United States Athletes Dominate at Winter 2026 Olympic Games

By Madeline Powell

The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXV Olympic Winter Games, were held across northern Italy, specifically Milan for the opening ceremony and ice sports, along with Cortina d’Ampezzo for skiing and sliding sports. The closing ceremony was held in Arena di Verona. This is the third time in history that the Olympics were hosted in Italy.

The games ran 17 days from February 6 to 22, 2026. However, Ice Hockey and Curling both started their preliminary competitions two days before the official opening on February 4. There are about 2,900 elite-level athletes that competed. The Olympics feature 116 different medal events in 8 sports with 16 different disciplines. 

The Paralympic winter games were held in the same location and took place from March 6 to 15, 2026. This was one of the largest Winter Paralympics in history.  There are only 6 sports across 3 main clusters including Para alpine skiing, Para ice hockey, Wheelchair curling, Para cross-country skiing, Para biathlon, and Para snowboard. There are only 655 athletes competing for 79 medal events.

Norway secured the top position, being followed by the United States and Italy. The single athlete with the most gold medals was Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, a Norwegian cross country skier. He won gold in men’s 10k interval start, men's 4x7.5km relay, men's 50km mass start, men’s skiathlon, men’s sprint, and men’s team sprint. 

Many people enjoy watching different events of the Olympics. Bella DeCeasare, freshman, said "Figure Skating was very entertaining".

While ranking second, the United States still had an incredible performance. In total, athletes brought home 33 medals, including 12 gold medals, 12 silver medals, and 9 copper medals. The event the US performed the best in was freestyle skiing, bringing home 3 gold, 4 silver, and 1 copper medal.

The final men’s ice hockey game was played at 8:10 pm on February 22. The United States won the gold medal men’s ice hockey game against Canada. 2-1. US player, Matt Boldy scored the first goal of the game at exactly 6 minutes in. It was not until about 22 minutes later and the second period where Canadian player, Cale Makar, scored a goal. Neither team scored in the third period, leading to overtime. After just less than 2 minutes in, US player, Jack Hughes, secured American victory by scoring the final goal of the gold medal game, with the end score being 2-1. This was the first ice hockey gold medal for the US since 1980.

The final women’s ice hockey game was played at 1:10 on February 19. The women of the United States also went on to beat the Canadian women in the gold medal ice hockey game. Neither team scored any points until late in the second period where Canadian player, Kristin O’Neill scored a goal for Canada. It was not until near the end of the third period where US player, Hilary Knight tied the game. About 4 minutes into overtime when US player, Megan Keller, scored the final goal of the game. Both the men’s and women’s American ice hockey teams won the gold medal games, marking a truly significant event in history. 

There were also several controversial events that occurred at the 2026 Winter Olympics. There was a cheating accusation in curling when Canada’s Mark Kennedy was accused of “double touching” the stone. This caused rising tensions between Canada and Sweden. Ski jumpers were also accused of using hyaluronic acid injections to manipulate body measurements to allow for more aerodynamic suits.