The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina featured a series of thrilling competitions, dramatic comebacks, and significant medal moments across various disciplines, highlighted by American triumphs, Japanese successes, and notable performances from athletes worldwide.

On Thursday, February 19, 2026, Alysa Liu of the United States clinched the gold medal in women's figure skating, ending a 24-year drought for the U.S. in this event. The 20-year-old performed a near-flawless free skate, scoring a career-best 226.79 points to defeat Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto, who earned silver with 224.90 points, and Ami Nakai, who took bronze with 219.16 points; both Japanese skaters made errors on combination sequences. Liu's victory marked a remarkable comeback after she had retired from the sport following the 2022 Beijing Games. This was her second gold at these Games, having also contributed to the Americans' team gold.

The U.S. women's hockey team delivered an "Olympic comeback for the ages," defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime to secure the gold medal. American captain Hilary Knight forced overtime by tipping in Laila Edwards’ shot with 2:04 left in regulation, leveling the score at 1-1. Megan Keller then scored 4:07 into overtime, sealing the U.S.'s third Olympic gold in women's hockey. This marked the seventh time these two hockey powerhouses met for Olympic gold since women’s hockey debuted at the 1998 Nagano Games, with Canada having won the 2022 Beijing final. Earlier the same day, Alina Muller scored the bronze medal-winning goal for Switzerland in a 2-1 overtime victory against Sweden, twelve years after she secured Switzerland's first Olympic women's hockey medal at the 2014 Sochi Games.

In men's speedskating, U.S. star Jordan Stolz, who had already won gold medals in the 500m and 1,000m at these Games, settled for silver in the 1,500 meters. China’s Ning Zhongyan won Thursday’s race in an Olympic-record time of 1 minute, 41.98 seconds, with the 21-year-old Stolz crossing 0.77 seconds later. Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis, who won the 1,500m at the past two Olympics, took the bronze. Stolz is set to participate in the mass start on Saturday.

Defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu, competing for China, overcame a fall during her opening run in the freeski halfpipe qualifications. The 22-year-old clipped the lip of the halfpipe on her third trick, knocking her left ski off. She rebounded with a pressure-packed second attempt that earned 86.50 points, good enough to place fifth among the 12 skiers who advanced to Saturday’s final.

In women's curling, the United States, skipped by Tabitha Peterson, advanced to the semifinals by beating Switzerland 7-6 in a match that went to an extra end. The teams will square off again in Friday's semifinals. Canada also progressed, defeating South Korea 10-7, and will play Sweden on Friday.

A frightening incident occurred on Friday night at the Milano Ice Skating Arena during the women's 1500m short-track speedskating event. Poland’s Kamila Sellier was immobilized on a stretcher and wheeled out after a competitor’s blade sliced her above her left eye during a fall. The pile-up involved Sellier, 14-time Olympic medalist Arianna Fontana of Italy, and American Kristen Santos-Griswold, who was penalized for an illegal lane pass that contributed to the accident, preventing her from advancing. Sellier gave a thumbs up as she was taken away, leaving a trail of blood on the track. Polish officials stated her eye was fine, and she received stitches before further hospital tests. Fontana's skinsuit was nicked, and she received help for her left hip but continued, finishing second to Hanne Desmet of Belgium to reach the semi-final round, and later narrowly edged Zhang Chutong to advance into the finals. Fontana, the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the 1500m, was attempting to tie Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen as the most decorated Winter Olympian, having already won gold in the 2000m mixed relay and silver in the 500m and 3000m relay earlier in the Milano Cortina Games.

In snowboarding, South Korea's 17-year-old Gaon Choi secured the gold medal in women's halfpipe on Thursday, February 12, 2026, unseating previous Olympic champion Chloe Kim. Choi's victory came after a severe fall during her first run where she slammed hard on the deck, believing her knee was broken. Overcoming this injury and emotional distress, she delivered a gold-medal performance. Choi's journey began at age seven when her father, Inyoung, bought her a snowboard, and she became South Korea's first gold-medal snowboarder, though her victory was not televised live back home. She expressed a desire to show the