Exciting News: 5 Examples Of Red Light Therapy At The Winter Olympics 2026!

So we've changed strategies a bit and will give you more news in 2026 on light therapy. These can include groundbreaking publications, but also very simple and exciting news.

Here are all athletes and companies mentioned or linked to red light theapy and the 2026 Winter Olympics:

1) Kala Partners With Team Canada For The 2026 Winter Olympics

Today's story? Kala Therapy has been named official wellness recovery partner of Team Canada for the 2026 Olympics:

Here's what the official Olympics website of Canada writes:

"We are pleased to welcome Kala Red Light Therapy to Team Canada ahead of Milano Cortina 2026,” said Jacqueline Ryan, Chief Brand and Commercial Officer of the COC and CEO of the Canadian Olympic Foundation. “This is an exciting new partnership based on a shared commitment to total athlete wellness. We know this will have a major, positive impact for Team Canada athletes on their Olympic journeys."

That's a great accomplishment and shows you how much red light therapy is entering the mainstream! The partnership between Kala and the Olympics showcases how much performance increases and recovery matters for elite athletes.

We've written about this topic in the past, on using red light therapy before or after a workout (hint: a few hours before works best, according to the science!):

Here's what Kala themselves had to say about this partnership:

"“Growing up playing hockey in Canada and sharing the ice with athletes who now wear the Team Canada jersey, I never imagined we’d one day be working together on the Olympic stage,” said Cam Stajer, Founder and CEO of Kala Therapy. “To partner with Team Canada as the Official Wellness Recovery Partner is a full-circle moment. This isn’t just a business milestone — it’s a dream realized. At Kala, we believe recovery is not a luxury; it’s the foundation of performance. We’re proudly Canadian and honoured to support the Olympians who inspire the next generation to believe anything is possible.”"

Given the potentially very strong effects of red light therapy on exercise performance, we expect more of these partnerships to emerge over time. As an elite athlete, you're in a very different position than the average person, and you need every single 1% or even 0.1% performance gain that's available - giving you an edge over the competition.

And, what's more, Kala didn't just partner with Team Canada but also with individual Canadian athletes. These athletes include:

"two-time Olympian and Olympic gold medalist Sarah Nurse, who will appear in an upcoming brand campaign. Kala also proudly partners with William Dandjinou, Piper Gilles, and Laurie Blouin."

All great!

So, all in all, there are 3 important developments in play:

Red light therapy is going mainstream
Elite athletes are using red light therapy becuase they need an edge
Olympic teams are explicitly endorsing red light therapy now.

(And yes, we know that Kala offers more than red light therapy - such as PEMF and infrared saunas. But red light therapy is still the bread and butter of their company, we assume, as infrared saunas have been around for ages).

2) Mito Red Being Used By Ice Hockey Star Auston Matthews

An NHL star, Auston Matthews, has selected Mito Red as his red light therapy brand for choice. Here's what the press release reads:

"As one of the most accomplished and dynamic athletes in professional hockey, Matthews’ collaboration with Mito Red Light signals a meaningful step forward in the mainstream adoption of light therapy for sports recovery, longevity, and peak physical conditioning.

This partnership is not a traditional celebrity endorsement; rather, it is rooted in Matthews’ authentic, long-term use of the technology. Known for his disciplined approach to training and recovery, Matthews has integrated Mito Red Light’s professional-grade devices into his routine to help with the rigors of a physically demanding season. The collaboration aims to bridge the gap between elite athletic facilities and everyday consumers, demonstrating that professional-grade recovery tools are accessible to anyone seeking to optimize their health."

The emphasis, here again, when reading the full press release is that light therapy boosts both workout/competition performance and recovery.

Auston first read about red light therapy around COVID. He was impressed by the science and saw that it could supply great benefit for his routine. For him, soreness went down and recovery was sped up.

Here's what Scott Chaverri, founder and owner of Mito Red, has to say about that partnership:

"Partnering with an athlete of Auston’s caliber is a testament to the design and quality of our devices,” said Scott Chaverri, CEO of Mito Red Light. “Auston represents the pinnacle of performance and dedication. His use of our technology to support recovery from the intense physical demands of professional hockey reinforces our mission. We are excited to work together to show that whether you are competing at the highest level or simply focused on improving everyday wellness, Mito Red Light offers tools designed to help you feel and perform your best.”

We've interviewed Scott Chaverri in the past - if you're curious!

3) More Red Light Therapy Tech: Wearable "DNA Vibe" Device By Team USA

Wearable red light therapy has become really popular lately. "DNA Vibe" is one of these companies that offers an innovative new product.

