate proposal to do so.

Anderson said he wasn’t sure if a special session could escape those political crosswinds, but said Georgia lawmakers must fix the problem.

“This is a legislative problem,” Anderson said. “It’s a legislative solution that has to happen.”

FILE - Voting machines are seen at the Bartow County Election office, Jan. 25, 2024, in Cartersville, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)