US wins its record 11th gold medal at the Winter Olympics

The United States clinched a record-breaking 11th gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Livigno, Italy on Saturday, surpassing the previous American record set at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. The milestone came when the trio of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran, and Chris Lillis captured gold in the mixed aerials competition, the team’s second consecutive Olympic title in this event.

With the men’s hockey team set to face Canada in the gold medal game on the final day of competition, the U.S. could potentially add a 12th gold to its impressive tally. The American squad later added a bronze medal in speedskating through Mia Manganello, bringing their overall medal count to 31 with one day of competition remaining.

This performance places the United States second in the medal table behind Norway, which has set its own record with 18 gold medals and 40 total medals through Saturday evening. Norway’s dominance has been particularly evident in endurance sports, with 72 percent of their gold medals coming from cross country skiing, biathlon, and Nordic combined.

“Our focus and our strategy has always been about breadth,” said Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “We want to win in everything. We want to make every sport better. Some could argue there are countries that go a mile deep in certain sports and really dominate. Our goal has been to improve Winter sport across the board.”

The breadth of American success has indeed been remarkable, with medals coming from 12 of the 17 sports disciplines represented at these Winter Games. The U.S. team’s gold medals were distributed across four primary disciplines – Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, figure skating, and speedskating – each contributing two gold medals.

Since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, the Winter Olympics program has expanded significantly, with 38 additional medal events added to the competition schedule. Many of these new events are in the snowpark disciplines – halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air – areas where the U.S. once dominated but has now seen Japan emerge as the powerhouse with nine snowboarding medals compared to America’s two.

“We stated we wanted to be a podium nation,” explained Fin Kirwan, the USOPC’s chief of Olympic sport. “We said it would likely take 30 medals and we got after it. The athletes delivered on their potential and, by turn, we hit the record on gold-medal performance, which shows that our very best were able to execute.”

The record-breaking performance was built on a diverse group of American champions. Alex Ferreira completed his Olympic collection with gold in freestyle skiing halfpipe, adding to silver and bronze medals from previous Games. Breezy Johnson overcame a significant knee injury four years ago to win Alpine skiing gold on the same mountain. Elizabeth “Lizard” Lemley continued the strong U.S. tradition in moguls skiing with her victory.

Figure skater Alysa Liu, who had stepped away from competition after the 2022 Beijing Games, returned to claim gold at age 20 after rediscovering her passion for the sport. Veteran bobsledder Elena Myers Taylor made history at her sixth Olympics, becoming the oldest Winter Olympic gold medalist at 41 years old.

The legendary Mikaela Shiffrin, the most successful Alpine skier of all time, rebounded from her disappointing shutout in Beijing to capture gold in the slalom. Speedskater Jordan Stolz joined Eric Heiden as only the second man to win both the 500m and 1000m events, a feat Heiden accomplished at Lake Placid in 1980.

Team events also contributed significantly to the American gold medal count. The figure skating team, featuring Liu, Amber Glenn, and Ilia Malinin, secured their second consecutive team gold medal, though the previous victory took two years to confirm following a Russian doping controversy. The women’s hockey team provided one of the Games’ most dramatic moments, with Hilary Knight scoring the equalizer with just 2:04 remaining before Megan Keller delivered the overtime winner.

As the Games draw to a close, this record-breaking performance signals a potential turning point for American winter sports, demonstrating both excellence and remarkable diversity across the Olympic program.