Our 26 favorite gold-medal moments from the 2026 Milan Cortina games

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VERONA, Italy — Here we are! The 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics have come and gone. We’ve had dominant wins, shocking upsets and you-couldn’t-script-it-if-you-tried podiums. The IOC has handed out 116 sets of gold, silver and bronze medals, with 18 of those golds and 41 overall going to the Winter Games’ near-perpetual winner, Norway.

As the Games wrap up, here’s a look back — in no particular order — at our favorite gold medal moments.

Alysa Liu, new figure skating star

The 20-year individual medal drought for American women. The eyebrow-raising comeback. The absolute joy — not only that she exuded her individuality, but that you couldn’t help but feel while watching. It’s one of those moments, watching live, that you already know will resonate for years.

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, a cross-country sweep

I watched five of Klæbo’s six gold-medal races from the cross-country skiing stadium in Tesero, Italy. What was so impressive about the Norwegian’s Olympic performance was not just that he won six golds, but that there was rarely a moment in any of these races where his status was ever really in question. Sure, someone would push him up a hill here or there — but then, far before the finish, he would make his move, break away, and leave no doubt.

Benjamin Karl, the shirtless snowboarder

Moments after defending his gold in men’s snowboarding parallel giant slalom, becoming the first snowboarder to win four Olympic medals, Austria’s Karl, 40, took his shirt off, roared and promptly dove into the snow.

U.S. women’s hockey, beating Canada in OT

It was only fitting that the gritty, decades-long rivalry between the Canadian and U.S. women’s hockey teams went to overtime. This one had all the elements of a game for the ages. The U.S. was about two minutes away from an upset by Canada. U.S. captain Hilary Knight scored the tying goal to break the U.S. Olympic scoring record and send the game to overtime. Megan Keller’s golden goal clinched it.

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, history for Brazil

With a 0.58-second win in giant slalom, Braathen not only clinched Brazil’s first-ever medal at the Winter Games, but also the first-ever gold for the entire continent of South America. Having come out of retirement at age 23, the Norway-born Braathen, now 25, sank into the snow before dancing to a lively crowd. His face at the finish, mouth open in awe, says it all.

Choi Gaon, taking the torch from Chloe Kim

After South Korea’s Choi (at left in the picture) fell in the snowboard halfpipe, American star Chloe Kim told her, “You can do this, don’t worry about what just happened, you got this, shake it off.” Choi promptly went on to upset her mentor in the event. With silver, Kim, 25, fell short of what would have been a historic three consecutive Olympic golds, but had only praise for the 17-year-old Gaon. Consider the torch passed.

Alessandro Hämmerle, by a nose again

At the 2022 Games, Austria’s Hämmerle beat Canada’s Éliot Grondin for gold by a 0.02-second photo finish. Grondin spent the past four years using that race as motivation. But real life isn’t a heartwarming sports movie, and in 2026, Hämmerle did it again, edging out Grondin by 0.03.

Federica Brignone, the incredible comeback

Nearly a year ago, Italy’s Brignone fractured her leg and tore her ACL during a race at the Italian championships. It wasn’t clear if she would make it back for the Milan Cortina Games. But on home snow, the 35-year-old veteran won gold in both the super-G and giant slalom. They were her fourth and fifth Olympic medals, but her first-ever gold.

Philipp Raimund, ski jump champ with a fear of heights

It would have been a good moment regardless. The favorites posted uninspiring first jumps, and with the men’s normal hill wide open, Germany’s Philipp Raimund went 106.5 meters for gold, to a roaring crowd. Raimund’s win had a little intrigue behind it as his story spread: He has battled a fear of heights and withdrew from a competition in 2025 because of it. A year later, he’s an Olympic champion.

Mikaela Shiffrin, ending her Olympic hex

For a moment, it looked like Shiffrin’s Olympic demons might have followed her from Beijing to Italy. But after crashing three times in six races in Beijing, one of the most decorated Alpine skiers of all time was golden once again, winning the slalom in dominant fashion, 1.50 seconds over second place.

Elana Meyers Taylor, a long-awaited first Olympic gold

Meyers Taylor is the most decorated female bobsledder in the sport’s history, but Olympic gold had eluded her for over a decade. She checked that box at these games, throwing down a track record to win the monobob. After taking the gold, she signed the words “Mommy won” in ASL to her two sons, both of whom are deaf.

Francesca Lollobrigida, a celebration with her son

Another moment for the moms. After winning her gold in the 3,000-meter, Italy’s Lollobrigida answered questions with her son in her arms, who continually interrupted, intent on allowing her to do anything but answer questions. She followed it up days later with gold in the 5,000m.

Breezy Johnson’s gold-medal engagement

Johnson delivered the United States its first medal of the Games, winning gold in an emotional race that saw Lindsey Vonn airlifted off the course after a crash. Days later, her now-fiancé proposed.

