The current gold medal standings in the Olympics have Norway with the lead at 16, followed by Italy with nine and lastly the USA with eight according to the official Olympics website on Feb. 19, in the afternoon.
The United States men’s ice hockey team defeated Sweden and will advance to the Olympic semifinals to face off against Slovakia. The USA has struggled in past matchups against Sweden but were able to take down the Swedish 2-1 in overtime thanks to a Quinn Hughes game winner. The men will take on Slovakia on Feb. 20.
The United States women’s ice hockey team is on a hot streak, going undefeated in the preliminary rounds, scoring 20 goals and only letting one in. The women have not been scored on since the first game of the Olympics, while netting a total of 31 against opponents.
In the gold medal match on Feb. 19, Team USA took on Canada and found themselves down 0-1 after the second period. The USA tied the game with 2:03 left in the third period with a goal by Hilary Knight.
Team USA would go on to defeat Canada 2-1 in overtime to bring home gold for the Americans. The game’s winning goal was scored by Megan Keller.
American alpine ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin captured her first gold medal since 2018 in the women’s slalom finishing with a combined time of 1:39:10 – 1.5 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Camille Rast, according to Cody Nagel of CBS.
This is her second gold medal of these Olympics after struggling in Beijing four years ago.
As for other Americans, Ben Ogden continued to find success in Milan Cortina after he and teammate Gus Schumacher fought for silver in the men’s cross country skiing team sprint. This was the United States’ first ever Olympic medal in that event, according to Nagel.
In other news, Olympic legend Lindsey Vonn announced she will undergo at least two more surgeries after her crash during her downhill race. The crash came after she ruptured her left ACL in a different accident last month.
The Olympic accident had Vonn airlifted to the nearest hospital and was announced with a broken leg, according to CBS sports.
Ukrainian athlete, Vladislav Heraskevych was unable to compete after a dispute with officials surrounding his helmet. The helmet featured photos of deceased athletes who were killed in the Ukrainian-Russia War.
Following this, “Heraskevych received a $200,000 financial gift from a fellow countryman in order to continue his athletic career and advocacy work,” according to People magazine. “The AP reported the $200,000 amount is equal to what a Ukrainian athlete would have received from the government for winning a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.”
Love is in the air for some athletes, as four athletes have been proposed to during this year’s games.
American alpine skier Breezy Johnson claimed a gold medal, and five days later added an engagement ring to her hardware.
On Feb. 12, she crashed during the Super-G event but was met at the finish line with her boyfriend Connor Watkins down on one knee.
She told NBC, “I may have told him that I always kind of had the dream of getting engaged at the Olympics,” according toPeople.
With Valentine’s Day last week, two more Olympians made it official when former rival figure skaters Olivia Smart (Spain) and Jean-Luc Baker (USA) announced their engagement. Baker was a former ice skater for Team USA, and last skated in the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The proposal occurred on the streets of Milan on Valentine’s Day, and Baker posted a video on Instagram of her eventual engagement ring with footage of her competing on the ice, before popping the question.
Also, on Feb. 14 Ukrainian freestyle skier Kateryna Kotsar received a proposal from boyfriend Bohdan Fashtryha. This proposal happened after Kostar qualified for the big air final in Livigno, according to People..
“I’m still really excited and can’t understand what happened tonight, because it’s two really huge things for me,” Kostar said.
Lastly, two USA athletes shared their proposal at the 2026 Olympics after they fell in love at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The two were Brittany Bowe (who placed No. 4 in the 1000m speedskating race this year) and Hilary Knight (the captain of Team USA women’s hockey team).
Lastly, there is another famous dog at the Olympics this year. Snoop Dog has been involved in the Olympic Games since the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, according to NBC. However, the famous rapper was joined by a famous four-legged dog after a 2-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog ran across the finish line at the women’s team sprint cross country race on Feb. 18, according to Fox News.
The dog did not have major implications on the race, howeverit did influence the racers’ mental state.
Croatian skier Tena Hadzic told NPR, “I was like, ‘am I hallucinating?’” according to Fox News.
“I don’t know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me”.
The Olympics this year have been filled with record breaking gold medal races, proposals and dogs.
Only a few days are left for this year’s games.
Who knows what else we might see?