A record-setting Winter Olympics: 6 golds and 17 medals for the US in women’s events set marks

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The U.S. women’s hockey team had just won Olympic gold, and veteran forward Kendall Coyne Schofield summed the moment up perfectly.

“We did it!” she exclaimed.

Plenty of American women — more than ever at a Winter Olympics — had the same sentiment at these Milan Cortina Games.

When it came to winning medals, they indeed did it. And in record numbers, too.

American women — not even counting mixed events — were up to six golds and 17 medals overall through Saturday, the next-to-last day of these Games. The previous U.S. winter women’s-only marks: five golds (done in 1992, 2002 and 2018) and 13 medals (done in 2014 and 2022).

“Our team is so strong,” Milan Cortina women’s slalom gold medalist and Alpine legend Mikaela Shiffrin said. “We have so many incredible athletes and teammates and friends, and everybody just showed up with so much courage and heart here. And I’m so proud to be part of this American team.”

The count goes to 21 medals for U.S. women from Milan Cortina when adding in mixed competition. More than 40 American women will leave the Games with at least one medal — another winter record for the U.S. And those numbers could keep rising, with some medal chances still left before the cauldrons get extinguished and the Games come to a close.

“Team USA is crushing it and it’s friggin’ sweet,” said U.S. women’s bobsledder Kaillie Humphries Armbruster — a bronze medalist in monobob and in the two-woman event on Saturday night. “Women’s hockey got gold, hell yeah. It’s all definitely motivating.”

Gold medalist Alysa Liu of the United States displays her medal after competing in the women’s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

There was shiny motivation everywhere U.S. women could look.

Shiffrin and downhill winner Breezy Johnson won golds in Alpine skiing, Elana Meyers Taylor won in monobob, Alysa Liu won the figure skating women’s singles gold (plus another gold in the team event for both men and women), Elizabeth Lemley took the Olympic title in freestyle moguls and the women’s hockey team rallied late to force overtime and then beat Canada for that title. Kaila Kuhn was part of a gold-medal win in mixed team aerials as well — the 11th for Team USA at these Olympics, the most by the Americans in Winter Games history.

The U.S. men have been no slouches in Italy.

But the U.S. women have been record-setting.

“It’s iconic. It’s legendary,” U.S. bobsledder Kaysha Love said. “At the end of the day, I think that’s why we do this.”

In fairness, the games have grown over time, which means more women have gotten the chance to become Olympians. There were 41 events for women (excluding mixed events) at Milan Cortina, compared with 37 at Turin in 2006 and a mere 12 at Lake Placid in 1980.

Still, records are records. And this U.S. Olympic women’s team, as a total group, set a new standard. Sarah Hirshland, the CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, pointed to the fact that many of the women’s medalists at Milan Cortina came from other sports and starred at the collegiate level.