March is Women’s History Month, where the accomplishments of women are celebrated and female voices are uplifted. In the Winter Olympics last month, history was made in many events, and a majority of the American gold medalists were women. Out of twelve U.S. champions, eight were women, with three from team or group events and five from individual events. Each of these champions has a unique backstory and journey that brought them to gold, and many have worked through challenges or injuries that forced them to become stronger athletes.
Easy Breezy Gold
The first female medalist to explore is Breezy Johnson, the 2026 Olympic champ in alpine skiing. While her Olympic debut was at PyeongChang in 2018, this is Johnson’s first Olympic medal at 30 years old. Starting at a ski academy in Utah, Johnson’s journey began when she joined the U.S. ski team in 2014. Her breakthrough came in 2017 when she qualified for her first senior world championships and was the youngest member on the U.S. team. Her Olympic debut was the following year in PyeongChang, but back-to-back injuries caused her to miss the 2022 Olympics. Johnson spent months off the slopes dealing with an ACL tear and other knee issues. However, this time may have been just what she needed to climb to the top of the podium this year, capturing the gold. The excitement for Johnson in Italy came from more than just the medal. Her boyfriend of over two years proposed after her final event in the Games, ending her 2026 Olympic experience with a lifetime memory.
Lemley Flies High
This may have been Elizabeth Lemley’s first Olympics, but it would be hard to tell from her stellar performance. Lemley earned two medals in Italy, gold in the women’s moguls and bronze in dual moguls. Her journey in the sport goes way back, as Lemley started skiing at just 9 months old and is now 20. Her father was inspired by moguls skiing when he watched the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and introduced the sport to his children. Lemley took to it quickly, doing her first flips at age 9. Her world cup debut came in 2022 when Lemley was 15, and she quickly became the top-placing American in the Olympic qualifiers.
Following this debut season, she was named the 2022 FIS World Cup Rookie of the Year, establishing herself as a top contender. This upward trajectory likely propelled Lemley this year, taking her all the way to Olympic gold. Lemley takes flight even when she is not on the slopes, as she has a pilot’s license to fly prop planes and four-seaters. Her love for flying connects to her love of the sport, as both require technical precision and discipline.
Shiffrin Slaloms To Success
Mikaela Shiffrin, the star skier from Colorado, has won the most Olympic gold medals of any American alpine skier. Her journey started with her first world cup victory in Sweden at 17 years old, followed by her Olympic debut in 2014. At these Games, Shiffrin became the youngest ever slalom champion at just 18 years old. Her victory trail would continue, as she captured gold in the 2018 PyeongChang Games in the giant slalom. However, Shiffrin hit a roadblock in the 2022 Games, where she did not finish in three events she had previously medaled in. Her best result in this Olympic run was fourth place in the mixed team event. She came back strong in the following seasons, leading up to her third gold medal at the Milano-Cortina Games this year. Shiffrin also just won the World Cup slalom race for the eighth time at her first event since the Olympics. Outside her numerous victories on the slopes, Shiffrin plays the guitar and piano. She also launched the Jeff Shiffrin Athlete Resiliency Fund in 2020, which helps athletes struggling to finance their training.
Monobob Magic
Before talking about gold medalist Elana Meyers Taylor, let’s explain what the monobob event entails, as it is relatively new to the Olympic scene. Monobob is similar to the bobsleigh event, where a team of athletes controls different parts of a sled, pushing, driving, and braking all together. In monobob, one athlete performs all those actions on their own, with the goal of having the lowest cumulative time. This is a female-only event, and it debuted a few years ago at the Beijing 2022 Olympics. At this inaugural competition, Meyers Taylor clinched the silver, preluding her future success.
