The Olympic Winter Games opened in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo with three exhilarating weeks of competition across northern Italy in February. For the first time, two cities hosted the games, which featured fan-favorite events such as alpine skiing, bobsled, curling, figure skating, hockey and snowboarding. A total of 2,800 athletes competed in 116 events, with American stars Lindsey Vonn, Alysa Liu, Ilia Malinin, Mikaela Shiffrin and the men’s and women’s hockey team headlining Team USA’s pursuit of the podium.
The opening ceremony was held at San Siro Stadium, featuring various celebrations linked to Milan and Cortina. The show included performances from Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli and Laura Pausini. However, some of the celebratory moments were overlooked by protests regarding political issues unfolding in several countries.
Many athletes always find themselves back at the Games, including Vonn. Just nine days before heading to Italy, Vonn announced that she would be skiing on a torn ACL. Vonn, a four-time World Cup overall champion and Olympic gold medalist, is making her one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time. This year, she was attempting to become the oldest alpine skier to take home the gold medal. But, her story fell short when Vonn hooked the fourth gate with her right arm, sending her spinning into the snow on Feb. 8. She was airlifted and later diagnosed with a complex tibial fracture.
Shiffrin, another alpine skier, returned to the top of the podium after a time of 1:39.10, taking home the gold for the U.S. Shiffrin rebounded from a disappointing performance at the 2022 Games to win gold.
On the ice, figure skater Liu delivered a stellar performance after taking a two-year break. She attended the Olympics, putting no pressure on herself and taking pleasure in the experience. She took home gold in the women’s individual skating event, becoming the first U.S. female to win in her event since 2002. Liu became the youngest U.S. women’s champion at 13, retired at 16 and then returned to the ice at 18.
Figure skater Malinin, however, his time on the ice was disappointing when he fell twice amid overwhelming nerves and pressure. Behind the scenes, Malinin has been open about his struggles with mental health. Many fans grew concerned after seeing his recent social media posts and the mental health-related content he interacts with online. What was expected to be a gold medal performance instead turned into a nightmare for Malinin.
USA Hockey completed a sweep of the gold medals, with both men’s and women’s teams defeating Canada 2-1 in thrilling overtime gold medal games. This is the first time the United States has swept both hockey golds at a single Olympics. The men secured their first gold since 1980 with Jack Hughes’ overtime winner and stellar goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck. Laila Edwards and Hilary Knight led the women’s team, outscoring opponents 33-2.
In terms of overall medal tallies, Norway took home the most medals, finishing with 41 total medals, of which 18 were gold. Team USA finished second with 33 medals, setting a new record of 12 gold medals for their best-ever performance. 15 countries finished with only one medal, including Brazil, Estonia and Kazakhstan. As the Games adjourn in Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo, the summer games head to the United States in 2028 for thrilling action in Los Angeles.
