Utah's wins, losses and thrills to come at the 2026 Winter Olympics
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Team USA Skier Breezy Johnson takes the podium alongside skiers from Germany and Italy after winning women's downhill at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Photo: Agence Zoom/Agence Zoom/Getty Images
With the 2026 Winter Games two-thirds complete, there remain several chances for Utah Olympians to ascend the podium.
The big picture: Athletes with Utah ties were sporting 12 medals as of Tuesday — seven from skiing events.
The latest: 🎿 Utah's Mac Forehand landed a silver medal Tuesday after what is being hailed as a bar-raising final round of freestyle big air skiing. Local teammates Troy Podmilsak and Konnor Ralph ranked 4th and 5th.
- Earlier in the day, Utahns Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Conor McDermott-Mostowy joined individual gold medalist Jordan Stolz to win silver in the men's speed skating team pursuit.
Here's what we're watching in Italy, and what has defied our expectations so far.
Mamma mia!
Utahns' penchant for drama extended to the Alps with these exciting turns.
🏅 Downhill superstar Lindsey Vonn took a characteristically gutsy risk to ski sans ACL — but it didn't pay off, with a catastrophic crash ending in an emergency helicopter ride.
- Vonn's SLC teammate Breezy Johnson swept in, claiming a gold medal — and, a few days later, a silver engagement ring at the Super G finish line.
🤢 Skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who studied at SLC's Westminster College, "redecorated the gondola" — and the mountaintop commode — six times during an inauspicious morning of food poisoning before blasting to the Super-G podium, per NBC.
Non ci piove!
These Wasatch-trained returning medalists make their podium appearances all but certain.
🗻 SLC's Jaelin Kauf reclaimed the moguls silver she won in 2022 and grabbed another in dual moguls.
🥈Skier Alex Hall secured a silver medal in slopestyle after winning gold in 2022.
Non vediamo l'ora!
We can't wait to see these contenders in the Games' final days.
🏒 SLC's Hilary Knight has captained USA hockey through victory after blistering victory, with just one opposing goal in six matches so far.
- They're the favorites in Thursday's gold medal game against Canada, who Team USA already shut out 5-0 in last week's round robin.
🙄 As of Tuesday, the heavens were taunting Utah's freestyle skiing aerialists, with storms forcing delays for both men and women, including world champion Kaila Kuhn.
- Mixed-team aerials come Saturday, with Park City's Chris Lillis and Quinn Dehlinger expected to join Kuhn in last year's podium-topping trio.
Finché c'è vita, c'è speranza!
As long as there is life, there is hope!
⛸ 2024 world champion Kristen Santos-Griswold failed to make the 1000m short-track speed skating semifinals — a particularly bitter pill after losing a bronze medal in Beijing 2022 because another skater bumped her in what was deemed a penalty.
- "I'm just taking it one day at a time," she said. "I thought I was going to be done after 2022, and I'm still here, so (I'm) not really too set on anything."
🛷 Reigning monobob world champ and Herriman track star Kaysha Love finished at a frustrating 7th this week.
- Love, 28, is already considered an extraordinary talent in multiple sports, with plenty of time to climb that podium.
- Yes, but: Her teammates, Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Armbruster Humphries — both moms in their forties — took gold and bronze in an inspiring triumph Monday.