The 2026 Winter Olympics that started on February 6th took place in both Milan and in Cortina, Italy. The event officially ended on Sunday, February 22nd. If you somehow managed to miss all the late-night streams, Team USA put up one of there best performances ever.
Hockey
One unforgettable moment happened at the men’s ice hockey final! With the US not winning gold since the “Miracle on Ice” in the 80’s, we finally made a comeback after 46 years. On our last day we played against Canada, with stress spiking through the roof. In the 3rd courter we were tied 1 to 1 when Jack Hughes scored the game winner and getting his teeth knocked out! The woman’s team also beat Canada by 2-1 in overtime. With this being the first time Team USA beat Canada in hockey in forever! And at the end of the men’s game they brought out the kids of Johnny Gaudreau, who was a late NHL star who recently passed, to celebrate America’s victory.
New Sports and Mascots
The Olympics finally added a brand new sport called Ski Mountaineering or “Skimo”, which is where someone will begin by hiking up a mountain on skis and then , at the very top, racing all the way down. It looks challenging, but the mixed relay was actually pretty cool to watch and with critics giving the new sport a fair amount of positive reviews. Also, there was an introduction of new mascots, these two ferrets named Tina and Milo. These mascots supposed to represent an “active and proactive” character. The people soon became obsessed with them. With stuffed versions of them flying off the shelves and trying to get your hands on one was as hard as winning a medal.
Moments To Remember
Mikaela Shiffrin: She finally got her redemption and won the Slalom gold medal. And she is now tied for the most Olympic medals ever held by a U.S. woman in the sport of alpine skiing.
Jordan Stolz: He broke an Olympic record in speed skating for both 500m and 1000m, and then walked away with two golds and a silver medal.
Alysa Liu: She made a huge comeback from her retirement in 2022 to win gold for figure skating TWICE in the Woman’s Single and Team Event!
Norway: Even though the US did great with a record 12 golds and 33 medals total, Norway still crushed everyone else with 18 golds and 41 total medals. Their guy Johannes Klaebo won the most with six golds in cross-country skiing.
Hometown History
27 year old, Jake Vedder, who was a student at Pinckney Michigan who graduated back in 2016, started his career at Mount Brighton. He first started by winning gold at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, he then competed for Team USA in the 2026 Olympics for snowboarding and reached the quarter finals and got 11th place overall. With the school showing there support and the crowed of people gathering in the union to watch, this was Vedder’s second appearance in the Olympics with his first being back in the 2022 Beijing Winter games where he placed 6th. He also had lots of support from the Legacy Sports Center Complex.
The closing ceremony was held at the Verona Arena in Italy, which is this massive ancient Roman stadium, where the artist Major Lazer performed, which was a great choice for the end of the once highly anticipated games. Now we wait until 2030 for the next series of Winter Olympics held at the French Alps, but the next Summer Games arrive in LA in 2028.
