Winter Olympics medal table: With 12 golds, was this the best U.S. team ever?
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Mark Sappenfield Senior global correspondent
| Milan
With a dramatic overtime 2-1 win against Canada in the men鈥檚 hockey final, the United States set a record with 12 gold medals here in Milan Cortina 2026, its most ever in a Winter Olympics. It added 33 total medals, good for second in the overall medal table.
So was this the best U.S. performance in a Winter Olympics ever?
That depends on how you look at it. But by almost every measure except the obvious raw number, the answer is no. And in some ways, it wasn鈥檛 even close.
Why We Wrote This
The United States finished second in gold and overall medals at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. But comparing this team with the past is complicated by how much the Winter Olympics have changed.
The key point is that the Winter Olympics are expanding dramatically. Since 1992, when the current trend of adding sports and events really began, the number of gold medals and total medals handed out has more than doubled (from 57 to 116 golds; and from 171 to 349 total medals).
That leads to many apples-to-oranges comparisons.
The U.S. might have won its most golds ever this year. But by one measure, the U.S. actually did much better in 1952, for example, when it only won four golds. That鈥檚 because only 22 golds were handed out in 1952, meaning the U.S. won 18% of them. Here, it won 10%.
The best way to think about this might be to divide the Winter Olympics into three distinct eras:
- The Early Era (1924 to 1960), when the Games were growing slowly and finding their footing.
- The Flat Era (1964 to 1988), when the number of events barely budged.
- The Modern Era (1992 to today), when the number of events has significantly expanded.
By the measure of the Modern Era, the U.S. did better than usual in winning 10.3% of golds and 9.5% of overall medals. The high-water mark for the Modern Era was the 2002 Salt Lake Games, when the U.S won 10 golds (12.5%) and 34 total medals (14.5%).
The record for overall U.S. medals won in a Winter Olympics was set at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with 37. (That was 14.3% of the total medals awarded.)
It is safe to say that the U.S. will never improve on the six golds and 12 total medals it won at the 1932 Lake Placid Games. There were only 14 golds and 42 total medals awarded, meaning an equivalent effort this year would have seen the U.S. win 50 golds and 99 total medals.
And the worst U.S. Winter Olympics?
One could argue for 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria, or 1968 in Grenoble, France, where the U.S. won only one gold medal. But many point to the 1988 Calgary Games, where the U.S. won only six of 138 total medals 鈥� far and away the all-time low at 4.3%. At least it won two iconic golds, thanks to figure skater Brian Boitano and speedskater Bonnie Blair.
This year, Norway was the undisputed Winter Olympics champion. It easily won the gold (18) and overall medal table (41) by doing what it does best: dominating the traditional sports. Only two of its medals came from 鈥渕odern鈥� sports added since 1992 (two golds in freestyle skiing).
Mostly, Norway feasted on cross country skiing and biathlon, where it won 25 medals, 10 gold. Of course, it helps when you have Johannes H酶sflot Kl忙bo winning six golds all by himself, a new Winter Olympic record.
It also helps that Russia was not here. Russia has been the ultimate 鈥渁nti-modern鈥� winter sports power. With the notable exception of 2014, when it hosted the Sochi Games, it has somehow never won a gold medal in any sport introduced since 1992.
The U.S., Canada, and Japan have been the most successful 鈥渉ybrid powers,鈥� combining success in both traditional and modern sports. But this year was a bit of a throwback for the U.S.
In two of the past three Winter Olympics, more than half of America鈥檚 total medals 鈥� and two-thirds of its golds 鈥� have come in modern sports. This year, only three of its 12 golds came from modern sports, and 12 of its 33 overall medals. That made this the most 鈥渢raditional鈥� U.S. medal table of the Modern Era.
Other medal table trivia:
鈥� Italy smashed its Winter Olympics medal records with 10 golds and 30 medals. This is not uncommon for host nations, which generally spend more on Olympic sports in the years leading up to a home Games. Yet as a share of overall gold and total medals, this year still comes second to the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, when Italy won seven golds and 20 total medals.
鈥� As usual, the Netherlands won all its 20 medals on speed skates: 13 on the long track, seven on the short track. Seven was a historic high for Dutch short track skaters. As recently as 2010, the Netherlands had never won a short track medal.
鈥� The other country conspicuously dominant in one area was Germany, which won 19 of its 26 medals on the sliding track, including six for skeleton, five for luge, and eight for bobsled. It swept the podium in two-man bobsled and won gold and silver in the four-man and two-woman.
鈥� One reason the International Olympic Committee began introducing modern sports was to give more nations the chance to medal. That certainly goes for South Korea. All of its 10 medals were for sports introduced since 1992 鈥� seven for short track speedskating, and three for snowboarding. Australia (six) and Great Britain (five) also won all their medals in modern sports, while 12 of China鈥檚 15 medals came from modern sports.
鈥� All of Spain鈥檚 three medals came in ski mountaineering, which debuted here.
鈥� Brazil won its first Winter Olympics medal with a gold in men鈥檚 giant slalom. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was born in Norway to a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mother and spent his childhood in both countries. It was the first medal for any South American country.
鈥� One Russian athlete, Nikita Filippov, medaled here, taking silver in the ski mountaineering men鈥檚 sprint. He was one of 13 Russian men and women at Milan Cortina classified as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN). They were approved by a special IOC board that ensured the athletes had no ties to the Russian military and did not support the Ukraine war.
鈥� The U.S. won the most silvers (12). Italy was this year鈥檚 bronze medal champions, with 14; Japan was close behind with 12. As a sign of its dominance, Norway tied with the U.S. for the most silvers (12), and it won the third-most bronzes (11).
鈥� Twenty-nine nations won medals, one short of the record of 30 in 2018.
Associated Press
