The 25th Winter Olympics, held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, are over – and overall Team USA had a great run. Here are just a few of the key moments.
Chloe Kim is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to women’s snowboarding. Debuting at the 2018 winter Olympics at PyeongChang, she earned her first medal — gold to be exact — and became the youngest woman to win snowboarding gold. The following winter Olympics at Beijing in 2022, Kim once again won gold and was the first female to win consecutive halfpipe gold. Even before her first official Olympic game, she won gold in halfpipe and slopestyle at the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games. She became the first female snowboarder to win back-to-back halfpipe gold medals as her career skyrocketed.
In preparation for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, Kim suffered an injury to her shoulder during her second day of training. She had previously dislocated her shoulder during a different event in December, and then again dislocated it in Switzerland on the halfpipe. Kim revealed she had torn her labrum and needed to rest from snowboarding before taking on the Olympics.
Kim had to wear a brace while competing but it didn’t keep her from performing her hardest against her competition. All eyes were on the young American as her goals were to aim for her third gold in women’s halfpipe. She was able to score a 90.25 in qualifiers that put her first out of all 24 athletes. When it came time for finals, Kim scored an 88 on her first run and crashed on her next two runs, so she won the silver medal. Korea’s Gaon Choi won gold, scoring a 90.25 on her final run, and Japan’s Mitsuki Ono took bronze with a score of 85. Chloe Kim, 25, was and still is a force to be reckoned with, her determination despite an injury only three weeks before the games began is unmatched. She was still able to score high and take home silver for the USA and make her team and country proud.
Quad God struggles
Many may know him as the “Quad God” after he landed all six types of quadruple jumps in a competition. Or they’ve seen him do backflips in his routine after years of the act being banned due to dangers. And Ilia Malinin lives up to all his nicknames and hype when he takes the ice. The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic’s was the debut for the 21-year old, competing in two different Figure Skating Events: Team Event and Men Single Skating.
Japan and the USA were tied as they entered the men’s free skate and all hopes of USA taking home gold was up to Malinin. He was able to nail five quad jumps during his program and scored a 200.03 and earned the 10 points while Japan only earned 9, a one-point difference that won USA the Team Gold.
However, in the single men’s event, Malinin faced more difficulties. He had been undefeated now for 2-plus years in all of his competitions leading up to the Olympics, but it would be here where he faced his first devastating loss. He fell twice and committed multiple errors during his free skate program and earned the score of 156.33 that ranked him 15. During his short program, he scored a 108.16 that ranked him first. His total score was a 264.49 that placed him 8th of the 24 athletes. The pressure on Malinin was weighing on him to make it a double gold in the men’s singles and it left a disappointing loss for him. Ilia Malinin still brought a gold home for USA and he plans to defend his title moving forward as an athlete.
Women unbeatable on the ice…
Team USA Women’s Hockey has been unstoppable since the start of this year’s Olympics. They won their first game against Czechia, 5-1, on February 5 before defeating Finland, 5-0, in their second game two days later. On Feb. 9, they played and beat Switzerland with the same score of 5-0, the next day they scored a 5-0 victory over Canada. Queue “Free Bird” because that’s all the other teams are hearing as the women’s team won 6-0 against Italy on the Feb. 13. Sweden heard Lynyrd Skynyrd’s iconic song a total of five teams for each goal scored against them by Team USA. The final game between the USA and Canada was a nailbiter as Canada scored first in the second period and USA was scoreless until the third period. A smart move made by head coach John Wroblewski to pull their goalie, captain Hillary Knight tied the game with two minutes left and forced the game into overtime. About four minutes into the sudden death overtime, Megan Keller was able to score in the 3-on-3 to win the gold for the USA.
..and so were the men
The Men’s USA Hockey Team faced similar antics as the Women’s team. On February 12, they beat Latvia 5-1, then beat Denmark 6-3, before winning against Germany 5-1 on Feb. 15. In a nail-biting game on Feb. 18, the men beat Sweden 2-1 in overtime thanks to Minnesota Wild player, Quinn Hughes. That victory pushed USA to play Slovakia on Feb. 20 in the semifinals. They beat Slovakia 6-2 to send them to the finals to face Canada just like the women’s team.
USA scored in the first period before Canada answered in the second with a goal. The game was forced into overtime just like the women’s, and like his brother in the game against Sweden, New Jersey Devils player, Jack Hughes, scored the game-winning goal. The final score was 2-1 for both hockey teams in overtime to bring home the gold medals.
Team USA won a total of 33 medals over the 2026 Winter Olympics: 12 medals were gold, 12 silver, and 9 bronze. They surpassed the previous highest amount of gold medals (10) that were earned at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.
The 2026 Winter Olympics was a great year for Team USA, earning the second most number of medals as Norway took home 41.
The next Olympic is the summer games of 2028 in Los Angeles. Thise games will feature many new Olympic sports including flag football, squash, and lacrosse.
