Other nations are catching up with the US in its traditional strengths such as snowboarding. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing for Americans
In 2002, on home ice and snow in Utah, the USA obliterated its records for most gold medals (10, beating the previous high of six) and most overall medals (34, more than two times the previous high of 13) by the country in a single Winter Olympics.
In 2026, the USA broke that national record for gold medals with 12, and broke the 30-medal mark for the first time outside North America (Norway broke the overall record with 18 golds).
If that stat seems surprising, perhaps it’s because the bulk of those US medals were won by people who are not household names. You won’t see Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart cheering them on US TV. You may not even know their sports.
Sure, some of the athletes drawing the pre-Games hype followed through – Mikaela Shiffrin, Alysa Liu, Jordan Stolz and the men’s and women’s hockey teams among them. Ilia Malinin fell short in his individual event, but we can’t forget that his otherworldly skills nailed down gold in the team event.
