8 Female Athletes That Led The Way at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics

Historically, the Olympic Games have been a place where careers are born, cold wars are fought, and stories that last generations are told.

This year, as athletes from 93 countries gave it their all across winter sport disciplines, one particular storyline seemed to hold true above all others.

Women in sports are performing at the highest level and with unmatched grace. The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games was undoubtedly, for the girls.

Across numerous disciplines in Milan-Cortina over the last two weeks, female athletes proved time and time again that the significance of their athletic accomplishments outweighed a single run or medal for an individual or a country.

There were records broken for most decorated athlete, gender notwithstanding, in multiple sports, statements made to the media that are not soon to be forgotten, and an immeasurable amount of strength shown in the face of adversity.

In short, the stories people will remember from the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games are those of the female athletes who went above and beyond.

On Team USA alone, eight of the 12 gold medals were won by women, making it both the most successful ever Olympic Games for the USA and the sixth consecutive Games in which women’s fields finished with more medals than men’s.

Skiers like Jaelin Kauf, Jessie Diggins, and Breezy Johnson made waves for Team USA at the games, as did figure skater Alysa Liu, who came out of retirement to win the US’s first gold in figure skating. Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor (USA), who is also a mother of two, won her first gold medal at age 41 in her fourth Olympic Games.

Italian ski racer Federica Brignone won a gold medal in Giant Slalom just 10 months after tearing her ACL and fracturing her leg. The US women’s hockey team kept their streak of medaling in every single winter Games since 1998, beating Canada 2-1 for the gold medal.

It’s no secret that women in sports face an uphill battle when it comes to opportunity, media scrutiny, resources, mistreatment, and more. As a result, it’s not altogether surprising that the women who represented their countries at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games are not only elite athletes, but many are also pursuing careers or higher education outside their sport, or parenting.

These women are, as the internet would say, doing the most.

While every athlete who competes in the games, male or female, undeniably works hard to be there, here are a few of the most notable stories from the female athletes of Milan-Cortina 2026.

The 2026 POWDER Photo Annual is here! Look for a print copy on a newsstand near you, or click here to have a copy shipped directly to your front door.

Lindsey Vonn

We can’t talk about the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics without mentioning one of the greatest comebacks in sports and an insane display of resilience. We’re, of course, talking about Lindsey Vonn.

Vonn made waves over the past two years as she returned from retirement sporting a brand-new partial knee replacement. During the 2025-26 season, Vonn made the podium multiple times, silencing those who told her she was “too old,” “dangerous,” or “washed up.” Vonn qualified to represent Team USA in the downhill alpine race, which took place early on in the Games.

However, just a week before the Olympics, Vonn tore her ACL in a crash at a World Cup in Crans-Montana. Despite her lack of ACL and the bone bruising she sustained, Vonn still clicked into her race skis in Cortina on February 6 and completed her qualifying training run, sending her to finals.

While Vonn ended up taking a pretty horrific crash in competition that left her with a fractured tibia, fractured tibial plateau, and compartment syndrome, her resilience going into the games was unbelievable. Few other athletes would choose to compete with a recently torn ACL, let alone ski as well as she did during her qualifying run. While her crash in finals was heartbreaking, it didn’t have anything to do with her knee, and we’re wishing Vonn the best in her recovery.

Eileen Gu

Of course, we can’t talk about women dominating the Olympics without also talking about the most decorated freeskier of all time, Eileen Gu. No, there wasn’t supposed to be a gender asterisk in front of that title. Gu, who was also the only athlete to compete in slopestyle, big air, and halfpipe, won silver medals in the first two disciplines, marking her the most decorated freeskier in history with five Olympic medals.

When asked by a journalist if her two silver medals felt like two gold medals lost by a male journalist, Gu laughed in his face and reminded him of her accomplishment. “Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life changing experience for every athlete. Doing it five times, is exponentially harder because every medal is equally hard for me, but everybody else’s expectations rise. So, the two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, is kind of a ridiculous perspective to take,” she said back to him. To top it off, Gu went on to win a gold medal in halfpipe, bringing her Olympic medal count to six.

To top off Gu’s prowess as an athlete, the 22-year-old is also a student at the prestigious Stanford University and a professional model who has walked in Victoria’s Secret shows and been featured on the covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott

Speaking of most decorated athletes, Kiwi snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott became the most decorated Olympic Snowboarder of all time at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

Sadowski-Synnott, who competes in slopestyle and big air, already had a bronze medal from PyeongChang 2018 when she became the first New Zealand athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

In Milan-Cortina, Sadowski-Synnott added to her stack of medals, winning silver in both slopestyle and big air. Sadowski-Synnott’s accomplishments at the most recent games make her not only the most decorated Olympic Snowboarder, but also the most decorated athlete from New Zealand.

