Hudson just out of frame holding torch I swear
Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty Images
Actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will grip a big flaming shaft as official torchbearers for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The Torch Relay will be just the latest stop in the Olympic relay-level media cycle that the Heated Rivalry stars have been speed-running since their gay Canadian hockey romance series premiered on Crave and HBO Max last November. It’s a fitting opportunity, considering how on the show, Williams’s and Storrie’s fictional athlete characters, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, attended the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (On the show, Ilya plays for Team Russia and doesn’t medal, while Shane plays for Team Canada and wins gold.) It’s also a fitting opportunity for HBO Max, which will air the Olympics in Italy and begin streaming Heated Rivalry there in February, bringing fujoshi to the land of fettuccine.
The Olympic Torch Relay kicked off in Rome last December, and the official Olympics press release about Storrie and Williams does not state when exactly the duo will carry the flame, only that they will “be among the torchbearers” for the flame “on its way to the Opening Ceremony on 6 February.” Williams is already doing his part for Milano Cortina 2026 by strutting around Milan for all of Fashion Week.
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