The 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted in Milan Cortina, Italy, were filled with incredible feats of strength, determination, and perseverance. From Feb. 4 to Feb. 22, homes across the globe were filled with the Olympics broadcast on many news channels with events each day. With nine Olympic records broken, athletes who pushed through injuries to compete, and underdogs who defeated decade-long rivalries, this Olympics was one for the history books.
The most significant addition for 2026 was the ski mountaineering, also known as skimo, event. This is the first brand-new sport added to the Winter Olympic Games in 24 years, and it focuses on endurance and speed in a three-part race format. Athletes begin by skiing up steep slopes using “skins” (grippy strips on the bottom of their skis), then transition to backpacking where they carry their skis on foot up a set of snow stairs until finally racing downhill to the finish. The three first-ever skimo gold medalists were Marianne Fatton of Switzerland, who battled with France’s Emily Harrop in the women’s sprint; Oriol Cardona Coll in the men’s sprint, taking home Spain’s first Winter Olympic gold medal in 54 years (or in other terms 14 Olympic games); and France’s Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet, winning the mixed relay through their in-sync teamwork in transition.
The 15 other disciplines (sports) still remained, some with new events; alpine skiing (men’s and women’s team combined scoring replacing individual), biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing (men and women now race equal distances), curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing (men’s and women’s dual mogul head-to-head racing), ice hockey, luge (women’s doubles), Nordic combined, short-track speed skating, skeleton (mixed-team relay), ski jumping (women’s large-hill individual), snowboard, and speed skating.
Grit, perseverance, and determination are some character traits essential to becoming an Olympic athlete, and this year’s games had countless athletes proving these descriptions true. Medical advice was just a suggestion to athletes as many competed with injuries that could knock the average person out from sports for months or even permanently. Mark McMorris of Canada faced a debilitating crash in a practice just two weeks before his competition date, where he suffered a concussion, bruised pelvic bone, and strained abdominal muscles. In the past, McMorris has broken over 20 bones, with his most devastating incident being in 2017 where he broke 17 bones across his jaw, left arm, pelvis, and ribs in a near fatal backcountry tree crash. Despite all these injuries, McMorris pushed through with bravery to compete in the snowboarding slopestyle event, and while the 2026 games were his first time in his Olympic career to not place on the podium, McMorris said he was still proud to compete. In a Feb. 19 Saskatoon StarPhoenix article (thestarphoenix.com), McMorris explained to reporters post his performance, “For my career, 90 percent of the events, the big events, have always gone my way. This not being one of them, it’s really tough…I’m feeling pretty beat up, mentally and physically, but I’m proud of my efforts…In sports, it doesn’t always go your way.”
Team U.S.A. had many notable athletes facing setbacks; some most notable are Mikaela Shiffrin, Chloe Kim, and Ollie Martin, all of whom also suffered serious injuries just weeks before the games but defied medical odds and demonstrated the grit that American athletes are made of. Perhaps the most inspiring of all is American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, who had one of the most compelling storylines at this year’s Olympics. Forty-one-year-old Vonn came out of her previous 2019 retirement to compete with a partial knee replacement on the Cortina d’Ampezzo course, a venue that she had already won 12 times on. This year also cemented Vonn as the first American female skier to participate in five winter Olympics. However, just a mere nine days before the Olympics kicked off, she ruptured her ACL in a practice run crash. Her unshakable mindset and determination led her to still compete without an ACL in her left knee. Unfortunately, despite good runs leading up to her event and her familiarity with the course, she suffered another crash in her downhill ski race just 13 seconds in. She was airlifted off the mountain, suffered a complex tibia fracture, and needed an emergency fasciotomy to save her leg from amputation. As this will mark the end of her Olympic career for good, she still boasts an incredible tale of persistence and success with three Olympic medals, 84 World Cup Wins, 20 Crystal Globes, and eight World Championship Medals.
One of the most groundbreaking performances of the entire games was done by the U.S. men’s hockey team in their victory against Canada in a 2-1 overtime game, which broke their 46-year drought of a gold medal. In the big return of allowing NHL players to compete, which has been prohibited since 2014, the United States was finally able to prove its talent. In their last win, American college amateurs competed against Soviet Union professionals, and defeated them in a game that became known as the “Miracle on Ice.” On Feb. 22, 2026, the same day as their legendary 1980 victory, the U.S. was able to have a true “best-on-best” competition and came out on top for the first time in history with professionals. The American athletes demonstrated dedication and gave everything they could for the win; U.S.A.’s Jack Hughes lost two teeth after a high stick to the face in the late third period, yet he stayed in the game and scored the game winner for the U.S. Senior Payton Linneman expressed admiration for the game, and said, “Watching U.S.A. versus Canada was one of the most entertaining Olympic finals for both the men’s and women’s teams. Both teams played with passion and determination to win, and the tribute the U.S.A. men’s team made to the late Johnny Gaudreau was especially heartwarming. Zach Werenski’s ability to hold the puck under pressure from Nathan MacKinnon, followed by the overtime pass to Jack Hughes to end the game made for an unforgettable ending to an already amazing story.” The women’s side for the U.S. reciprocated the same energy in their defeat of Canada in the same fashion of a 2-1 overtime victory.
Figure skating also offered historic moments: Alysa Liu won gold in women’s singles skating, ending the 24-year dry spell for the U.S., being the first American win since 2002. Freshman Sofia Soroka expressed, “Alysa Liu was amazing to watch, and I was really impressed with her skating. After coming out of retirement a couple years back, it is incredible to see her flourish now.” On the men’s side, Mikhail Shaidorov won gold and successfully secured the first ever skating title for Kazakhstan.
The ultimate winner of the 2026 Winter Olympics was Norway, who dominated with 41 total medals: 18 golds, 12 silvers, and 11 bronzes. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was the star for the country, having a six-for-six sweep winning gold in every event he entered. This string of victories successfully set him as the new Olympic record holder, beating the five-medal record set in 1980 by American speed skater Eric Heiden.
For an event as large as the Olympics, extensive preparation is needed for it to succeed. While competition only lasts two weeks, the host country undergoes a 7-10 year project, through constructing venues, coordinating athlete transport, and organizing schedules, staff, and competitors. The event is very detailed, orientated, and a perfect example of this is the Olympic curling stone. According to the Feb. 18 Travel Pirates article entitled, “The Tiny Scottish Island Behind Olympic Curling Stones”, the only source of the Olympic standard curling stone is from an uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland known as Aisla Craig. The granite used to create the stones is only harvested every 7-10 years to preserve the environment, but a single stone can last for over 50 years with proper care. There are only about 15 people who create the Olympic stones, and a single stone is priced at approximately $1,000. Junior Javier Casimir saw the stones in use as he traveled to Italy to watch the Olympic Curling matches; he commented, “The Italy experience was amazing; they announced everything in Italian and English, and the atmosphere was absolutely crazy overall.”
The Olympics are a great reminder to many that hard work, persistence, and determination can help one accomplish anything.
