With a spectacular 2-1 overtime victory against Canada in the men’s hockey final, the United States set a record with 12 gold medals here at Milan Cortina 2026, the most ever won at a Winter Olympic Games. He added 33 medals in total, which places him in second place in the overall medal table.
So was this the United States’ best performance at a Winter Olympics?
That depends on how you look at it. But in almost every respect except the obvious raw number, the answer is no. And in some ways, it wasn’t even close.
Why do we write this?
The United States finished second in gold medals and overall at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. But comparing this team to the past is complicated by how much the Winter Olympics have changed.
The key point is that the Winter Olympics are expanding dramatically. Since 1992, when the current trend of adding sports and events really began, the number of gold medals and total medals awarded has more than doubled (from 57 to 116 golds; and from 171 to 349 medals in total).
This leads to a lot of apples to oranges comparisons.
The United States could have won the most golds in its history this year. But by one measure, the United States did much better in 1952, for example, when it won only four golds. This is because in 1952 only 22 golds were awarded, meaning that the United States won 18% of them. Here he won 10%.
The best way to think about this might be to divide the Winter Olympics into three distinct eras:
- The Early Era (1924 to 1960), when the Games were slowly growing and finding their place.
- The Flat Era (1964 to 1988), when the number of events barely changed.
- The Modern Era (1992 to the present), when the number of events has expanded significantly.
As measured by the Modern Era, the United States did better than usual, winning 10.3% of the golds and 9.5% of the medals overall. The highlight of the Modern Era was the 2002 Salt Lake Games, when the United States won 10 golds (12.5%) and 34 total medals (14.5%).
The record for overall medals won by the United States in a Winter Olympic Games was set at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with 37 (that was 14.3% of the total medals awarded).
It’s safe to say that the United States will never improve on the six golds and 12 total medals it won at the 1932 Lake Placid Games. Only 14 golds and 42 total medals were awarded, meaning an equivalent effort this year would have seen the United States win 50 golds and 99 total medals.
And the worst US Winter Olympics?
An argument could be made for 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria, or 1968 in Grenoble, France, where the United States won only one gold medal. But many point to the 1988 Calgary Games, where the United States won only six of 138 total medals, by far the all-time low: 4.3%. At least he won two iconic golds, thanks to figure skater Brian Boitano and speed skater Bonnie Blair.
This year Norway was the undisputed champion of the Winter Olympic Games. He easily won gold (18) and the overall medal count (41) doing what he does best: dominating traditional sports. Only two of his medals come from “modern” sports added since 1992 (two golds in freestyle skiing).
Norway mainly enjoyed cross-country skiing and biathlon, where it won 25 medals, 10 gold. Of course, it helps when Johannes Høsflot Klæbo wins six golds alone, a new Winter Olympic record.
It also helps that Russia wasn’t here. Russia has been the greatest “anti-modern” winter sports power. With the notable exception of 2014, when it hosted the Sochi Games, it has never won a gold medal in any sport introduced since 1992.
The United States, Canada and Japan have been the most successful “hybrid powers,” combining success in both traditional and modern sports. But this year was a setback for the US.
In two of the last three Winter Olympics, more than half of the United States’ total medals (and two-thirds of its golds) were won in modern sports. This year, only three of his 12 golds came from modern sports and 12 of his 33 overall medals. That made this the most “traditional” American medal table of the Modern Era.
Other curiosities of the medal table:
• Italy broke its Winter Olympic medal records with 10 golds and 30 medals. This is not uncommon in host countries, which typically spend more on Olympic sports in the years leading up to the home Games. However, as a percentage of total gold and total medals, this year it still ranks second only to the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, when Italy won seven golds and 20 medals in total.
• As usual, the Netherlands won its 20 medals in speed skating: 13 in long track, seven in short track. Seven was an all-time record for Dutch short track skaters. Until 2010, the Netherlands had never won a short track medal.
• The other notably dominant country in one area was Germany, which won 19 of its 26 medals in sliding, including six in skeleton, five in luge and eight in luge. He swept the podium in the two-man bobsled and won gold and silver in the four-man and two-woman bobsled.
• One of the reasons the International Olympic Committee began introducing modern sports was to give more nations the opportunity to win medals. This certainly applies to South Korea. Her 10 medals were for sports introduced since 1992: seven for short track speed skating and three for snowboarding. Australia (six) and Great Britain (five) also won all of their medals in modern sports, while 12 of China’s 15 medals came from modern sports.
• Spain won the three medals in mountain skiing, which debuted here.
• Brazil won its first medal at the Winter Olympics with gold in the men’s giant slalom. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was born in Norway to a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mother and spent his childhood in both countries. It was the first medal for any South American country.
• A Russian athlete, Nikita Filippov, medaled here, taking silver in the men’s ski mountaineering sprint. He was one of 13 Russian men and women in Milan Cortina classified as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN). They were approved by a special IOC board that ensured the athletes had no ties to the Russian military and did not support the Ukrainian war.
• The United States won the most silvers (12). Italy was this year’s bronze medal champion, with 14; Japan was close behind with 12. As a sign of its dominance, Norway tied the United States for the most silvers (12) and earned third place bronze (11).
• Twenty-nine nations won medals, one fewer than the record 30 in 2018.
