Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (2026)

The 2026 edition of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue recently launched, so it is time to do my yearly review. Let's start with Sophie Cunningham. Since her trade to the Indiana Fever a couple of years ago, Sophie has become one of my favorite athletes. She's outspoken and overall is an entertaining person, and thus she's a fun social media follow. I was glad when I heard she was going to be in this year's issue.

Nina Agdal's appearance in this year's issue was a pleasant surprise. Nina's rookie appearance in 2012 was memorable, and she is one of my favorite swimsuit models from the 2010s. I'm including her in my review here, not just because I like her, but because I think she had some of the better pictures from this year's issue. 

Another surprise for this year's issue was the appearance of Molly Sims. Her first issue was in twenty six years ago in 2000! She's now 53 years old and she had some really good pictures in this year's issue. A couple of other models to mention include Brooks Nader. She is perhaps the most famous current model, with her own reality TV show. I haven't thought much of her previous issue appearances, but I thought her pictures in this year's issue were quite good. Olivia Dunne has become a recent favorite, and as usual her pictures in this year's issue were some of my favorite. Before I wrap up, I have to recognize Christen Goff, who has become one of my favorite models from the 2020 era.

A couple of closing thoughts on the issue. The first is about the locations. Maybe I'm misremembering, but it seems like there were fewer locations in this year's issue compared to previous issues. While Montauk looks like a super cool place to visit, the picture backgrounds were a little redundant. Several pictures were taken in Botswana, in south Africa, and I've never been a huge fan of the safari backgrounds for the swimsuit issue. The other closing though is about Hilary Duff's appearance. I was completely fine with her appearing in the issue, but why are all of her pictures filtered? I find that trend to be annoying, honestly, and would have preferred for her pictures to be just normal pictures. The issue features great photographers so I don't know why the filters are necessary.