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≡ ON THE PODIUM ≡
U.S. athletes had another strong weekend on the snow and ice, with the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games just a couple of weeks away, with World Cup and championship medals in five different disciplines:
Alpine Skiing: FIS World Cup in Spindleruv Myln (CZE):
● Women/Giant Slalom ~ Silver: Paula Moltzan
● Women/Giant Slalom ~ Bronze: Mikaela Shiffrin
● Women/Slalom ~ Gold: Shiffrin
Shiffrin won her seventh Slalom of the season and wrapped up her ninth seasonal Slalom title as well, after eight of the 10 races. She told reporters on Monday that she’s looking forward to the Games:
“I’m particularly excited about the alpine team we’re bringing into Cortina this year. On the women’s side, we are currently first in the Nations Cup standings for overall, Slalom, GS and Downhill.
“This success that we’ve had so far in this World Cup season is really unprecedented for the U.S. … It’s been a big season already. We’ve been in Europe for months competing every single weekend and often on the weekdays as well.
“I just skied my 14th, I think, 14th World Cup race yesterday in the Czech Republic … and our team is bringing really big energy into Milan Cortina.”
The American women’s squad is impressive, including Moltzan with three World Cup G-S medals and one in Slalom so far, Lindsey Vonn with two Downhill wins, silver and two bronzes, and two Super-G medals, plus a Downhill bronze from Jackie Wiles.
Biathlon: IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto (CZE):
● Men/15 km Mass Start ~ Silver: Campbell Wright
Wright was a sensation at the 2025 World Championships, taking silvers out of nowhere in the Sprint and Pursuit and now scored his first medal of the 2025-26 World Cup season.
He is trying to become the first American ever to win an Olympic medal in biathlon.
Cross Country Skiing: FIS World Cup in Goms (SUI):
● Men/Classical Sprint ~ Silver: Gus Schumacher
● Men/Team Free Sprint ~ Bronze: Ben Ogden and Schmacher
● Women/20 km Classical Mass Start ~ Silver: Jessie Diggins
Schumacher won his second medal of the season and now figures as a contender for medals in Milan Cortina, although not a favorite. He hadn’t planned on doing the Sprint at the Games, but with his silver and a bronze with Ogden in the Team Sprint:
“I’m definitely going to have to think about it. This course definitely suits me more than I think Val di Fiemme does, but I don’t know – we’ll see.”
Diggins, on the other hands, continues as the overall World Cup leader and won her eighth medal of the season. She already owns three Olympic medals (1-1-1) from 2018 and 2022 and will be looking for more.
Figure Skating: ISU Four Continents Championships in Beijing (CHN):
● Pairs ~ Gold: Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov
● Ice Dance ~ Gold: Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik
● Ice Dance ~ Silver: Caroline Green and Michael Parsons
● Ice Dance ~ Bronze: Oona Brown and Gage Brown
Efimova and Mitrofanov won the U.S. Nationals, but can’t go to the Games since Efimova is not a U.S. citizen. The only Olympic team members to skate at Four Continents were Zingas and Kolesnik and they won impressively, taking both segments and scoring 202.86 points.
Speed Skating: ISU World Cup in Inzell (GER):
● Men/500 m I ~ Silver: Jordan Stolz
● Men/500 m II ~ Silver: Stolz
● Men/1,000 m ~ Gold: Stolz
● Men/1,500 m ~ Gold: Stolz
● Men/Team Sprint ~ Gold: Conor McDermott-Mostowy, Cooper Mcleod, Zach Stoppelmoor
● Women/Mass Start ~ Bronze: Mia Manganello
Stolz wasn’t too concerned about the second-place finishes in the 500s to Pole Damian Zurek and was pleased with the 1,000 and 1,500 m wins, saying, “It was all right. I was a bit tired from 1,500 m, and I think this is about where I think I would be right now.
“There isn’t any way I can get slower right now, so that’s good. I’ve done a lot of training.”
Stolz did clinch the seasonal titles in all three distances, repeating his triple from 2025.
Manganello won the seasonal trophy for the Mass Start for the first time, and at 36, has expected this would be her last season, but:
“Maybe we’ll play it by ear. But as of now, the plan is to be done, but we’ll see.
“I’m 36 and I’d really like to move on with my life. It’s difficult as a woman. I know there’s a couple of amazing talents in our women’s field that have been able to leave, have a family and come back. I don’t know if I have that in me to do. So yeah, I feel like I’m about ready to move on.”
But Milan comes first.
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This was the last major weekend of winter-sport action with the Olympic Winter Games starting on 6 February; the skiers still have a few more events this weekend.
But 17 more medals across five more sports and disciplines shows continuing American strength and maintains high hopes for a strong performance at the Winter Games, and the star power represented by Shiffrin and Stolz, especially!
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