When you think of front-facing anchors for NBC’s Olympics coverage, Mike Tirico, the current host of the network’s prime-time coverage, is probably the first person who comes to mind. If you want to go back in history, Bob Costas would certainly come up, a mainstay on NBC’s prime-time coverage over 11 Olympics.
But you might be surprised to learn who has the longest hosting streak among current NBC Olympics broadcasters: Rebecca Lowe.
Lowe will serve as a host for her seventh consecutive Olympics, a source briefed on the move told The Athletic. She will be NBC’s daytime host for its coverage of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics, which begins Feb. 6, 2026, on NBC and Peacock. She’ll also anchor a prime-time preview — the “Milan-Cortina Olympic Preview Show” — on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
It’s been an eventful stretch for Lowe. As first reported by The Athletic, Lowe will work as a host for Fox Sports’ World Cup coverage later this summer. It is rare for a presenter to be part of the two biggest global sporting events in the same year for two networks. Most U.S. sports fans know Lowe as the host of the “Premier League Mornings,” “Premier League Live” and “Goal Zone” pre- and post-match shows. This is her 13th season in that role, which will continue long-term, as the Fox assignment is a one-off.
Lowe’s NBC Olympics broadcast career began at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She has since worked the 2016 Rio Olympics, 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2022 Beijing Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics.
Milan-Cortina is six hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time zone, so Lowe will be on the air when events are happening live, the same setup she had for the Paris Games, which were also six hours ahead.
“Every Games has been different purely because of the time zone,” Lowe told The Athletic last year. “For example, in PyeongChang and Tokyo, for us to be live on the NBC daytime show, we were working the overnight shift. That not only meant a challenge in itself personally, but also we didn’t have live sports to bring the audience. We’ll be live during daylight hours in France while live sport is happening. That brings an extra energy and dynamic to the show, as you get to react to stories as they happen in the moment.”
The Olympics had a significant revival in interest at the 2024 Paris Games. Before the events in France, Olympic viewership had tumbled significantly in recent cycles. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics averaged 11.4 million viewers across all platforms, the least-watched Olympics in the modern era. It was a sharp decline from the 19.8 million average for the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. But the Olympics bloomed again in France’s capital, delivering 30.4 million viewers across NBCU, Peacock and NBCU Platforms, up 80 percent from Tokyo.
