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Members of the Canadian squad could not have asked for more. They tasted success in almost every event they participated in. Though they won a gold and a bronze in short speed skating but also registered breathtaking wins in men’s ice hockey and curling to climb to 11th position in the medals tally with four golds and as many silvers plus six bronze medals.

In ice hockey for men, Canada survived a scare before overpowering Czechia 4-3 in extra time to make the last four round.

While Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo continued to satiate his appetite for Olympic medals by adding his career 10th medal, some other stalwarts who delivered the magic on the ice and snow read like a cast from a superhero movie: Mikaela Shiffrin, Xu Mengtao, Arianna Fontana, and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.

ALSO READ: Milano Cortina 2026: Canada’s women speedskaters retain gold on a day impacted by weather

The USA has steadily maintained its position at number three in the medals tally as Mikaela Shiffrin, irrepressible Shiffrin, demonstrated why she is by soaring to her first gold of the Games in women’s slalom.
The adage that form is temporary, class is permanent rang true on Day 12 of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 as it witnessed another day of record-setting performances, dramatic finishes and remarkable comebacks.

Canada’s Steven Dubois powered to Olympic gold in the men’s 500m short track speed skating final, producing a front-running masterclass to win in 40.85 seconds.

Dubois exploded off the start and was first into the opening corner — a crucial advantage in the sport’s shortest distance — and from that moment never relinquished control. Skating smooth, tight lines, the Canadian kept the field at bay across all four-and-a-half laps, resisting late pressure to seal the victory.

Behind him, Melle van ’t Wout of the Netherlands closed strongly in the final lap but crossed just 0.06 seconds back in 40.91 to take silver. His compatriot Jens van ’t Wout secured bronze in 41.92, completing a double podium for the Dutch team.

For Dubois, the victory marks his first individual Olympic gold medal, adding to the bronze he won at Beijing 2022. It is the Canadian’s fifth Olympic medal of its career and second of Milano Cortina 2026, following silver in the mixed relay earlier at these Games.

The silver for Melle van ’t Wout represents his first Olympic medal on his Games debut and the Netherlands’ first Olympic medal in the men’s 500m.

Bronze medallist Jens van ’t Wout continues his remarkable Milano Cortina campaign, earning his third medal after winning gold in both the 1000m and 1500m. The other Canadian in the race, William Dandjinou, was disqualified. It’s Dubois’ second medal after he won silver in the mixed 2000-metre relay. Maxime Laoun competed in semifinal B, finishing fourth.

Canada also won bronze in the women’s 3,000 metre short track speed skating relay event. Danae Blais, Florence Brunelle, Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault led the relay for much of the race before falling back to third. Canada finished in four minutes 4.314 seconds, three-tenths of a second behind gold medallist South Korea. Host Italy was second.

For Sarault, it is her fourth medal in short track at these Winter Games, having won silver in the mixed team relay and women’s 1,000m, and bronze in the women’s 500 metre event. It is Canada’s 13th medal of the Games. Canada survived a major scare at Milano Cortina 2026 on Feb. 18, edging Czechia 4–3 in overtime in a dramatic men’s ice hockey quarter-final in Milan to keep their Olympic gold hopes alive. After cruising through the group stage unbeaten, Canada were pushed to the limit by a Czech side that led late in the third period and came within minutes of a huge upset, before Nick Suzuki’s late equaliser forced overtime. 

Mitch Marner struck the golden goal in the extra period, firing Canada into the semi-finals and keeping the tournament favourites on track for a medal. 

After Canada opened its Milano Cortina 2026 campaign by beating Czechia 5–0 in the preliminary round, this quarter-final had a very different edge from the first drop of the puck. Czechia was far more aggressive and physical from the outset, and its opponents soon realised that they were in for a battle. 

Canada still struck first through Macklin Celebrini, but Czechia responded with real intent, levelling through Lukáš Sedlák before David Pastrňák put them ahead with a power-play goal to give the Czechs a 2–1 lead after the first period.The Canadians hit back in the second, with Nathan MacKinnon finishing off a power play to tie the contest at 2–2 and set the stage for a tense final period.

Czechia regained the lead midway through the third when Ondřej Palát made it 3–2, leaving Canada suddenly staring at elimination.

But with time running out, Suzuki struck with just over three minutes remaining to make it 3–3 and force overtime in one of the most gripping games of the men’s tournament so far.

Mikaela Shiffrin raced to her first gold of the Games in women’s slalom to demonstrate she is the best, winning her second Olympic slalom gold medal, 12 years apart. 

Looking to win her first gold medal at the Games since PyeongChang 2018, Shiffrin had one final shot in an event she has absolutely dominated between Olympic cycles. Shiffrin has 108 World Cup victories behind her name – including 71 in slalom – and seven World Championship wins. 

Shiffrin showed no sign of nerves as she delivered an imperious performance on both her runs for a combined time of 1:39.10. The 30-year-old finished a second and a half ahead of silver medallist Camille Rast of Switzerland, with Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson (1:40.81) finishing third.

In cross-country skiing, the undisputed King of Winter Olympics, Klaebo anchored Norway to men's team sprint free gold as he continued his gold-medal harvest at Milano Cortina 2026 by anchoring Norway to victory in the men’s team sprint free. 
Klaebo captured his fifth title at these Games and his 10th overall, extending his record as the all-time gold-medal leader in the history of the Winter Olympics. 

Making his break in the final uphill section of the course, Klaebo raced to a 1.37-second winning margin over Team USA in second position. 

The 29-year-old Klaebo is just one victory away from breaking Eric Heiden’s record for the most gold medals at a single Winter Olympic Games. He will get that chance in the 50km classic race on Saturday. 

In cross-country skiing, Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist hit gold for Sweden as they raced to victory in the women's team sprint free to upgrade their silver medals from four years ago to gold. Sundling and Dahlqvist gave Sweden its fourth gold of Milano Cortina 2026, edging Switzerland’s Nadja Kaelin and Nadine Faehndrich into second place by just 1.4 seconds. Germany's Laura Gimmler and Coletta Rydzek (20:35.86) secured the bronze. Xu Mengtao of China retained women's aerials crown as she reached lofty heights, becoming the first athlete to win two Olympic golds in the aerials. The decorated aerial skier successfully defended her crown with a winning score of 112.90 for a commanding win over Australia’s Danielle Scott (102.17) in second place. Shao Qi (101.90) rounded out the podium to give the People's Republic of China a 1-3 on the podium.

The 35-year-old Xu, who is widely considered the greatest aerialist, won her fourth medal on her fifth appearance at the Games. 

Other gold for China came in slopestyle through Su Yiming on his birthday, when he blew out the candles and the competition for the men's snowboard slopestyle gold medal on his birthday. 
The 22-year-old Su upgraded his silver from four years ago and now has four medals in his collection - two gold (big air and slopestyle) and bronze (big air). 

Su got down to business on his first run with a score of 82.41 that would prove good enough for the title, beating Japan's Hasegawa Taiga (82.13) into second place. Team USA's Jake Canter bagged the bronze with 79.36.

Another Asian to shine was Japanese teenager Fukada Mari, the winner of the women’s slopestyle title
She celebrated a stunning debut at Milano Cortina 2026, winning the women's snowboard slopestyle gold medal. The 19-year-old got the best of New Zealand's defending champion Sadowski-Synnott and Japanese compatriot Murase Kokomo. The competition came to a climactic end with the three medallists posting their best scores on the final run. 

Fukada took the lead on her first run and sealed the deal on the third with a winning score of 87.83, with Sadowski-Synnott falling just short with 87.48.

Murase, the newly crowned big air gold medallist from Italy, scored 85.80 for her second consecutive bronze in the event. Sadowski-Synnott won a career fifth medal and her second in Italy, becoming the most decorated Olympic snowboarder in the world.

In biathlon, the French quartet powers to women’s biathlon relay gold as
Julia Simon delivered another decisive anchor leg, leading France to victory in the women’s biathlon 4x6km relay. 

The French quartet of Simon, Camille Bened, Lou Jeanmonnot and Océane Michelon claimed Olympic gold in 1:10:22.7.

A faultless performance on the shooting range gave Simon the edge to power her team across the line in a commanding 51.3-second winning margin over silver medallists Sweden. Norway completed the podium with bronze in 1:11:30.3 (+1:07.6).

The 29-year-old Simon now boasts three gold medals at these Games with her victories in the women’s relay, mixed relay, and the 15km individual event. 

The Republic of Korea reclaimed the women’s 3000m relay crown
Kim Gilli produced a roaring final two laps to lead the Republic of Korea to victory to reclaim the Olympic short track speed skating gold in the women’s 3000m relay. The Korean quartet of Kim, Choi Minjeong, Shim Sukhee, and Noh Dohee raced to victory, reclaiming the title from PyeongChang 2018 in a time of 4:04.014. Kim held off a challenge from Italy's Arianna Fontana and team for the title.

Fontana led her nation across the line in second for a record 14th career Olympic medal, with a time of 4:04.107. She is now the most decorated Italian Olympian, male or female. Canada rounded out the podium in 4:04.314.

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