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≡ STAT BLITZ ≡
The winter-sport schedule slowed over the holidays and into the New Year’s weekend, but American winter athletes were still on the prowl, winning a dozen medals and a major honor over the past week and weekend:
Alpine Skiing: FIS World Cup at Kranjska Gora (SLO):
● Women/Giant Slalom: Bronze ~ Paula Moltzan
● Women/Slalom: Silver ~ Mikaela Shiffrin
Shiffrin lost for the first time in six Slalom races this season, but by just 0.14 to 2025 World Champion Camille Rast (SUI), her likely principal rival in Milan Cortina in February. Moltzan was fourth in the Slalom and is skiing her best just at the right time, making her a medal threat as well.
Cross Country Skiing: FIS World Cup at Tolbach (ITA) ~ Tour de Ski I
● Men/5 km Interval Mass Start: Gold ~ Gus Schumacher
● Women/10 km Classical: Bronze ~ Jessie Diggins
● Women/5 km Interval Mass Start: Gold ~ Diggins
● Women/20 km Classical Pursuit: Gold ~ Diggins
Cross Country Skiing: FIS World Cup at Val di Fiemme (ITA) ~ Tour de Ski II
● Women/10 km Freestyle Mass Start: Silver ~ Diggins
What is there is say about the amazing Diggins, now 34, who has said this will be her final season in competitive skiing. She won her third Tour de Ski title – no other American has ever won – and said afterwards:
“This was really, really fun. I think this was by far my best Tour ever, where everything came together. …
“When you win the Olympics, that’s amazing, but that’s one race. The Tour is day after day. You have to put it together and you have to be on – and that’s a lot of pressure on you and the team. You have to keep it fun – it’s really hard.
”I felt like I had awesome skis that were super competitive, every single day, and that really matters.
”It takes everyone coming together to make it happen and we have such an amazing staff working so hard to support us. It takes a village and I’m really proud and grateful for my village. It’s so fun to feel good on this last Tour.”
Diggins remains the women’s seasonal leader and is no. 1 in the seasonal Distance rankings.
Schumacher won his second career World Cup gold and was also sixth in the Pursuit and seventh in the 10 km Mass Start. Is he suddenly a contender?
Freestyle Skiing: FIS World Cup at Calgary (CAN):
● Men/Halfpipe: Gold ~ Nick Goepper
● Men/Halfpipe: Bronze ~ Birk Irving
● Women/Halfpipe: Bronze ~ Svea Irving
Goepper is looking toward a fourth Olympic Games and he has medaled every time: Slopestyle bronze at Sochi 2014, Slopestyle silver at PyeongChang 2018 and another Slopestyle silver at Beijing 2022. Now he’s a contender in the Halfpipe, where he won the Worlds silver in 2025. Is this his year for a gold at last?
In his second season of concentrating on the Halfpipe, he now has six medals (2-2-2), but all but one have come at U.S. or Canadian venues. He said after the win:
“It feels amazing. I really needed this one to qualify for the Olympics for the USA team. And I got the best pants award.
“They make us do this every single time, until the last minute. I’ve got to have a conversation with somebody (laughing), but it definitely gets it all down to the wire.
“[The U.S. team] likes to pick the person who’s skiing the best right when it counts, right when they’re peaking, and this is kind of how it happened with me the last time round, it was kind of last second. I’m just thrilled to come away with the win today.”
Luge: FIL World Cup in Sigulda (LAT):
● Women/Singles: Gold ~ Summer Britcher
● Team Relay: Bronze ~ U.S. (Britcher, Zach DiGregorio and Sean Hololander, Jonny Gustafson, Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby)
Any idea that Britcher’s win at Lake Placid in December was a fluke on a home track was ended with a statement win in Latvia, her seventh career World Cup gold:
“I’m very, very happy. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs here in Sigulda, and a long time ago it was my favorite track, and I really loved it. And this week was so much fun. The track crew did an amazing job preparing the track, so it was a lot of fun to feel that joy on the track again here.”
The coming weekend has a much fuller schedule, but a dozen medals and five golds is a tremendous start to 2026.
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee believes the American team in Milan Cortina has the potential to do even better than the good performance in Beijing in 2022. Outside of the 2002 Salt Lake City Games (34 total medals) and the all-time record of 37 in Vancouver (CAN) in 2010, the best-ever U.S. performance in a Winter Games was 28 medals in the doping-readjusted 2014 Games in Sochi (RUS), followed by 25 at Turin 2006 and Beijing 2022.
Could the U.S. win 30 medals in a Winter Games outside of North America? We’ll find out in a little more than a month.
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