The 2026 Winter Olympics are well underway and already, we’re starting to see the results and medals pile up.
As of Sunday, Feb. 15, the USA has accumulated five golds and 17 total medals, the third most at the Olympics, with still a week of competitions still to go.
Here’s how some of the athletes with local connections have done:
In women’s individual skeleton, Queens College of Charlotte graduate Mystique Ro placed 15th with a final combined time of 3:52.48 across her four heats. She was the second highest placing American woman, as two-time Olympian Kelly Curtis finished 12th.
Ro’s final time was just 3.46 seconds slower than eventual gold medal winner, Austria’s Janine Flock, showing just how tight the sport is.
The track in Milan is 1,730 meters long with 16 curves built in and athletes can reach speeds in excess of 75 miles per hour as they travel down it.
The Virginia native had a tough start to the individual competition, finishing with the 17th and 16th fastest times in the first two heats, but she really picked it up in Day 2, with the 10th and 15th best times.
Ro was one of the fastest starters in the women’s competition, with good reaction time and initial sprinting ability thanks to her track and field background.
She again competed in mixed team skeleton, the first time it’s been featured at the Winter Olympics, and was on the highest placing American team, finishing in seventh place alongside Austin Florian with a combined time of 2:00.39.
The way the scoring works is that each athlete completes their own run and then the two times are combined for the final result.
Ro crossed the finish line in 1:01.08 and Florian in 59.31, which in the end was just 1.03 seconds slower than the combined gold medal time set by the Great Britain team.
The American duo did actually set the track record following their run — they were the seventh team to go — and so, for a bit, they got to be the team to beat and after her run, Ro even brandished the American flag proudly, draping it across her back.
However, that jubilation was short lived as just two teams later, the pair was overtaken and slowly but surely, they saw their placement fall lower and lower away from the podium.
It was a bit of a disappointing finish in the end for Ro, who actually entered the games having finished second in the women’s division and first in mixed team coming out of the most recent World Championships in 2025.
But being that this was the first ever Olympics for the 31 year old, there’s nothing to be sorry about as she still proved to be one of the best in the world.
In men’s ice hockey, the round-robin portion of the tournament concluded this past weekend, setting up the seeding for the elimination rounds.
Seth Jarvis and Team Canada finished as the top team in their group with a 3-0-0 record and overall secured the top seed and a bye into the quarterfinals.
The Carolina Hurricanes’ star winger appeared in two out of the three round-robin games for the Canadians, averaging just under 10 minutes per game in a fourth-line role, but still had a few good scoring opportunities in his minutes.
Canada will play the winner of the qualification play-off match between Czechia and Denmark.
Jaccob Slavin and Team USA also finished with a 3-0-0 record in their group and will be the second seed overall, as they had a lower goal differential than the Canadians.
The Americans have outscored their opponents 16-5, and Slavin has only been on the ice for just a single goal against, which came in just the first period of Team USA’s first game.
Team USA is set to face the winner of Sweden and Latvia’s play-off qualification match.
Sebastian Aho and Team Finland finished with a 2-1-0 record, but still managed to secure the fourth and final bye into the quarterfinals thanks to a blowout win over the Italians.
Aho has two goals and three points for Team Finland so far in the tournament and has been one of their most deployed players, as he’s being used in all situations.
The Finns will face either Switzerland or Italy in the quarterfinals.
Finally, Nikolaj Ehlers and Frederik Andersen helped to secure Denmark’s lone win of the round-robin on Sunday, as Andersen stopped 33 shots against Latvia and Ehlers netted the game-winning goal.
Team Denmark finished with a 1-2-0 record in group play and will now have to face Team Czechia in a play-off qualifier for the chance to advance to the quarterfinals to face Canada.
