Your Olympic Shakedown - Games Recap
Written By Matthew Lloyd
Thumbnail and Banner Photo by Marco Forno on Unsplash
And just like that, another Winter Olympics has come and gone, just as quickly as it arrived. The Milano Cortina 2026 Games were a spectacular display of athletics, national and international pride, and a few unfortunate blunders we may never forget as a country. Overall, the fears raised midway through the Games, when Canada still had not secured a gold medal, were stymied, with Canada grabbing 5 gold medals despite falling short in both men’s and women’s hockey. What medals did we get, what stories emerged that need to be discussed, and what the heck even is short-track speed skating? We’ve got all that and more coming up for you below in this recap of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games!
Olympic Sport Highlight: Short-Track Speed Skating
If the thought of luge last time made your heart skip a beat, short track speed skating is the sport that will keep it racing until the final corner. While traditional speed skating (long track) is a calculated battle against the clock on a massive 400m oval, short track is a chaotic, tactical, and high-speed "pack-style" race held on a standard hockey rink. Athletes fly around a tight 111-meter oval at speeds of up to 50 km/h, often leaning so far into the turns that their fingertips graze the ice for balance. Because everyone is fighting for the same "line" on the track, the sport is famous for its nail-biting passes, strategic drafting, and high-stakes collisions. You can see just how tight those corners are (and how quickly things can go sideways) in the final laps of the women's 500m here (featuring the Maritimes’ own Courtney Sarault!)
The relay events in short track take the intensity to a whole new level of organized chaos. Unlike other sports, where you hand off a baton, short track skaters exchange by giving their teammate a massive push from behind, slingshooting them into the action. It requires perfect timing and immense trust, as four teams of four skaters all navigate the same small ice surface simultaneously. With 16 skaters on the ice at once, it can look like a total blur, but there is a deep level of strategy involved in knowing exactly when to burn your energy and when to let your competition do the work for you. To see these frantic exchanges in action, check out the highlights of the 3000m relay final here.
Now that you are a bit more acquainted with the ins and outs of short-track, let’s move on to our medal recap, highlighted by Canada’s performance in both long and short track at the Milano Cortina Games.
Medal Recap:
Speed Skating + Short Track Medals:
Short Track, Women's 500m - Bronze Medal: Courtney Sarault
In a frantic final that saw some of the world's best sprinters battle for inches, Courtney Sarault managed to find her first individual Olympic podium. She became the first Canadian from outside Quebec (go New Brunswick!) to win an individual short track medal, making a gutsy move on the final lap to edge out the competition at the line. You can see her performance here.
Speed Skating, Men's 500m - Bronze Medal: Laurent Debreuil
After the heartbreak of finishing fourth by 0.03 seconds in Beijing, Dubreuil finally claimed his 500m Olympic medal. The 33-year-old veteran briefly set an Olympic record in his heat, surviving a "most stressful" wait as the remaining pairings finished to secure his place on the podium. You can watch Laurent’s performance here.
Speed Skating, Women's 1500m - Bronze Medal: Valérie Maltais
Continuing her incredible transition from short track to long track, Maltais added a third career medal to her trophy case in the 1500m. Her endurance and technical precision enabled her to outpace a strong field of Dutch specialists and secure a podium finish. You can watch her bronze-winning skate here.
Short Track, Women's 1000m - Silver Medal: Courtney Sarault
Building on her momentum from the 500m, Sarault displayed incredible tactical awareness to navigate a dense pack and secure the silver. This second individual medal of the games cemented her status as one of the new faces of Canadian short track, adding to her silver from the mixed team relay. Tap into her performance here.
Speed Skating, Women's Team Pursuit - Gold Medal: Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais, Isabelle Weidemann
The "Madames" did it again! The veteran trio of Blondin, Maltais, and Weidemann defended their Olympic title from Beijing with a clinical performance in the final against the Netherlands. They utilized a unique drafting strategy, with the 6-foot Weidemann towering over the competition, leading the entire way to keep the team’s pace untouchable. You can watch their gold clinching pursuit here.
