The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, will run from Friday, Feb. 6 through Sunday, Feb. 22. Over the course of those two weeks, athletes from 92 countries — not including Russia or Belarus — will compete in 16 different sports.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the United States finished tied for third in the gold medal count, just behind Norway and Germany. The U.S. brought home nine gold medals, which was tied with China in that category, but the Americans finished fifth in the overall medal count with 25.
Team USA will try to improve upon those numbers in 2026, and they have some golden opportunities to do just that. Both the men’s and women’s hockey team should be in the running for a gold medal, Jordan Stolz is a favorite in speed skating, Chloe Kim is hitting the halfpipe in snowboarding and Mikaela Shiffrin will once again be on the ski slopes. And figure skaters Alysa Liu and Ilia Malinin have high potential to reach the podium.
Norway will attempt to defend its title as the most awarded country in the Winter Olympics, both from 2022 and all-time. The Norwegians won 16 gold medals and 37 total medals at the Beijing Games four years ago, and they possess a large edge in the all-time medal count. Norway has won 148 gold medals and 406 total medals in its 24 appearances at the Winter Olympics. The Americans are a distant second with 330 total medals.
Russian and Belarusian athletes are permitted to compete, but only as individuals under a neutral flag. They’ll be classified as “Individual Neutral Athletes,” and their medals won’t factor into the overall count. Russian and Belarusian teams are still banned from competing the Olympics.
Keep track of the live medal count over the next couple weeks as the United States looks to fill up its trophy case while competing across Northern Italy.
