The best and worst of the Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics wind down and conclude this weekend, and it has been one of the most memorable, heartbreaking, inspiring and drama-filled Olympics in recent memory. Let’s take a look at some of the best, worst, and best of the worst moments from Milan-Cortino

Worst:

Lindsey Vonn’s fall-

Lindsey Vonn, who has struggled with injuries previously, ruptured her left ACL just days before she was set to compete in the women’s downhill skiing event. Despite this, the 41-year-old skier decided to compete for a medal in an unbelievable comeback story.

However, just 13 seconds into her run, she hit a gate and crashed, breaking her leg and requiring an airlift off the mountain.

Ilia Malinin falls off the podium-

Ilia Malinin had a lot of fanfare coming into the games, and drummed up even more after helping Team USA secure the gold medal in the team skating event. His individual medal quest started strong with a short program win, and continued with what should've been an easy free program victory after his main competition, Yuma Kagiyama, gave a less-than-excellent performance.

However, Malinin fell twice and underrotated jumps during his skate, losing a total of 72 points and falling all the way to eighth place.

Medals breaking-

Many athletes have claimed and shown their medals breaking, with the actual medal part falling off the ribbon, within a day of receiving them. Skier Breezy Johnson was one of the first to report her broken medal, saying it detached while she was jumping in celebration.

Biathlete Justus Strelow’s medal also broke during his celebration, and it could actually be seen happening during the broadcast. Figure Skater Alysa Liu posted on her story that her medal had detached from the ribbon after her team's victory.

Most athletes have been relatively unbothered by the faulty medals, but skier Ebba Andersson got the worst of the situation, as she claims her medal actually split in half when it fell off the ribbon.

Best:

Team USA women’s hockey wins gold in OT thriller vs. Canada-

Although Team USA had been dominant the entire tournament, including a 5-0 preliminary round win over Canada, it would take overtime for a gold medal winner to be decided on Thursday.

After being down 1-0, Hillary Knight would get a deflection goal in the final minutes of the period to tie it up for the US. Megan Keller got the golden goal for the US just over four minutes into the overtime period, securing gold for Team USA and sending Canada home with silver.

Host Italy’s historic medal performance-

Host country Italy had 30 medals in the 2026 Winter Olympics, crushing its previous record of 17. It is a high honor to host the Olympics, and it makes the already incredible experience that much more special for the athletes representing the home team.

In general, the host country tends to perform much better than they typically do, driven by its fans and added national pride.

Alysa Liu’s triumphant return-

Liu won US nationals at age 13, before placing 6th in her Olympic debut three years later, and announced her shocking retirement just months later. After rediscovering her love for the sport and finding herself as a person outside of the sport, she returned in 2024.

Liu’s return was fully on her terms, as she gets the main say in her routine, music, costume, and everything else. Her transformation and creative control were evident on the ice, as she skated joyfully and effortlessly to two gold medals, one in the team skate and one in the individual.

Guinea-Bissau, Benin, and the United Arab Emirates make their Winter Olympics debuts-

Representing your country in the Olympics is hard, but the Winter Olympics may be even harder with the added aspects of many parts of the world being simply impossible to play winter sports in, and the added costs.

Despite this, Olympians are Olympians because of their ability to preserve which is proven every four years as countries make their debuts. This year, it was Benin and Guinea-Bissau with one athlete each, and the UAE had two.

Best of the worst:

Curling cheating scandals-

Turns out Canadiens can curse. Marc Kennedy broke barriers for the Canadiens when he crashed and cussed out Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson after he accused Kennedy of cheating. Eriksson claimed Kennedy pushed the granite with his finger after the stone crossed the hog line, and later followed with a larger accusation that he had seen Kennedy do this in multiple competitions.

Canada’s Rachel Hoffman was accused of the same penalty, with her stone actually being removed. Great Britain’s Bobby Lamine was also called for double-touching, and his stone was also removed.

While cheating accusations, especially so many for the same infraction, are bad news for any sport, from an outsider spectator perspective, it is bringing more attention to the game and creating more entertaining storylines.

Jenny Karamus is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email jrk6308@psu.edu.