Short Track, Men’s 500m - Gold Medal: Steven Dubois
Leading from the gun all the way to the finish, Steven Dubois secured Canada’s only individual speed skating gold of the games in spectacular fashion. With a bit of “help” we’ll say from his Canadian teammate, who was disqualified for an illegal overtake in the back of the pack, Dubois held the pair of Dutch brothers, Melle van 't Wout and Jens van 't Wout, back and found his spot on the top step of the podium. You can watch the golden triumph here.
Short track, Women's 3000m Relay - Bronze Medal: Danaé Blais, Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle, Courtney Sarault
Canada’s short track women proved their depth yet again in a thrilling relay final. The team maintained a podium position throughout a chaotic race, looking at gold in the final stretch before falling back to a hard-fought bronze medal. This was Sarault’s 4th medal of the games and Boutin’s and Brunelle’s 2nd medals overall, with all three athletes competing in the mixed team relay that secured silver earlier in the games. You can watch the relay final here.
Speed Skating, Women’s Mass Start - Silver Medal: Ivanie Blondin
The mass start is truly a sight to behold, with 16 skaters competing in the finals, all vying for the gold medal. In the most tactical event on the ice, Blondin used her short-track background to navigate the pack and sprint to a silver medal. It was a poetic finish for the multi-time world champion, ensuring she left Milano Cortina with two pieces of hardware. I highly recommend checking out the final here.
Skiing Medals:
Duel Moguls, Men’s - Gold Medal: Mikaël Kingsbury
"The King" went out on top. In what was his final Olympic appearance, Kingsbury made history as the first-ever men's dual moguls gold medalist, capping off a career that includes a record five Olympic medals in freestyle skiing and 100 World Cup wins. He described the victory as "breaking the curse" of silver for Canada at these games, as it was our first golden moment of Milano Cortina. You can see Canada’s first gold of the games here!
Freestyle Skiing, Big Air - Gold Medal: Megan Oldham
Oldham completed her redemption story by soaring to gold in the big air final, just days after winning bronze in slopestyle. Her first two runs were so dominant that she forced the rest of the field to go for tricks they ultimately could not pull off, leaving Megan the chance to drop in on her final run with the gold medal already secured. Watch all three of Megan’s golden jumps here.
Freestyle Skiing, Men's Halfpipe - Bronze Medal: Brendan MacKay
Leaving it to the absolute last minute to put down a run, Brendan MacKay delivered a scorcher of a final attempt to vault himself from the bottom of the scores to the bronze medal position with the last run of all competitors. His high-flying performance added to Canada's rich history in freestyle skiing and served as a career highlight for the former world champion. You can see his bronze moment here.
Curling Medals:
Curling, Women - Bronze Medal: Rachel Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes, Rachelle Brown
After failing to secure a medal on previous attempts, the “Homan Empire” finally broke through with an Olympic bronze medal against the United States. The team overcame a mid-tournament slump, winning five consecutive games to reach the medal round. Homan stated, “The week that we had, the fight that we showed, I'm so incredibly proud of the team and how we fought to get this bronze medal.” Highlights from the bronze-medal-match can be found here.
Curing, Men - Gold Medal: Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert, Tyler Tardi
Brad Jacobs returned to the top of the podium 12 years after his Sochi gold, becoming the first men’s team lead to win two Olympic titles. The team secured a decisive three-point 9th end to defeat Great Britain, reclaiming Canada’s status as a dominant power in the sport. While the team certainly dealt with some controversy, the men ultimately dominated their way to the top of the podium. You can catch the highlights from the gold-medal-match here.