Meyers Taylor is originally a bobsleigh competitor from California, and her first Olympics were in 2010, where she earned bronze in bobsleigh. Her Olympic career has been quite decorated, winning silver in 2014 and 2018. The introduction of monobob allowed Meyers Taylor to finally soar to the top, now at the tallest step of the podium. Outside of her Olympic sports, she attended George Washington University on a softball scholarship and previously served as president of the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Alysa Liu is no Liu-ser
Alysa Liu’s path to Olympic gold in figure skating was quite unconventional, but her success has skyrocketed her to fame. Liu became the youngest U.S. national champion in 2019 at the age of 13. She was sent to the 2022 Olympics and placed sixth, but at 16, the rigorous training and strict lifestyle kept her from enjoying the sport. Liu retired after the 2022 season despite her upward trajectory, choosing to live a normal teenage life. Nevertheless, she found her way back to the ice after taking a ski trip with a friend and being reminded of the thrill of sports. Liu’s comeback came on her own terms, as she is the driver behind her music choices, costumes, and training schedule.
Taking a step away from the intensity of competition allowed Liu to return with a different mindset than most other skaters, focusing on the journey and being motivated by her passion. This attitude and her natural talent brought her all the way to the top of the world podium in 2025, closing out her first season post-retirement with a major victory. At the Olympics in Italy, the women’s event was a tight race with no outstanding favorite for gold. Liu’s clean performances helped her to win gold, her first Olympic medal.
Women’s Hockey Hits the marks
One of the biggest victories for Team USA in Italy was in women’s hockey. Although the U.S. and Canada have dominated silver and gold in the event since its introduction in 1998, the U.S. team has not won since the 1998 Games, 28 years ago. It would be a hard task to sum up the histories of each of the 23 women on the U.S. team, but their synergy seems to have helped them succeed. Hayley Scamurra, number 16 and two-time Olympian, claims this is the best team she has ever played on. Meghan Duggan has an outside perspective as a Hockey Hall of Famer. She sees the 2026 Olympic team as the most dominant one she has ever seen, and the combination of skill, speed, and hockey sense makes them that way. Their coach, John Wroblewski, describes how the team’s intensity and focus made them stand out.
While the team as a whole was clearly part of the win, every player contributed to the success. Ten players scored at least five points throughout the Olympics, an outstanding number compared to other countries. Some players on the team are retiring now that the Games are over, but others are at the start of their careers, heading into the draft for the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Kuhn Comes from behind
The next female champion reached gold alongside a team. Kaila Kuhn won in the mixed team aerials event in freestyle skiing alongside Connor Curran and Christopher Lillis. In this event, each skier on the team performs a jump, and their scores are added up into a team score. Kuhn’s talent boosted the team to gold, and her journey started young. She first put on skis at just 18 months old, but it was not her only sport. Kuhn was a competitive gymnast until she was 12, when she was told to try aerial skiing by a future U.S. teammate. She competed in her first FIS World Championships at 15, and her Olympic debut came in 2022, where she placed eighth.
Kuhn’s breakthrough came when she switched from competing double to triple backflips before the 2024-25 season, leading her to become a two-time world champion and the youngest American to win the title in aerials at 21. Her success continued into the Olympics this year, winning gold alongside her teammates and placing fifth in the individual women’s aerials event.
Figure Skating Team Dazzles
The last female-driven gold came in the figure skating team event, where seven skaters gave their all to win against 10 other countries. In the women’s singles portion of the event, Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn each did one segment. Liu went out for the short program, stunning the audience with her performance to “Promise” by Laufey. Glenn, who competed in the free skate, is a powerful skater who has pushed through mental struggles to find success. She is a three-time U.S. champion and made her Olympic debut this year.
Another woman on the team is Madison Chock, who competed in ice dance alongside partner and husband Evan Bates. The two have been partners for 15 years and are three-time world champions and seven-time national champions. Chock designs the team’s costumes, curating them to match the themes of their skating programs. The last woman on this team is Ellie Kam, who competes in pair skating with Danny O’Shea. Kam grew up in Alaska and started skating when she was four years old. She enjoys aiding in the design of her and O’Shea’s costumes, similar to Chock. Kam and O’Shea have been in the top three at the last four national championships and made their Olympic debut this year.
Team USA claimed 12 gold medals at the Olympics in Italy this year, and eight of them were won by women. Each of these golden athletes and teams has had an incredible journey that brought them to the top, overcoming injuries and challenges. Their accomplishments are worthy of celebration, and many of them will continue to succeed, breaking more records and capturing more gold medals along the way.