Team USA struck gold on the first official day of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics and kept going all the way through the final event. After a respectable showing in PyeongChang that didn’t produce a medal, Breezy Johnson didn’t have the opportunity to even compete in the Olympics in 2022, Johnson badly injured her knee weeks before the Beijing Winter Games, preventing her from going down the slopes.

But she made the extra wait for more than worth it. In her first event of the Milan Cortina Olympics, Johnson won not just her first medal but made it gold by finishing first in women’s downhill. She also delivered the best time in the downhill portion of the women’s team event, and though she didn’t win a medal in that or her final event (super-G), she still ended the Games on the highest of notes when her fiancée, Connor Watkins, popped the question in a heartwarming proposal.

Cross-country skiing is one of just six events that has been contested in every Winter Olympics, dating back to 1924. But despite being one of the most successful nations in the Games, success has almost always eluded the U.S. in the event, especially on the men’s side. Other than Bill Koch’s silver medal in the 30km classic in 1976, the U.S. had been completely kept off the podium.

That was until this year. Competing in his second Olympics, 26-year-old Ben Ogden broke the 50-year drought by securing silver in the men’s cross-country skiing sprint. Ogden finished with a time of 3:40.61, less than a second behind the most decorated Winter Olympian of all-time, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. It was a full circle moment for Ogden, who has skied with Koch before as a fellow Vermont native.

Before the Games were up, Ogden would surpass Koch’s medal count. Ogden and good friend Gus Schumacher also won silver in the men’s team sprint free, once again only trailing a Klaebo-led Norway side. It was a banner performance in a sport the U.S. had been shut out in for far too long.

Curling hasn’t typically been a strong suit of the United States, either. But no one told mixed doubles duo Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin that. The two Duluth, Minnesotans captivated the country with a 6-3 performance in round-robin play. A clutch shot by Thiesse on the last throw of the semifinals secured a one-point win and allowed the U.S. to win its first medal in the event by claiming silver.

Thiesse carried her strong play over to the women’s tournament. The U.S. made the semifinals for just the second time since the event was introduced in 1998 and the first since 2002. Thiesse also became the first U.S. woman to win a curling medal.

An injury is an athlete’s worst nightmare, especially at the Olympics. On the very first official day of competition, Jessie Diggins fell in the women’s skiathlon, bruising her ribs. She told NBC’s Nicole Auerbach that the injury made it hard for her to breathe – a pretty important thing for everyone, but especially an Olympic athlete.

But after previously announcing these would be her final Olympics, Diggins wouldn’t let pain deny her. She made a late rush in the women’s 10km free event to claim bronze, finishing just seconds ahead of a trio of Norwegians. It was a great way to cap a stellar Olympic career for Diggins that included a gold medal in PyeongChang and a silver and bronze medal in Beijing.

Legendary U.S. speed skater Eric Heiden was in attendance during these Olympics, a Games that saw Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo break his record of five gold medals won in one Winter Olympics. But 46 years after he set that record, another U.S. speed skater, Jordan Stolz, came pretty close to approaching his high marks.

After competing in the men’s 1000m and 500m in Beijing but failing to win a medal in either, Stolz took gold in both events to begin his efforts at Milan Cortina. A perfect four-for-four sweep wasn’t quite in the cards, but Stolz did earn another medal by claiming silver in the 1500m. He may not have matched Heiden’s in one go, but he’ll have a shot of reaching his career totals in the French Alps four years from now.

Elana Meyers Taylor was already the most decorated Olympic women’s bobsledder and Black athlete across all sports. But entering Milan Cortina, she still had one big milestone to check off: winning a gold medal.

After winning three silver and two bronze medals across the prior four Winter Olympics, Meyers Taylor reached the top of the podium in thrilling fashion. Her final run in the women’s monobob put her just 0.12 seconds ahead of fellow American Kaillie Humphries. But she still had to watch Germany’s Laura Nolte, who topped the standings through three runs.

In a nail-biting finish, Meyers Taylor won by just 0.04 seconds. When the final time came up, she dropped to the ground in tears and celebrated with her two young sons.

Mikaela Shiffrin’s last Olympics were a nightmare. She skied out in three events and failed to win a medal. “I wanted to just melt off the face of the earth,” she told TODAY in 2022.

But this time, the only melting could come from the snow because of how on fire she was in the women’s slalom. Shiffrin didn’t just win gold, becoming the fourth American to win three Olympic golds in any sport; she absolutely dominated, with the 1.5 second gap between her and second place the largest margin in the event since 1998, set Switzerland’s Verni Schneider, who was the only multi-time women’s slalom winner until Shiffrin joined her.

For the first six games of the Olympics, the United States women’s hockey team was head and shoulders above the competition. The U.S. was perfect in round-robin play and cruised through the quarter and semifinals, outsourcing their opponents 31-1 while posting a record shutout streak of over 300 minutes.

But things didn’t come as easily in the gold medal game. Despite beating Canada 5-0 in the round-robin, the U.S. found themselves trailing 1-0 to their archrivals with less than three minutes in regulation. That’s when captain Hilary Knight came through, scoring her 15th goal and 33rd point with 2:04 left in regulation, setting the U.S. Olympic records in both categories and tying the game.

In overtime, defenseman Megan Keller completed the comeback with a dazzling deke and backhand goal, securing the third U.S. gold medal in women’s Olympic hockey (1998, 2018). Goaltender Aerin Frankel was fantastic with a .980 save percentage and defenseman Caroline Harvey was named tournament MVP.

Not many people say they retired from something at 16 years old. But that was how old was when Alysa Liu made her Olympic debut in Beijing, and also how old she was when she walked away from the sport two months later.

She returned to figure skating two years later, but this time, she did it on her terms. And never was that clearer than after her performance in the women’s singles. With a gold medal already in her pocket, Liu delivered a dazzling effort that moved her from third to first place, where she remained to win her second gold of the Games. And after completing her routine, she made sure to let everyone know how excited she was.

When Mika Zibanejad scored with less than two minutes remaining to tie the USA-Sweden quarterfinal at 1-1, it was a perilous moment for the U.S. men's hockey team. A group regarded as one of the favorites to win their first gold since 1980 was in danger of not even having the chance to play for a medal of any color.

Quinn Hughes had other ideas. The Minnesota Wild defenseman cut to the middle a few minutes into the 3-on-3 session and buried a wrist shot to keep the dreams alive.

Then, in the gold medal game against Canada, a similar situation presented itself. The U.S. took an early 1-0 lead but was dramatically outplayed for most of the game. Canada tied it late in the second period and nearly won it in the third. But Connor Hellebuyck refused to back down. His 41 saves in the gold medal game included a mind-blowing lunge with his stick to rob Canada's Devon Toews and breakaway stops on the tournament's top two point-getters, Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini.

After losing to Canada in overtime in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics gold medal game and in last year's 4 Nations Face-Off final, the U.S. once again would not be denied. This time, it was Jack Hughes, Quinn's brother, who received a cross-ice pass and slid the puck into the back of the net, sending sticks and gloves flying and creating a memory that will endure forever. After all, that's what the Olympics are all about.