This year, it seemed as if everyone was watching the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic games. According to NBC, viewership was up 93% to an average of 26.5 million daily viewers since the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Audiences witnessed the highs and lows of each event, cheering on iconic favorites like Chloe Kim, and newcomers such as Ilia Malinin.
Figure Skating
U.S. Olympic figure skating started off with a bang in the team event earlier this month. Young star Ilia Malinin brought the team to victory in the men’s free skate, scoring a whopping 200.03 points to propel them to the gold. The team, consisting of Malinin, Amber Glenn, Alysa
Liu (singles), Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (pairs), came in first place on Feb. 8. Following the team event, each skater competed in their respective individual categories. One of the more standout moments was during the men’s free skate finals, in which Malinin had a devastating performance, landing him in eighth place. Another heartbreak was when Amber Glenn, who didn’t have the best run in the team event, came in 13th place in the women’s short program. For the main mishap, Glenn was supposed to perform a triple loop jump, falling out of it and doing only a double. Judges ruled this mistake as an invalid element for lack of a required jump. In an interview with The Sporting News, Glenn expressed the reason for her sorrow.
“The devastation yesterday didn’t come from ‘oh, I lost my chance at a medal…’ I was devastated that I lost the happiness and the enjoyment that I wanted to have out there on the ice to say I fought for everything I could…and that’s what I missed out on,” Glenn said.
Singles skaters often retire in their mid-to-late 20s. Glenn, who is 26, was hoping to become one of the oldest medaling skaters. In the same event, 20-year-old Alysa Liu took home the bronze medal in her second Olympics. Later, in the singles rounds of the figure skating competition, Liu skated to victory, securing gold with her performance in the women’s free skate.
Downhill Skiing
Arguably the biggest story to come out of this year’s Olympics is Lindsey Vonn’s career-ending crash. At 41 years old, Vonn was competing in her fifth Olympic games since 2002. Nine days prior to the opening ceremonies, Vonn announced on social media that she had torn her ACL, yet was still deciding to compete despite having a significant injury. On Feb. 8, Vonn crashed just 13 seconds into the women’s downhill event in Cortina d’Ampezzo. She was airlifted off of the mountain, later sharing that she fractured her left tibia in the fall. In the same event on Feb. 8, 30-year-old Breezy Johnson, another member of Team USA, took home the gold medal. Johnson ended with a time of 1:46.10, just four hundredths of a second away from the second-place winner. Three days later, she got engaged on the mountain after finishing her run in the Super-G event. Her now fiancé, Connor Watkins, had a small hint as to where Johnson might’ve wanted to get engaged, Johnson explained in an interview with People magazine.
“[I] may have told him that I just always kind of had the dream of getting engaged at the Olympics,” Johnson said.
Skiing and Snowboarding
On Feb. 12, fan favorite Chloe Kim was beaten out of the gold medal by her own protégé Gaon Choi. The 17-year-old South Korean snowboarder took first place in the women’s halfpipe event, scoring a 90.25, beating Kim’s 88. Kim, who had earned the gold in this event for the past two Olympics, was locked out of a three-peat this year.
Another silver medal was handed out to Connecticut native Mac Forehand. Forehand took home the silver in the men’s freeski big air finals. In his second Winter Olympics, Forehand came second to Norway’s Tormad Frostad, who scored a nearly-perfect 98.50. Many viewers took to social media after, stating that Forehand was ‘robbed’ of the gold due to discrimination in the judges’ scoring during the event. However, in an interview with Yahoo Sports, Forehand disagreed, combating people’s complaints.
“We know so much about our sport. We know what scores well, what should do well. The guys that are out here tonight know what the podium is going to be at all times. People on the outside perspective might not really understand that, but that’s just how it’s going to be…The level of skiing was off the charts today. The way [Frostad] does it, the approach on takeoff is so unique and so different…I wish I could do tricks like that,” Forehand said.
Speed Skating
In his second Winter Olympics at just 21 years old, speed skater Jordan Stolz made huge strides for the U.S.. The Wisconsin native won the gold medal in both the men’s 500-meter and 1000-meter events. Stolz also helped propel U.S. speed skaters to second place in the men’s team pursuit event. The team, consisting of skaters Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman, Conor McDermott-Mostowy, and Stolz took home the silver medal on Feb. 17, falling just short of Italy. The final team, Cepuran, Dawson, and Lehman, fell 4.51 seconds behind Italy in the team pursuit finals, after only having been 0.97 seconds behind in the quarterfinal round. On Feb. 19, Stolz was bested by China’s Ning Zhongyan, who took the gold in the men’s 1500-meter race. After the race, Stolz shared how he felt about winning the silver in an interview with CNN.
“Ning had the race of his life. I didn’t have one of my best, but I am still happy with silver. I have two golds and I was actually really happy that Ning was able to pull it off. I just didn’t quite have the legs,” Stolz said.
Ice Hockey
With the first year of Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) players on the rosters, women’s ice hockey in the Winter Olympics gained a lot of popularity.
Team USA went 7-0 on their run, winning the final game against Canada, who took the victory in 2022. This marked their third medal. In the men’s tournament, Team USA played a riveting game in the quarterfinals against Sweden, winning in overtime after only two goals were scored by either team in regulation. Team U.S.A. faced-off against Slovakia in the semifinals, winning and moving on to play against their biggest rival, Canada. On Feb. 22, the team won against the Canadians, securing the gold medal for the third time, similar to the women’s team. 24-year-old Jack Hughes, brother to National Hockey League veteran Quinn Hughes, scored the game-winning-goal in overtime, just like his brother did in the quarterfinals. This marked the first gold for Team USA since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ game in 1980 against the then Soviet Union. In an interview with ESPN, Jack explained how it felt to him to win for his home country.
“This is all about our country right now. I love the USA. I love my teammates. It’s unbelievable. The USA. hockey brotherhood is so strong…I’m so proud to be an American today,” Hughes said.
Team USA took home a total of 33 medals (twelve gold, twelve silver, nine bronze) in this year’s Winter Olympic Games. However, the story isn’t over in Milano-Cortina yet. The Paralympic Winter Games begin on March 6, the closing ceremony taking place on March 15.
