Three medals achieved by two individuals in a single discipline, mountain skiing, summarize Spain's best participation in a Winter Olympic Games. Oriol Cardona, gold, and Ana Alonso, bronze in sprint, and both bronze in mixed relays, brought the total number of our winter rewards to eight in Milan-Cortina.
Internationally, Johannes Klaebo stood out. He aimed for six golds in cross-country skiing, the king sport in Norway, and returned home with six golds, contributing more than anyone else to Norway's resounding lead in the medal table. At 29 years old, he now has 11 golds, one silver, and one bronze in three Games. His performances have garnered over 90% of TV audiences in his country.
Alpine skiing, the jewel of the snowy crown, which will be remembered for Lindsey Vonn's accident in the downhill, crowned Swiss Franjo von Allmen, gold in downhill, super-G, and team combined. His compatriot Marco Odermatt, the top male star, with two silvers and one bronze, showed how one can succeed and fail simultaneously. Success and failure are relative depending on the individuals, their aspirations, and possibilities. Mikaela Shiffrin broke her Beijing 2022 curse and won the slalom. But, much more than a prophet in her own land, Federica Brignone, gold in giant slalom and super-G after serious injuries in April 2025, formed the ideal alpine pair with Von Allmen.
The biggest surprise of the Games was the downfall of IIia Malinin (USA) in figure skating. He couldn't have been more favored. But crushed by such pressure, he plummeted to eighth place. In contrast, the Japanese pair of Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, fifth in the short program, delivered the most perfect performance ever seen in the free skate. So much so that it propelled the duo to gold with a total of 231.24 points, a world record.
A nod to the entertainment world and a tribute to sports. On her 35th birthday, Francesca Lollobrigida, great-niece of the famous actress Gina Lollobrigida, one of Italy's cinematic icons and a universal "sex symbol" in the 50s and early 60s, won the 3,000 meters speed skating. Contributing even more to Italy's outstanding performance, she claimed a second gold by winning the 5,000 meters. Arianna Fontana, also Italian and also 35 years old, gold in mixed speed skating relays, secured her fourteenth medal (three gold) in six consecutive Games.
Slovenian Domen Prvec, the top figure in ski jumping, only managed sixth place in the normal hill, but won in the large hill and in mixed team on the normal hill. His younger sister Nika was part of the quartet, winning silver in the individual normal hill and bronze in the large hill.
Nika is 20 years old. Austrian Benjamin Karl is twice her age. In a discipline like snowboarding, where the average age of practitioners is precisely 20 years, he defended his title in parallel giant slalom.
Without Russians, and 12 years after the last Olympic appearance of NHL (National Hockey League) players, the United States took gold against Canada in one of those historically prolonged duels. The "game of games" closed the competition of a magnificent Games.