Starting on February 6, 2026, and running through February 22, the Winter Olympics have brought sports into the spotlight for the past two weeks. Hosted by the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy, the Games included figure skating, speed skating, ice hockey, luge, snowboarding, skeleton, bobsleigh, curling, and multiple types of skiing. The United States was second only to Norway in the final medal count, scoring 33 total medals: 12 gold, 12 silver, and 9 bronze.
Starting off with Olympic ice hockey, Team USA has dominated this year, with the women’s team taking the gold medal in the final match against Canada. A new chapter was added to a decades-long rivalry between the two countries: Team USA and Team Canada’s women have faced off in seven of the past eight gold medal games. Fittingly, this game went into overtime tied at one point each, until American Megan Keller scored a goal four minutes in. The team was also victorious against Italy and Sweden in the quarter and semifinals. According to a USA Today article, team captain and five-time Olympian Hilary Knight called the 2026 team “the best U.S. hockey team I’ve ever been a part of.” In addition to Knight and Keller, who is captain of the Boston Fleet, the team was stacked with sixteen total PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) players.
The men’s team was also greatly successful, overtaking Canada in their respective gold medal match, mirroring the women’s victory. However, they have not won gold since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” in which they beat the Soviet Union, then Finland. The Milano Cortina Games have been the first Games since 2014 in which NHL players have been allowed to represent their native countries, and Team USA benefited from this allowance. Captained by Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team includes the famous Tkachuk brothers, as well as two of the Hughes brothers, who were instrumental to the Olympic win. In the quarterfinal against Sweden, one of the most prominent teams, Quinn Hughes scored a winning goal in overtime. In the final, Jack Hughes took a stick to the face, chipping his teeth, but went on to score the golden goal in overtime. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, the reigning Hart Memorial Trophy winner, also came through, carrying the gold medal game with more than 40 saves.
This was an impressive year for figure skating as well; the USA won the team skate with two gold medals and one silver. In the individual skate, Alysa Liu stunned viewers with her joyful, relaxed grace and impressive technical skills, winning the first gold medal in the Women’s Individual competition for the US in 24 years. Liu started skating when she was only five, becoming the youngest US world champion at age 13. At only sixteen years old, she retired from skating. After a period of self discovery, she decided to come back to compete in the Milan Cortina Games, skating with ease as if she never left, and demonstrating a renewed joy.
As for the other single skaters, Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai won silver and bronze respectively. American Amber Glenn bounced back from getting 13th in the short program, to placing fifth after the free skate. In the free, she executed a smooth triple axel, but put her hand down after the same jump that caused her unfortunate loss in the short, the triple loop.
On the men’s side, Ilia Malinin was a favorite for gold. Malinin, 21, is called “the Quad God” because he was the first skater to complete a quadruple axel in competition. The jump requires 4.5 rotations in the air and was previously thought to be virtually impossible, but Malinin consistently incorporates all six types of quad jumps into his routines. In the short program, he completed the first backflip since Surya Bonaly in the 1998 Games. The skill was banned from 1977 to 2024, so Bonaly was penalized for the flip, while Malinin was celebrated. Bonaly has since said in an interview with USA Today that Malinin is the “best skater in the whole world.” However, Malinin’s performance in the free skate became one of the most devastating losses for Team USA. He fell twice, in a turn of events that shocked many, including himself. Malinin was not alone, though; over the course of the men’s free skate multiple other skaters fell as well, paving the way for underdog Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan to win gold. There was a great deal of pressure on the most favored skaters, which some suspected was the cause of the disaster.
The ice dance competition was more fruitful, resulting in a silver medal from married couple Madison Chock and Evan Bates. The pair was aiming for gold, since it was to be their final Olympics, but were ousted by Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France. Although they placed second, their skating remained impressive, with creative choreography depicting a matador and bull as they skated to an instrumental version of Paint It Black in the free program. Additionally, Chock has made a name for herself designing costumes for fellow skaters through her company Madison Chock Design.
On other ice, returning speed skater Erin Jackson competed in her third Olympics, competing in the 500 meter, in which she was the defending gold medalist, and the 1000 meter race. This time, she narrowly missed the podium, but was given the unique experience of being a flag bearer at the closing ceremony, along with Bates. An up and coming athlete in the sport was Jordan Stolz of Kewaskum, Wisconsin. At only 21, he competed in six speed skating events, winning gold in the 1000 and 500 and silver in the 1500. Another success came in the form of Mia Manganello Kilburg, who scored the bronze in the women’s mass start with the help of her teammate Greta Myers, who placed twelfth.
This year, America came in tenth for snowboarding, with no golds, one silver, and one bronze. American Jessica Perlmutter made her Olympics debut with snowboard big air, finishing twenty-third, and slopestyle, finishing sixth, at just 16 years old. During slopestyle, her phone fell out of her pocket leaving her headphone wires dangling. Shortly after, on the same run, she crashed upon landing a jump. Some believe that her music cutting off threw her off enough to cause the crash, but she has yet to make a statement on the event.
Chloe Kim is responsible for America’s only silver in snowboarding this year in her event, snowboarding halfpipe. In early January, the 23 year old athlete dislocated her shoulder and tore her labrum while training, which may have been the deciding factor in her failing her attempt to become the first snowboarder to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals in a single event.
Skiing was one of America’s strongest categories in this year’s winter olympics, coming in first for freestyle skiing, with a whopping three gold medals, four silver, and one bronze, for a total of 8 medals. America came in third for alpine skiing, with two gold, and one silver and bronze. Even though it was the team’s weakest skiing event, America still came in fourth for cross-country skiing, with two silvers and one bronze.
One of the most talked about moments in this year’s Olympics was Lindsey Vonn’s catastrophic crash during a run in downhill skiing. In January, Vonn was racing in a World Cup event that left her with a torn ACL, bone bruising, and meniscus damage. Then, in February, she suffered a complex tibial fracture just 13 seconds into the race, forcing her to be airlifted. She underwent surgery immediately to stabilize the fracture, with reports of at least three to four total surgeries. Vonn was described as being in severe pain, unable to stand, and having to skip the rest of the 2026 Winter Games.
Like Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin entered the 2026 games with something difficult to bounce back from. Also known as the most decorated American skier in the history of international championships, Shiffrin returned to Olympic alpine skiing after a disappointing Beijing Games, where she did not finish three of her six events. This year, she was able to achieve redemption when she won gold in the slalom, and her reputation was restored.
Another standout American skier was Mac Forehand, 24, who won silver in men’s big air, a freestyle skiing event. Forehand executed his run with great precision, but was narrowly outscored by Norway’s Tormod Frostad. Alex Ferreira, 31, earned Team USA a gold in the halfpipe, another freeski event. Winning silver and bronze in 2018 and 2022, Ferreira was able to round out his medal collection.
In bobsled, The USA took second with three medals, including Elana Meyers Taylor’s first gold medal. Meyers, the most decorated female bobsledder and Black Winter Olympian, has never quite been able to win gold until the 2026 games. She won by a 0.04 second margin in the Monobob event, making Meyers Taylor the oldest American woman to win a medal at the Winter Olympics.
Curling has not historically been a United States strong suit, but this year a silver medal was earned. Mixed doubles duo Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin of Duluth, Minnesota, scored 6-3 in round robin, and Thiesse, scoring a clutch shot on the last throw of the semifinals, secured the country’s first medal by one point. Thiesse also competed in the women’s event, where she advanced to the semifinals. This was the first time the USA had made it to semifinals since the event was introduced; Thiesse is also the first U.S. woman to win a curling medal.