Sport, when it reaches its highest level, ceases to be merely competition. Become
symbol, collective story, measure of a country that recognizes itself in its protagonists.
With Milan-Cortina 2026, Italy experienced an Olympics that will remain in the memory not only for
the record number of medals, but for the human and sporting quality of those who won them.
For this reason Italian Traditions dedicates a special chapter of its reportage to the faces of the 30
Italian medals: women and men who, different disciplines and very distant personal histories, have
composed a single mosaic of excellence. Not isolated heroes, but interpreters of a sporting tradition
which, on the snows and ice of home, has found its most mature form.
With 10 golds, 6 silvers and 14 bronzes, Italy has surpassed every previous Winter Olympic,
improving the results of Turin 2006 and Beijing 2022. But behind the numbers are stories of resilience,
longevity, rebirth and passing of the baton.
The champions and the gold champions
Leading the Italian medal table were names already written in history and new signatures destined for
stay there.
Francesca Lollobrigida, queen of speed skating, scored a gold double in the
3,000 and 5,000 meters, entering a very small club in the discipline. Technique, resistance and
humanity made her Olympics a modern manifesto of women’s sport.
Arianna Fontana, short track legend, added three medals to her endless list of achievements,
confirming herself as the most decorated Italian athlete ever at the Games. At nearly 36, he demonstrated that
longevity can be a form of excellence.
Federica Brignone wrote one of the most exciting pages of the Games: two gold medals in alpine skiing
a few months after a serious injury. His success has become the symbol of mental strength
applied to sport.
In team speed skating, Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti
They brought Italy back to the top step in the pursuit, uniting the Olympic present and memory.
The dominance in luge is also historic, with the gold medals of Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner in
men’s doubles and Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer in women’s doubles, at the first
Olympic appearance of the specialty.
In biathlon, Lisa Vittozzi won the first individual Olympic gold in Italian history in
discipline, in Anterselva, with a performance that shifted the world balance.
Finally, in ski cross, Simone Deromedis gave Italy a gold medal never seen before, on a
track that rewarded courage and tactical intelligence.
The silvers that made the difference
Alongside the golds, a long theory of silvers consolidated the solidity of the expedition.
From the women’s short track, with the relay led by Fontana together with Chiara Betti, Elisa
Confortola and Arianna Sighel, team snowboard cross with Michela Moioli and Lorenzo
Sommariva, up to alpine skiing with the silver medal of Giovanni Franzoni, an unexpected but already
central in the blue future.
In biathlon, the silver medal in the mixed relay confirmed the quality of the Italian group, while
in ski cross Federico Tomasoni signed one of the most emotionally strong medals of the Games.
The bronzes that complete the story
The bronzes of Milan-Cortina tell of depth and continuity.
From Sofia Goggia, the only Italian skier with three consecutive Olympic medals in the downhill, to
Dominik Paris, who closed the Olympic circle on his beloved Stelvio. From figure skating
in teams, back on the podium after twelve years, to the exploits of Riccardo Lorello, Lucia Dalmasso,
Dominik Fischnaller and the mixed luge relay.
In the background, the bronzes of the relays with Federico Pellegrino, Elia Barp and companions returned
dignity and perspective to a discipline in transition.
Closing out the bronze medal for Flora Tabanelli, just eighteen years old, in freestyle skiing: a feat
built against time and injury, which opens a new season for Italian sport.
Not only for the number of medals, but for the quality of the human story that has them
accompanied.
Milan-Cortina 2026 was not the Olympics of a single champion, but of a
system that has been able to generate excellence, protect the experience and bring out the new.
These athletes didn’t just win. They represented. They showed that tradition
Italian sports is not nostalgia for the past, but the ability to renew oneself without losing identity.
