Johannes Høsflot Klæbo didn’t just win at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The Norwegian cross-country skier owned them. Six gold medals. More podium trips than the entire Great Britain team. One viral clip shows him sprinting uphill at a six-minute-mile pace on skis. “The final climb for gold No 6 was frightening,” says Billy Munday. Klæbo’s historic sweep of the men’s cross-country program broke the record for most golds at a single Winter Games. “In what universe could it not be Johannes Høsflot Klæbo?” asks Bryan Armen Graham. For star power, it’s unanimous.
Matt Weston delivered Britain’s first gold under intense pressure. “Midway through Matt Weston’s run in the mixed team skeleton relay, right before we all realised he really is quick enough to make up the full three-tenths of a second GB needed to win their third gold medal,” recalls Andy Bull. Lizzy Yarnold calls it “so well deserved.” Weston fought hard, with emotions raw post-victory. Tom Jenkins labels him “a master of a crazy sport.” But heartbreak struck elsewhere. Freya Tarbit and Marcus Wyatt took fourth in skeleton relay. “The sense of almost getting that medal, the sadness was so visible,” Yarnold notes. Kirsty Muir faced double fourth-place finishes in freeski. Sean Ingle calls it “harsh,” especially after Italian Flora Tabanelli landed a miraculous final trick despite a torn ACL.
Marc Kennedy’s curling outburst became instant legend. The Canadian curler told the Swedish team to “fuck off” after cheating accusations. “I’m not sure he enjoyed hearing the boos he got during the rest of the competition, but everyone else enjoyed giving them,” Bull observes. Yara El-Shaboury highlights the drama’s fallout: memes, TikTok edits, and Canada’s men “booping” their way to gold. Billy Munday adds, “Without condoning violence, it was a shame the sweary curling spat between Canada and Sweden’s men did not descend into an ice hockey-style fistfight on the rink.”
Eileen Gu grabbed three more medals, dividing opinion but dominating chatter. “She divides opinion, to put it mildly, but she won three more medals and had everyone talking about her, including JD Vance,” Ingle states. Alysa Liu’s gold-medal embrace with Japan’s Ami Nakai brought tears. “I’m not crying, you’re crying,” Graham quips. Japan’s figure skaters Riku Miura and Ryūichi Kihara—”RikuRyū”—earned a stunning free skate gold. Runner-up Mikhail Shaidorov dressed as a panda in the gala. “Indeed, put the whole gala in there,” Ingle suggests.
Vladyslav Heraskevych, the Ukrainian skeleton racer banned for wearing a “helmet of memory,” became a symbol. “He probably achieved more by being banned by the IOC than he ever would have done if he had actually competed,” Jenkins argues. Elana Meyers Taylor, at 41, became the oldest Winter Olympic champion in an individual event, winning monobob gold in her fifth Games. She used sign language to tell her deaf sons. “A win for Black athletes, mothers and the deaf and Down’s syndrome communities,” Graham notes.
Jamaican bobsleigh fielded three sleds, matching their 2022 record. “Having many different countries competing together is important,” Yarnold applauds. Haiti’s alpine skier Richardson Viano celebrated with hot dance moves after a tough slalom. Snow cross and ski cross delivered head-to-head racing, daring jumps, and photo finishes. “And then we forget it exists for four years,” El-Shaboury jokes. Drones captured speed and drama across sports.
Kirsty Muir, with two fourth-place finishes, is tipped for France 2030. “Surely the heartbreak of her two fourth-placed finishes at these games will give her all the impetus she needs to finally win a medal in the French Alps,” Jenkins predicts. Japan’s Mao Shimada, a three-time world junior champion, missed Milano Cortina due to age rules. Canada’s Macklin Celebrini, 19, notched five goals and five assists in six ice hockey games. Albania’s Lara Colturi, daughter of champion Daniela Ceccarelli, could win her country’s first Winter medal. “I’ll wager she’ll win Albania’s first ever Winter Olympic medal,” Bull bets.
Women’s Nordic combined remains the last Olympic discipline without gender equality. “A must,” El-Shaboury insists. Synchronized skating offers artistry. Ice cross downhill—snowboard cross on skates in a walled track—gains traction. “Essentially snowboard cross on skates inside a walled track with sharp turns and steep drops,” Graham describes. Yukigassen, Japanese snowball fighting, is an organized sport with world championships. Cyclo-cross and snow volleyball are also in the mix.
The Games’ sprawling footprint, likened to New York and Pittsburgh, clashed with sustainability goals. “Biodegradable cutlery and electric cars don’t count for much when you’re also draining rivers, felling trees and gouging out mountains,” Bull criticizes. Empty seats at San Siro’s opening ceremony and absent athletes marred the start. The IOC’s political expression struggles drew fire. “Caught between its neutrality charter and the reality that athletes represent countries and carry histories, conflicts and identities on to the ice,” El-Shaboury explains.
In three words: “Joyful, ambitious, impressive” (Yarnold), “Exhilarating. Newsy. Fun” (Ingle), “Amusing, exhilarating, exhausting” (Bull), “Johannes Høsflot Klæbo” (El-Shaboury), “Scenic, scattered, spectacular” (Graham), “Widespread, wonderful, wacky” (Jenkins), “Never too old” (Munday). Stats tell the tale: Klæbo’s six golds, Weston’s clutch three-tenths, Gu’s three medals. The future? Muir’s fire, Shimada’s rise, ice cross’s thrill. Milano Cortina 2026 mixed brilliance with controversy, setting the stage for France 2030.