Mikaela Shiffrin

The winningest ski racer of all time hardly needs an introduction, and yet some still had doubts that Mikaela Shiffrin could win a gold medal in Milan-Cortina this year.

Shiffrin, who became the youngest woman to win a gold medal in alpine skiing at Sochi 2014 and another in PyeongChang in 2018, had not seen another Olympic gold since then. Following a 4th place finish in team combined with her teammate, Breezy Johnson (we’ll get to her!), there were questions about whether or not Shiffrin had lost her Olympic touch, despite already winning 7 out of 8 World Cup slalom races this season.

However, in slalom, Shiffrin quickly answered any questions about her ability, grasping the gold medal by a margin of 1.5 seconds. Not only did the race earn Shiffrin a medal, but also the title of most decorated alpine skier in Olympic history, and had the biggest winning margin in a slalom race since 1998. Need we say more?

Jessie Diggins

Another female athlete taking the title of most decorated in their sport? Shocker.

American cross-country skier Jessie Diggins has carried Team USA in cross-country skiing for the last four Olympics. Diggins, who is set to retire at the end of March after her final World Cup race, is the most decorated American cross-country skier of all time. She solidified this title at the 50k race in Milan-Cortina, winning a bronze medal. Diggins also holds a bronze medal in the individual sprint and a silver medal in the 30km freestyle from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, as well as a gold medal in the team sprint from PyeongChang 2018.

Jaelin Kauf

Mogul skier Jaelin Kauf is a particular standout amongst an incredibly talented field of female mogul skiers on Team USA.

Kauf, who is one of three female Team USA skiers raised in the Tetons (alongside Breezy Johnson and Anna Gibson), won her first Olympic medal in Beijing in 2022. Kauf won her second Olympic medal in Milan on Wednesday, February 11, alongside teammate Liz Lemley, who won bronze. The two made history as the first-ever pair of American skiers to medal together in freeskiing. Kauf then went on to compete in the Olympic debut of dual moguls, and despite crashing in her run while skiing through a heavy snowstorm, Kauf still snagged another podium and her second silver medal of the games.

Kauf’s two silvers at the 2026 Winter Games bring her Olympic medal count to three, making her the most decorated US Olympic mogul skier.

Breezy Johnson

Another Teton-bred athlete, alpine ski racer Breezy Johnson’s career has had its fair share of ups and downs. Johnson made her Olympic debut in 2018 in PyeongChang, but soon after sustained a series of injuries that sidelined her for several seasons. Just as she was set to make her return to the Olympics in 2022, Johnson tore her knee cartilage again, forcing her to sit out of the Beijing Games. In 2023, Johnson’s career took another hit when she was given a 14-month suspension by the US Anti-Doping Agency, not for a positive drug test, but for failing to update her whereabouts, leading testers to show up at a residence she wasn’t at.

As Johnson looked toward the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics, her own Olympic comeback was overshadowed in the media by that of fellow American downhill skier Lindsey Vonn, who ultimately crashed in the downhill finals. Johnson was the sixth skier to drop into the downhill course during finals and, with a time of 1:36:1, skied it faster than the five athletes before her. Her time held as the fastest of the day, earning the USA their first gold medal of the Games and Johnson her very first Olympic medal, despite all the setbacks she’d experienced along the way.

Anna Gibson

Despite not originally setting out to be a professional SkiMo racer, Anna Gibson became an integral part of getting Team USA to the Olympics.

Another Jackson Hole-bred athlete, Gibson has made a name for herself as one of the most talented trail runners around. Her prowess in endurance sports has not just led Gibson to winning trail races around the world and setting quite a few course records, but also to successfully competing in other endurance sports like bike racing.

Recruiting Gibson to Team USA SkiMo was a no-brainer for teammate Cameron Smith, who has been racing in the discipline since 2014. Out of the gate, Gibson was a star on the SkiMo circuit, beating out one of the top female racers in the world at a selection event. With this victory, she earned a spot in the sport’s Olympic debut alongside Smith. The pair won the Solitude qualifier event by a landslide, and suddenly, Gibson was on her way to representing the USA in SkiMo at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

Gibson came in 9th place in the individual sprint and 4th place in the team relay alongside Smith in her Olympic debut.

Related: The 10 Best Skiing Photos From The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics