Milano Cortina 2026: Canada’s strengths and opportunities at the Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo are well underway, and sports fans all across the world are paying attention to this prestigious competition. For Canada, ice hockey, speed skating, and freestyle winter sports have always been the foundation of success.

Canada has grown to become one of the strongest countries in the realm of winter sports, winning 222 medals at the Winter Olympic Games, including 76 gold medals. (If we’re counting ice hockey at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Olympics, the total rises to 223 medals, with 77 of them gold.)

Team Canada definitely has skillful athletes to be proud of. Some of them are Marie-Philip Poulin from ice hockey, Kim Boutin from short-track speed skating, and Éliot Grondin from snowboarding. All three athletes represented Canada at the Olympics in previous years and are representing the country again in 2026.

Poulin made her debut in the Olympics in 2010 and has competed in five Olympic Games so far, winning three gold medals and one silver. She is well known for scoring in key moments and is considered to be one of the most influential leaders of this year’s Olympics. 

At the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Boutin was Team Canada’s sole triple medalist. She also won another bronze medal in Beijing 2022 and now represents the country at Olympics 2026.

Grondin won a silver medal at the Beijing in snowboard cross and then added a bronze medal in the mixed-team event. The athlete is taking part in Milano-Cortina at 24 years old, strongly representing Canada’s young generation.

So far, Norway is leading the pack with the most medals, including 14 gold, followed by Italy and the U.S. Team Canada is in eleventh place with a total of 12 medals, including three gold.

Key opportunities for Canada this year include long-track speed skating held from Feb. 7 to 21 and short-track speed skating from Feb. 10 to 20.

The Olympics are no longer considered as only a talent-based competition, but more as a competitive international space where countries heavily invest money in winter sports development and improvement. Nations such as the Netherlands, Japan, and Italy have invested millions of dollars into elite sport development over the past years, which beneficially influenced their competitiveness.

Over the past decade, Canada has been performing well in snowboarding and freestyle skiing — and these types of contests may give multiple medals opportunities. If, in addition to these sports, Canada shows good results in hockey, then the team definitely can exceed the number of total gold medals won at the 2022 Winter Olympics, which were four.Even though winning gold medals is important for a country’s status, its athletes, and fans’ satisfaction, sports are more than just recognition. For Canada, winter sports became a part of identity and, through ice hockey particularly, many people from other countries abroad discovered Canada for themselves.

Sports can symbolize this country’s strengths, especially during its current political and economic state due to actions and rhetoric from the U.S.

The Olympics help to unite families all across the nation in supporting their favourite athletes and cheering for their country. 

Even though early results placed Canada behind some of its strong competitors, there are still many events and other opportunities to excel. For Team Canada, success will most likely depend on consistency in the final stages of the competition.