Noah Fries | staff writer

The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics continued this week, with the games rapidly coming to a close on Feb. 22 with the closing ceremony. More than 20 gold medals are still up for grabs, including both hockey golds.

Norway has continued to be dominant in the medal count, leading the Games with 15 gold medals and 33 medals overall. Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo took home five gold medals on his own, becoming the first athlete in 46 years to achieve such a feat.

Klæbo has the chance to become the first person to ever win six gold medals in one Winter Olympic Games in the “Marathon on Snow” on Feb. 21.

The United States women’s hockey team continued their dominance over the last week with a 6-0 win over Italy in the quarterfinals and a 5-0 win in the semifinals against Sweden. The women’s hockey team is now outscoring opponents 31-1 and have scored at least five goals in every game

The current shutout streak for the USA women’s team is 331:23, having not let up a goal since the opening round against Czechia. This shutout streak is the longest in both men’s and women’s Olympic history.

Women’s hockey will have either Canada or the United States as its gold medalist once again, as no other team has won gold since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998. Team USA will be an overwhelming favorite in the gold medal match on Feb. 19 after beating Canada 5-0 in the preliminary round.

“Knowing the pressure of that moment, the energy in the building, it’s going to be different,” Team USA forward Kendall Coyne Schofield said to ESPN. “But really, it’s just about emptying the tank. Whatever you have left. It’s a long tournament, just empty it. Go out there and give it your best. That’s all you can do.”
 

The United States men’s hockey team won all three of their matchups this past week, tallying wins against Latvia, Denmark and Germany to win its preliminary group and obtain a bye into the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinal proved to be a test, though. Sweden matched every attack from Team USA, sending the game to overtime knotted 1-1. Defesemen Quinn Hughes netted the winning goal for the U.S., sending the stars and stripes to the semifnals versus Slovakia.

“Our goal coming in was to go 3-0 in group play, check that box, and move on,” U.S. captain Auston Matthews said to NBC. “So, we accomplished that, and we got a lot more to accomplish now.”

Matthews currently leads the team in points with five, tied with forward Matthew Tkachuk. 2024-25 NHL MVP Connor Hellebuyck continued his dominance in the Team USA sweater, tallying a .952 save percentage and 1.00 goals-against average.

“He’s one of the best goalies in the world,” U.S. forward Matt Boldy said to the Associated Press. “He’s confident. He wants to be in the net. He wants to make the saves and to make a big difference.”

In the slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin silenced the doubters by winning her another gold medal on Feb. 18. Shiffrin is the only American ever to win three Olympic golds in Alpine skiing, with this gold medal coming in dominant fashion — winning by the third-largest margin of victory in a women’s Olympic slalom.

After becoming the youngest slalom champion at the Olympics in Sochi in 2014, Shiffrin became an Olympic champion again in 2026 at 30-years-old.

“I’ve been very grateful to the team,” Shiffrin said in an interview with ESPN, “to my coaches and everyone around me who helped me focus on the thing that’s most meaningful, which is strong skiing, strong turns — just proper skiing. And that’s what I got to do today.”

In likely the most moving story from the last week, United States bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor won her first Olympic gold medal in the monobob on Feb. 16. The 41-year-old mother of two, who had her career derailed by a number of concussions, became the oldest American woman to win gold at the Winter Games.

After three silver and two bronze medals in her career coming into the 2026 Games, Meyers Taylor solidified her status as the most decorated Black athlete at a Winter Olympics ever with her first gold.

Meyers Taylor came from behind in the final run, coming back from being 0.15 seconds behind Germany’s Laura Nolte — who led after the first, second and third runs in the event.

Her sixth medal overall also tied Bonnie Blair, a speed skater known for the Games in the late 1980s and early 1990s, for the most ever by a U.S. woman in the Winter Olympics.

“To have my name up there with Bonnie Blair, it doesn’t even make sense to me,” Meyers Taylor said. “I didn’t need [the gold], but I wanted it.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu