Grazie, Italia! Team USA Delivers Top‑Two Finish in Gold and Overall Medals at Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games concluded on Sunday after 12 days of competition featuring 72 Team USA athletes (including four guides) among more than 600 athletes representing more than 50 nations. Team USA finished second overall in medal standings, earning a total of 24 medals (13 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze) and delivering one of its strongest performances in recent history in the 50^th anniversary edition of the Paralympic Winter Games.

“We are immensely proud of Team USA and all they accomplished at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games,” said USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland. “Their competitive excellence, resilience and spirit captivated fans in the United States and around the world. We are grateful to our wonderful hosts at Milano-Cortina 2026, the dedicated volunteers, the welcoming people of Italy, and everyone who supported these extraordinary athletes.”

Team USA’s 24-medal haul placed the U.S. second in standings in both total and gold medals – improving on the overall performance at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games. Of the top-eight countries who competed in 2022, the U.S. and Italy are the only countries to improve their overall medal count. With 13 gold medals, the team matched its haul from 2018 – its strongest gold‑medal showing in the last 20 years. A total of 28 athletes, as well as two guides, from the United States reached the podium, featuring six first‑time Paralympic medalists and six competitors who earned multiple medals during the Milano Cortina Games. Team USA took part in all five sports and captured podium finishes in four.

“Team USA showed the world its strength, passion and pride on the global stage throughout a memorable couple of weeks of competition,” said Finbarr Kirwan, Team USA Chef de Mission. “Our heartfelt thanks go to our athletes, support staff, National Governing Bodies and the communities whose unwavering support fuels Team USA’s success.”
 
Eight-time Paralympian Oksana Masters is leaving Milano Cortina as Team USA’s most decorated athlete with five medals, in a Games which saw many Team USA champions further cement incredible legacies. Meanwhile, new talent also took the world stage in their Paralympic debuts, highlighted by first-time Paralympian Kate Delson’s gold and silver in Para snowboard. In Nordic skiing, the team had its best gold-medal showing ever with a total of 10. On the ice, the U.S. sled hockey squad furthered the program’s dominance, claiming its historic fifth consecutive Paralympic title in front of a record-setting crowd of 10,795.

“It feels great to cement the legacy of this team, for the guys who came before us and built this program into what it is today," said defender Jack Wallace, who had a hat trick in the gold medal game against Canada. "The support from USA Hockey and the USOPC...it’s the lifeblood of this organization and this team, so it feels amazing to cash in on all their support.”

Five-time Paralympian Kendall Gretsch and three-time Paralympian Andrew Kurka were elected to lead the 2026 U.S. Paralympic Team into the Closing Ceremony as flag bearers. A dual sport athlete, Gretsch has cemented her name as one of the most decorated female winter sport athletes, adding four winter Paralympic medals to her collection at Milano Cortina 2026. She captured gold in the women’s biathlon sprint pursuit sitting, silver in the 7.5km sprint sitting, and bronze in both the cross-country 10km and biathlon 12.5km sitting races. Kurka, a three-time Paralympian and three-time Paralympic medalist, captured bronze in the men’s super-G sitting at the 2026 Games, adding to his collection of gold and silver from the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

• Patrick Halgren’s silver medal performance in the men’s super-G standing marks Team USA’s first medal in the event since 1998.
• Andrew Kurka completed his Paralympic medal set, winning bronze in the men's super-G sitting to add to his previous gold and silver medals from 2018.
• At just 16 years old and the youngest on the team, Meg Gustafson, guided by her brother, secured Team USA’s best-ever finish in the Para alpine giant slalom VI with a fifth-place finish.

• Team USA secured a total of 10 gold medals in Nordic skiing throughout Games – the most ever for the U.S. in the sport.
• The most decorated Winter Paralympian in history, Oksana Masters added to her medal haul with five medals in Milano Cortina, marking the third-most medals by a Paralympian across Summer and Winter Games with 24. With eight Paralympic Games completed, Masters also joins elite company, tying Allison Jones for second in total Paralympic Games across winter and summer. Masters’ four gold medals won in Italy break her own personal record for the most amount of gold medals in one Games.
• Four-time Paralympian Jake Adicoff – with guides Reid Goble and Peter Wolter – had a perfect Games, racing to four golds in as many races in Milano Cortina in the 20km free VI, 10km classic VI, 1km sprint classic VI and the mixed 4x2.5km relay. Heset the record for the most Para cross-country skiing gold medals won by a Team USA athlete at a single Paralympic Winter Games. He is now tied with sled hockey player Josh Pauls with five total golds through Winter Games, just one medal behind the U.S. leaders Brian Santos and Greg Mannino, who have six all-time gold medals.
• Kendall Gretsch became an 11-time Paralympic medalist and 9-time winter medalist after gracing the podium in four races in Italy, joining an exclusive group as she became the fourth most decorated woman winter Paralympian in U.S. history, only behind Oksana Masters, Sarah Billmeier and Sarah Will.
• Sydney Peterson won three gold and four total medals in Italy, taking her overall career Paralympic tally to seven medals. Peterson is just the 19^th U.S. woman winter athlete to collect three golds in one Games.
• The U.S. repeated as Paralympic champions in the mixed 4x2.5km relay (Josh Sweeney, Masters, Peterson and Adicoff with guide Reid Goble).
• With his gold in the relay, Sweeney is the first U.S. Winter Paralympian to win golds in two distinctly different winter sports (sled hockey, 2014).

• Para snowboard rookie Kate Delson took home gold and silver in her Paralympic debut as the youngest member of the U.S. Para snowboard team in banked slalom SB-LL2 and snowboard cross SB-LL2.
• Three-time Paralympian Noah Elliott had his best-ever Games, winning gold in the banked slalom SB-LL1 and silver in snowboard cross LL1, doubling his career medal count and returning to the top of the banked slalom podium for the first time since 2018.
• Three-time Paralympian Brenna Huckaby became the most decorated Paralympic snowboarder in history after earning the bronze medal in the women’s banked slalom SB-LL2 in Cortina, joining Delson on the podium and bringing her career total to five Paralympic medals.
• In his final Paralympic Games, three-time Paralympian Mike Schultz raced to bronze in men's banked slalom SB-LL1 to collect his fourth career medal.

• The U.S. sled hockey team continued its historic run, winning its fifth consecutive Paralympic gold medal and outscoring opponents 46–6 throughout the tournament, extending one of the longest dynasties in Paralympic team sports and becoming the first Olympic or Paralympic team to win five consecutive gold medals at a winter games. In its pool play match against Italy, the team combined for 14 goals, winning by the largest margin of victory in U.S. sled hockey history. With the gold-medal performance, Team USA becomes the first country to sweep all three Olympic and Paralympic hockey tournaments at one Games.
• Declan Farmer became the all-time leading scorer in Paralympic sled hockey history at just 28 years old. His 15 goals and 26 points throughout the tournament mark the most goals and points recorded by any sled hockey player at a single Paralympic Games, and his four hat tricks in as many games further cement his legacy as he continues to set new records for the sport.

• In the Paralympic debut of mixed doubles wheelchair curling, Team USA’s duo of Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer recorded a best-ever Paralympic finish in wheelchair curling with fourth place.