Hockey Medals:
Hockey, Women’s - Silver Medal: Erin Ambrose, Emily Clark, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Renata Fast,Sarah Fillier, Jenn Gardiner, Julia Gosling, Sophie Jaques. Brianne Jenner, Jocelyne Larocque, Emma Maltais, Emerance Maschmeyer, Sarah Nurse, Kristin O'Neill, Kayle Osborne, Marie-Philip Poulin, Ella Shelton, Natalie Spooner, Laura Stacey, Kati Tabin, Claire Thompson, Blayre Turnbull, Daryl Watts
This was yet another classic installment of the greatest rivalry in sports, where Canada took the United States to the limit in a 2-1 overtime thriller. Despite a brilliant shorthanded goal by Kristin O'Neill and a stellar performance by Ann-Renée Desbiens in net, a late equalizer and an OT winner left the Canadians with silver. The American side had thoroughly dominated the tournament throughout, leaving us Canadians heartbroken yet still proud of the effort our girls put in to bring the tilt to a decisive OT. You can watch the highlights from this nail-biter here.
Ice Hockey, Men’s - Silver Medal: Travis Sanheim, Devon Toews, Cale Makar, Sam Bennett, Nick Suzuki, Sam Reinhart, Bo Horvat, Macklin Celebrini, Thomas Harley, Seth Jarvis, Shea Theodore, Nathan MacKinnon, Darcy Kuemper, Brandon Hagel, Tom Wilson, Josh Morrissey, Logan Thompson, Jordan Binnington, Colton Parayko, Mark Stone, Brad Marchand, Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty, Mitch Marner, Connor McDavid
This was the finals match-up we had all been looking forward to since the 2014 Sochi Olympics, with a true “best-on-best” showdown between the NHL stars from Canada and the United States delivering one of the best hockey games I’ve personally ever seen, regardless of the result. Trailing for most of the game after an early goal by Matthew Boldy from the Americans, Cale Maker tied the game up for the Canadians late in the 2nd. In what can only be described as a goalie “standing on his head”, USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped an all-out Canadian onslaught in the 3rd period, bringing the game to overtime, where Jack Hughes dashed our collective Canadian dreams. You can relive the game (and all of its pain) here.
Woah, Canada - Not-So-Happy Viral Moments:
Heated Rock-Valry?
One of the most talked about moments of the games came from Canada and Sweden’s heated exchange during the round-robin of the men’s curling tournament, which was alluded to already above. The moment boiled over when the Swedish team accused Marc Kennedy, a member of Brad Jacobs' rink, of double-touching the last rock of the 8th end, which, if correct, would have “burned” the stone and removed it from play. This accusation sparked a profanity-laden shouting match on the Canadian side, with Kennedy vehemently denying he had cheated. While it wasn’t called, a video released after the game by the Swedish media showed a clear double touch, adding fuel to the fire. While Canada was certainly watched like a hawk going forward from this uncalled infraction (including the women’s team having stones burned for the same infraction), it seemingly did not alter the confidence and results on the ice, as Brad Jacobs rink secured gold for Team Canada.
A “Less Than Impressed” Silver Moment for MacKinnon
If you want to see an expression that speaks a thousand words, look no further than the medal ceremony for the Men's Hockey team. After a gut-wrenching overtime loss to the United States, the Canadian players—including NHL superstars like Nathan MacKinnon (who earlier missed a wide open net in the 3rd period) and Cale Makar—were presented with their silver medals. Accompanying the medals for the Canadians was "Tina the Stoat," the fluffy, impish mascot of the Games. A clip of Nova Scotia’s own MacKinnon looking down at the stuffed animal with an expression of pure, unadulterated "What am I supposed to do with this?" went viral instantly. While the gesture was meant to be wholesome, the image of battle-hardened hockey players holding what many described as "emotional support stoats" while mourning a gold medal became the ultimate "mood" for heartbroken fans back home. You can see the video of the awkward presentation here.
That wraps up another Winter Olympics for Canada, with Canada’s Olympic dreams now set on LA 2028 for the summer and the French Alps in 2030 for the winter. I hope this article has brought attention to the triumphs our athletes achieved over the last few weeks, and that you may have even learned a thing or two about the glories of short-track speed skating. Thanks for reading!