Alex Ferreira, a 31-year-old free skier from Aspen, Colorado, won gold in the freeski halfpipe on Friday night at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. It was the culmination of a long arc—he'd earned silver and bronze at the previous two Winter Olympics, and this gold completed the set.
With that victory, Ferreira clinched Team USA's tenth gold medal at these Games, tying the nation's all-time record for Winter Olympics golds. The last time America hit that mark was 2002 in Salt Lake City, 24 years ago.
A Streak Built Across Sports
Ferreira didn't get there alone. His gold is part of a sustained run that began with alpine skier Breezy Johnson on February 8. Since then, the wins have come across nearly every winter discipline: Mikaela Shiffrin in alpine skiing, Elana Meyers-Taylor in bobsled, Alysia Liu in figure skating, the U.S. figure skating team, Elizabeth Lemley in freeski moguls, the women's ice hockey team, and speedskater Jordan Stolz—who's already claimed two golds, the only American to do so at these Games.
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Start Your News DetoxThat breadth matters. This isn't one sport carrying the medal count; it's the depth of American winter athletics showing up all at once.
Still, Norway has set the pace. Norwegian athletes have earned 17 golds so far, breaking their own record from Beijing 2022 (which was 16). The U.S. sits second in the overall medal count, but the gap in golds remains.
The Window Isn't Closed
America has chances to move beyond that 1998 record before these Games end. Jordan Stolz races the speedskating mass start on Saturday. Meyers-Taylor competes in the two-person bobsled. The U.S. men's ice hockey team is building toward a gold medal match on Sunday. Any one of those could push the total higher.
What's striking about Ferreira's moment isn't just that it ties a record—it's that it took 24 years to get back here. That says something about consistency, about the gaps between peaks. But it also says the infrastructure, the training, the talent pipeline is working again. This streak didn't happen by accident.
