The 2026 Winter Olympics was hosted in Milan and Cortina, Italy. It brought together more than 2,500 winter athletes from over 80 countries to compete in the spirit of international heritage and sport. The games, began on Feb. 6 and ran through Feb. 22. It featured 16 sports, providing medals for the winners. For team USA, the Olympics represented both a sporting stage and a moment of national pride. More than 200 athletes on the U.S. team competed in events ranging from alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, the debut of ski mountaineering and many other sports.
Held every four years, this year’s Olympic games was the first in history to be officially co-hosted by two major cities. This structure made the Milano Cortina games the most widespread games in Olympic history, spanning nearly 8,500 square miles as stated by CBS. According to CBS News, the two cities are separated by about 250 miles, making it about a five-hour drive for people attending.
The setup was a deliberate move made by the Olympics Committee to move toward sustainability. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the games emphasized sustainability by using existing infrastructure, with eleven out of the thirteen competition venues having already existed or set-up temporary. One of the most impactful ways this was done was by using the abandoned Porta Romana railway yard. During the games, this structure served as the Olympic Village in Milan, providing a communal home for the athletes. Following the end of the Olympic Games, this place will not go to waste. The IOC had stated that the space is planning to be converted into 1,700 units of much-needed student housing. The only major new structure made was a 16,000-seat ice hockey stadium, built to serve the growing interest in winter sports for the future.
While Italy focused on building a sustainable legacy, American athletes were busy building a competitive one, with major contributions coming from the Pacific Northwest. While states like Alaska and Colorado led the board in terms of medals, Washington state has also played a part in the winter Olympics and aided in the medals collected for Team USA. Team USA collected 33 medals, with nine bronze, twelve silver, and twelve gold medals. The most medals collected were in freestyle skiing, speed skating and alpine skiing. Team USA has earned second place overall in medal standings, behind Norway, making this year a U.S. record for most gold medals obtained as mentioned by NPR.
According to Axios Seattle, competitors with ties to the Puget Sound region participated in several sports such as hockey and speed skating. The Seattle Hockey community is well represented on the national stage. Hilary Knight, captain of the U.S. women’s hockey team, plays for Seattle’s hockey league on the Seattle Kraken. During the competition in Milan, Knight continued to break records, tying for most career Olympic goals in U.S. women’s hockey history. Joining her on the same team are her Seattle teammates, Alex Carpenter, Hannah Bilka and Cayla Barnes. Additionally, two of her other teammates, Julia Gosling and Aneta Tejralová, represented their home countries, on team Canada and Czechia respectively. As for men’s hockey, there were two Seattle Kraken players who represented Finland, Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen. Philipp Grubauer competed for Germany and Oscar Fisker Molgaard for Denmark.
As for other WA athletes, Novie McCabe is from Winthrop and competed in cross-country skiing. Teammates Ben Richardson from Issaquah and Luc Violette from Granite Falls both competed in the men’s curling event. Speed skating athletes included Washington natives Eunice Lee, who attended high school in Bellevue, and Corinne Stoddard grew up in Federal Way, competing in short-track events. On the men’s speed skating team, Cooper McLeod, from Mount Vernon, raced in both the 500 meter and 1,000 meter long-track events.
Washington state contributed to the team U.S. success. Western Washington University alum Breezy Johnson won gold in women’s downhill skiing, earning the U.S. first medal of the 2026 games, according to Axios Seattle. The road to gold wasn’t without disruptions; this was Johnson’s first Olympic games despite their qualification for the 2022 Beijing Olympics due to a knee injury that sidelined her weeks prior.
Anna Gibson, a University of Washington alum, also represented Team USA in the ski mountaineering event. Gibson, a former multi-sport athlete who competed in track, cross-country and Nordic skiing at UW, moved to ski mountaineering which helped qualify the United States for the Olympics debut of the sport by winning a World Cup mixed relay event with teammate Cam Smith. Her appearance in the Olympics marked a great accomplishment for both the national team and the Husky community.
Whether winning gold or making a debut, these athletes shared an experience that extended their specific events. The Olympic Village also added another layer to the experience. According to NPR, athletes residing there have described the village as both highly structured and communal. Shared dining halls and recreation spaces brought people together, no matter where they were from. For many first-time Olympians, the experience was just as memorable as the competition itself. As stated by the International Committee, the games were designed to inspire the next generation, showing that sports can bring people together even with the countless events occurring around the world.
For Washingtonians, the games have been a point of immense pride, watching local names like Breezy Johnson and Hilary Knight stand on national stage. By making use of 8,500 square miles of existing infrastructure and housing on long-term community benefits like student housing, Italy has set an example for other hosting nations. Even though the 2026 Winter Olympics is over, the legacy of the Milano Cortina games isn’t measured in gold medals, but in the precedent it sets for future hosts of the Olympics.
Leave a Reply