Jordan Stolz, arriving on the scene with two golds

Speedskating’s future is here, with the U.S.’s Jordan Stolz winning gold and setting Olympic records in the 1,000-meter and 500-meter races. It didn’t all go as planned for Stolz, who won silver in the 1,500-meter and landed off the podium in fourth in the mass start. However, the 21-year-old lived up to the hype, winning the most American medals in speedskating since 1980.

The Prevc siblings, keeping ski jumping gold in the family

It’s one thing when your country expects gold. It’s another thing when your older brother did it four years ago, and it’s up to the younger siblings to keep it in the family. That’s what Domen (pictured) and Nika Prevc did at the Milan Cortina Games, winning gold for Slovenia in the mixed team normal hill after their older brother, Peter, did it in the mixed team in 2022. While Nika fell just short in the individual events, with silver and bronze, Domen brought home a second gold in the men’s large hill with a huge 141.5m jump.

Martin Fourcade, getting his biathlon gold a decade later

Sixteen years after competing, France’s Martin Fourcade received another gold medal. The delay came as the IOC and the International Biathlon Union spent 15 years investigating the use of performance-enhancing substances by Russia’s biathlon team ahead of the 2010 and 2014 Games. In a ceremony during these Games in Anterselva, Fourcade, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and other big biathlon names received their reallocated medals.

Historic first golds in new events

The IOC touted the Milan Cortina Games as “the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history.” It’s not quite there yet, with women’s Nordic combined still left out of the program. Women ski shorter distances in biathlon, go through fewer gates in slalom and giant slalom and go down a smaller vertical drop in Alpine skiing compared to men.

Still, the 2026 Games did make progress towards gender equality, with women competing in ski jumping’s large hill and cross-country skiing’s 50-kilometer for the first time. Those inaugural crowns went to Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm in ski jumping and Sweden’s Ebba Andersson in cross-country skiing.

Ski mountaineering, welcome to the show

France’s Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet, Switzerland’s Marianne Fatton and Spain’s Oriol Cardona Coll picked up the three golds on offer in ski mountaineering’s Games debut, making them the first-ever Olympic gold medalists in the new discipline.

Canada men’s curling, getting back to the top

The Athletic reporter Matthew Slater’s favorite moment from this match came after Canada beat out Great Britain for gold, when man of the hour Brad Jacobs watched replays of the final. “For a minute or two, he was completely absorbed in what he was watching, even though they were fairly routine moments from the start of the game,” Slater wrote. “Jacobs just loves curling.”

Eileen Gu, repeating as freeski halfpipe champion

Headlines had swirled around Gu the entire Games — about her decision to represent China rather than the United States, over her criticism of the Olympic schedule, over the sheer level of her fame. None of that mattered the morning of halfpipe, when the most decorated women’s freestyle skier won her third medal of the 2026 Games but her first gold, beating out Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin, the reigning world champion.

Norway, sweeping what could be the last Olympic Nordic combined medals

Across three races, Norway’s Jens Lurås Oftebro (pictured, at left) won all three golds on offer in Nordic combined, which includes both ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The last of those came in the team event with Andreas Skoglund (at right), where the pair narrowly beat out Finland in a photo finish through heavy snow. That podium is notable because it could be the last-ever medals handed out at the Olympics in Nordic combined. The IOC is considering cutting the discipline unless it sees increased viewership and a wider range of countries on the podium.

Jens van ‘t Wout, three golds and one with his brother

The Dutch short track speedskater (pictured, at right) had already won two golds when he took the top of the podium with his older brother, Melle van ’t Wout (at left), who returned after nearly two years due to an injury. Jens called the podium a “fairy-tale story.”

Alex Ferreira, a halfpipe gold at long last

After silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022, plus three X Games golds and 10 World Cup wins, the U.S.’s Ferreira finally reached the top of the Olympic podium in men’s freeski halfpipe. He called it the “best moment” of his life and “100 times better than I ever thought it would be.”

Matt Weston, winning two for Team GB

Great Britain’s Matt Weston won not one but two skeleton medals in Cortina, an astonishing feat for an athlete who doesn’t have a home track to practice at. First, he won men’s singles, dominating the competition from the start, and then he and Tabitha Stoeker returned to the Cortina track to win the new mixed team event. That made Weston the first Brit ever to win more than one gold at a single Winter Olympics.

Julia Taubitz, finally getting her Olympic luge gold

Taubitz went into the Games with 15 World Championship medals — eight of them gold — but no Olympic medal. She reached that level at the Milan Cortina games, with gold in women’s luge singles and team relay.

U.S. men’s hockey, golden for the first time since 1980

Forty-six years. That’s how long it had been since the U.S. men’s hockey team won Olympic gold. Since then, teams from Russia, Canada, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic (also known as Czechia) have triumphed, but never the Americans. With pros back in the tournament for the first time since 2014, they delivered a thrilling OT win over Canada in the final event of the Games.

— The Athletic‘s Lindsay Schnell and Zack Pierce contributed to this report.