Apparantly, from a very recent Feb 2026 press release, DNA Vibe specializes in providing a really low dose through their wearable tech. Here's what their website shows, in terms of wearable devices:

In the aforementioned news article, the company states that:

"The company’s Jazz Bands (they’re small, pad-shaped products) produce red and near-infrared light. DNA Vibe’s tech taps into the body’s regenerative healing capabilities. Kamel claims that he’s seen clinically confirmed ankle sprains in athletes take only a few days to recover, as opposed to the typical window of four-to-six weeks. As a person who has rolled ankles a few times in my basketball playing days (and has a right ankle that remains larger than his left), I found that pitch incredibly compelling."

The red light therapy, however, is combined with other therapies, such as vibration technology and magnetic pulses. We've reviewed some vibration technology in the past, on the Alex Fergus blog - the Apollo Neuro. There is some scientific backing of this technology and the combination of vibration and red light therapy taken together is somewhat intrigueing.

Also, if you're curious about other wearable red light therapy devices, check the Kineon MOVE+, the Weber Endolight, and perhaps our article on intravenous light therapy - putting light therapy directly into the bloodstream or into the bloodstream through the skin.

Alex will still have to review that DNA Vibes device, however, but it looks somewhat promising for sure!

4) US Bobsleigh Sprinter Using Red Light Therapy For Performance Boosting

An Olympic athlete called Manteo Mitchell has integrated "photobiomodulation" or "red light therapy" into his workout and recovery routines. Here's what the article states about the benefits he experiences:

"From reversing symptoms in children with autism to accelerating stroke recovery in medical professionals, the results are nothing short of remarkable. Olympic athletes like Manteo Mitchell have integrated laser protocols into their performance regimens, reaping benefits similar to those of banned performance-enhancing substances—without side effects."

That claim is interesting because it's unlikely that red light therapy has such strong effects as full-blown doping. The discussion is also funny because it's been brought up before - by Mito Red light whom we just covered:

My opinion?

Red light therapy has a very strong effect and it's only a matter of time before more athletes integrate this into their routine. It's like eating a healthy diet - you cannot compete eating junk food at the highest level of the world. In the same way, you cannot compete 5-10 years from now without proper and optimal light therapy, as even a 1% or 0.1% difference in performance makes the difference between winners and losers...

We'll keep you updated - more to come!

5) Likely Athlete Users Of Red Light Therapy During The 2026 Winter Olympics

There are a few honorable mentions of athletes who compete at the Winter Olympics, and who have been found to be using red light therapy in the past. These are:

Kelsey Mitchell, who competes in Bobsleigh for Canada. She's originally a track sprinter and has been reported to use red light therapy for the previous olympics.
(Update in progress - we'll add more names here, once we find them in the news sources!)

Surprisingly, we didn't find many more names of athletes using red ligh therapy. But, in a way, all of them won't explicitly mention it, in our opinion, in the same way they won't mention that they're using a healthy diet as it's almost self-evident that they do.

Light therapy has been used for long in the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics of 2014 in Russia, for instance, featured tanning beds used by the Russian team.

Russians were accused of UV doping there. These beds also emitted red light for an even greater performance gain. However, as the UV light exposure was deemed "natural", it wasn't classified as "doping" in the end...

Do you want more info on UV light, on how to maximize the many health benefits while minimizing risk (such as different skin cancers?). Check my course which contains a free 30-40 minute episode on all of the important data on that topic.

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Background: Winter Olympics 2026

So, from 6 to 22 February 2026 - starting today at this very moment of publication - the Winter Olympics are taking place in Northern Italy. The official date of opening is February 6, although some events have already started two days earlier.

A whopping 92 nations are competing there, in 116 events across eight different sports. If you want more background knowledge, such as all the dates of the events or the Italian cities in which the events are held, check the Wikipedia page, which is pretty good in this case!

More Red Light Therapy At The Olympics Updates? We'll Keep Updating This Article

When we see more evidence of red light therapy being used by other companies, we'll give this article an update.

Items Mentioned In This Article:

🔥 For a Kala Red Light Face Mask, handheld or wall panel, click link for 15% off (auto-applied): https://aferg.co/Kala
🔥 Move+ Pro from Kineon use this link and code AFERGUSMOVE for 10% off
🔥If you want a Weber Endolight, use discount code ALEX and the following link: https://aferg.co/weber
🔥 Grab a Mito Red Light Device - The discount code is generated after you click the link.

This is a post by Bart Wolbers. Bart finished degrees in Physical Therapy (B), Philosophy (BA and MA), Philosophy of Science and Technology (MS - with distinction), and Clinical Health Science (MS), has had training in functional medicine, and is currently chief science writer at Lighttherapyinsiders.com