GO-lympics Recap: Women Athletes Dominated The 2026 Winter Games
8 of the 12 gold medals that Team USA won were won by women.
Featured Image: Gold medalist Alysa Liu. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images.
Women Won Almost Two-Thirds of Team USA’s Medals
If you felt like you saw a lot more women on Team USA taking home medals than men, you weren’t wrong. The final medal count showed that women accounted for 63.6% of all American medals. Not only that, 8 of the 12 gold medals that Team USA won were won by women.
Team USA Women Take The Ice Hockey Gold in Overtime
After an incredible run, the US Women’s Ice Hockey team took down Canada 2-1 in a thrilling game that went into overtime. Team USA has appeared in all but one gold medal match since women’s hockey made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano Games. Every gold medal game has been against Canada, but the Americans have won twice (this is the third).
Hilary Knight became the most decorated ice hockey player in US Olympic history with 5 medals and the all-time leader in Olympic goals with 15 (she also proposed to Speed Skater Brittany Bowen last week!). Lalia Edwards became the first Black American to medal in Olympic ice hockey. This game also set the record for the most-watched women’s hockey game. The game averaged 5.3 million viewers and peaked at 7.7 million viewers in overtime. We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: EVERYONE WATCHES WOMEN’S SPORTS!
Eileen Gu Is The Most Decorated Freestyle Skier
Eileen Gu, a Chinese-American competing for China, became the most decorated freestyle skier in Olympic history by winning two silver medals and a gold medal during the Milan-Cortina games. During a press conference after winning her two silver medals, a male reporter asked her, “Do you see these as two silvers gained or two golds lost?”
“I am the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that is an answer in and of itself,” she laughed.
“How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every athlete,” she added. “Doing it five times is exponentially harder, because every medal is equally hard for me, but everybody else’s expectations rise, right? And so the two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think it’s kind of a ridiculous perspective to take.”
Mikaela Shiffrin Is Now the Most-Decorated Alpine Skier of All Time
Mikaela Shiffrin earned gold in the women’s slalom, 12 years making history as the youngest slalom gold medalist in Olympic history. This gold makes Shiffrin a three-time Olympic gold medalist, a four-time Olympic medalist, an eight-time World Championships gold medalist (including four titles in slalom), a five-time overall World Cup champion, and a nine-time winner of the World Cup slalom title.
Connie Stoddard Medals in Short Track Speed Skating After Falling 4 Times
After falling 4 times in three events, Connie Stoddard won the first Olympic medal by an American woman short track speed skater since 2010. She took to Instagram following her falls, saying, “This whole experience has been incredibly unfortunate, and I feel embarrassed by how many times I’ve crashed, especially since I’m not an athlete who’s known for falling often. I also feel embarrassed by how much I’ve choked on the Olympic stage over and over again. This isn’t what I planned to show the world I was capable of.” She is taking home a bronze medal in the 1500M, hopefully holding her head high.
Mia Manganello Wins the First US Olympic Medal in Speed Skating Mass Start
Mia Manganello won her second Olympic medal, which also happens to be the first time an American has won a medal in the speed skating mass start event. It was the final race of her career, so talk about going out on top!
Team USA’s Alysa Liu Wins Gold and the World’s Hearts
Alysa Liu retired at age 16, but after returning two years later, she came back to the Olympics and won gold in the Free Skate event. The last time an American woman won gold, Liu hadn’t even been born ( it was Sarah Hughes in 2002).
Hilary Knight is Flag Bearer in Closing Ceremony
There are very few people who had a better Olympic Games than Hilary Knight. She made history, won gold, got engaged, and to top it all off, she was chosen to be the Flag Bearer at the closing ceremonies. Ugh, do the Olympics have to be over already?!
