{"id":13376,"date":"2026-02-21T12:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-record-setting-winter-olympics-6-golds-and-16-medals-for-the-u-s-in-womens-events-set-marks\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:31:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:31:02","slug":"a-record-setting-winter-olympics-6-golds-and-16-medals-for-the-u-s-in-womens-events-set-marks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-record-setting-winter-olympics-6-golds-and-16-medals-for-the-u-s-in-womens-events-set-marks\/","title":{"rendered":"A record-setting Winter Olympics: 6 golds and 16 medals for the U.S. in women’s events set marks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"United
United States' Megan Keller (5), covered in the U.S. flag, gets a hug from a teammate after the United States' women's ice hockey team stand after being presented with the gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Petr David Josek)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) \u2014 The U.S. women’s hockey team<\/a> had just won Olympic gold, and veteran forward Kendall Coyne Schofield summed the moment up perfectly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it!\u201d she exclaimed.<\/p>\n

Plenty of American women \u2014 more than ever at a Winter Olympics \u2014 had the same sentiment at these Milan Cortina Games.<\/a><\/p>\n

When it came to winning medals, they indeed did it. And in record numbers, too.<\/p>\n

American women \u2014 not even counting mixed events \u2014 were up to six golds and 16 medals overall through some of the competition on 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).<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team is so strong,\u201d Milan Cortina women\u2019s slalom gold medalist and Alpine legend Mikaela Shiffrin<\/a> said. \u201cWe have so many incredible athletes and teammates and friends, and everybody just showed up with so much courage and heart here. And I\u2019m so proud to be part of this American team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The count goes to 20 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 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam USA is crushing it and it\u2019s friggin\u2019 sweet,\u201d said U.S. women’s bobsledder Kaillie Humphries Armbruster \u2014 a bronze medalist in monobob and a contender for another medal in the two-woman event on Saturday night. \u201cWomen\u2019s hockey got gold, hell yeah. It’s all definitely motivating.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was shiny motivation everywhere U.S. women could look.<\/p>\n

Shiffrin and downhill winner Breezy Johnson<\/a> won golds in Alpine skiing, Elana Meyers Taylor<\/a> won in monobob, Alysa Liu<\/a> won the figure skating women’s singles gold (plus another gold in the team event<\/a> for both men and women), Elizabeth Lemley<\/a> took the Olympic title in freestyle moguls and the women’s hockey team rallied late to force overtime<\/a> and then beat Canada for that title. Kaila Kuhn<\/a> was part of a gold-medal win in mixed team aerials as well \u2014 the 11th for Team USA at these Olympics, the most by the Americans<\/a> in Winter Games history.<\/p>\n

The U.S. men have been no slouches in Italy.<\/p>\n

But the U.S. women have been record-setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s iconic. It\u2019s legendary,\u201d U.S. bobsledder Kaysha Love said. \u201cAt the end of the day, I think that\u2019s why we do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Still, records are records. And this U.S. Olympic women\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou still have to look back and point to Title IX and the effects of the ability to have those competitive years in an elite collegiate system that helps drive the success for women in ways that other countries just haven\u2019t yet benefited,\u201d Hirshland said.<\/p>\n

The 16 medals for Americans in women’s competition at Milan Cortina, and 20 when adding in mixed events, would top the total medals won by all U.S. athletes \u2014 men, women and mixed \u2014 in every Winter Games from 1924 through 1998.<\/p>\n

Freestyle skiing has delivered four of the 16 women’s medals for Americans in these Games; Jaelin Kauf got two of those, both silvers in moguls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an incredibly strong women\u2019s team and moguls program in the U.S., (which is) exactly why it\u2019s so good,\u201d Kauf said. \u201cWe have become extremely dominant in the last handful of years, continuing to be the best women\u2019s team in the world for four or five years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, success breeds success. Just ask Cory Thiesse.<\/p>\n

She became the first American woman to medal in Olympic curling. Thiesse won silver in mixed doubles<\/a> with Korey Dropkin and got there, in part, because she was inspired by past success of others \u2014 whether they were in curling or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how important it was for me to have girls to look up to when I was growing up, not only in my own sport but other sports out there winning medals and seeing that on TV and dreaming big because of it,\u201d Thiesse told the AP on Friday, one day before she and the U.S. women lost the bronze-medal match to Canada<\/a>. \u201cSo, I just think it\u2019s great for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. men’s hockey coach Mike Sullivan said the American women who delivered this year are also planting seeds for 2030, 2034 and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a terrific hockey team, and they\u2019ll be an inspiration for the next generation of girls growing up in the United States,\u201d Sullivan said after the U.S. women topped Canada for hockey gold. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how far women\u2019s hockey has come in the United States, and a lot of it is due to the teams like this and the girls that play on these teams. They inspire the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP National Writer Eddie Pells, AP Hockey Writers Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow, AP Sports Writer Pat Graham and AP reporter Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n

\"United
United States' gold medalist Elana Meyers Taylor celebrates at the finish after the women's monobob competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"United
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning the gold medal in an alpine ski, women's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Gold
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\/Natacha Pisarenko)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"United
United States' team celebrate after victory ceremony for women's ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hassan Ammar)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

States' Megan Keller (5), covered in the U.S. flag, gets a hug from a teammate after the United States' women's ice hockey team stand after being presented with the gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Petr David Josek)dur-i-syn CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) \u2014 The U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[346,1211],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-sports","tag-winter-olympics"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18946,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13376\/revisions\/18946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13376"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}