Canada at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games

Leading up to the Games

For the first time since the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the National Hockey League (NHL) allowed its players to represent their respective nations. This was the first time Canadian hockey stars such as Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon participated at the Olympics, even though they were NHL veterans.

Russia was banned from the 2026 Olympic Winter Games because of its invasion of Ukraine. However, 20 athletes from Russia and Belarus competed as Individual Neutral Athletes. They were not allowed to participate in the opening ceremonies.

Speed Skating

Ten of Canada’s 21 medals at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games came in speed skating — five in long track and five in short track. In long track speed skating, the Canadian trio of Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais successfully defended their Olympic gold medal from Beijing in the women’s team pursuit. In the final, the Canadians beat the Netherlands by 0.96 seconds.

Maltais also won Canada’s first medal at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. On 7 February, she posted a time of 3:56.93 to win bronze in the women’s 3000 m. Maltais then won bronze in the women’s 1500 m with a time of 1:54.40. It was the first time she had reached the podium in that event. Canada’s other two long track speed skating medals came from Blondin (silver in women’s mass start) and Laurent Dubreuil (bronze in men’s 500 m).

In short track speed skating, the Canadian stars were Steven Dubois and Courtney Sarault. Dubois won gold in the men’s 500 m, while Sarault won silver in the women’s 1000 m and bronze in the women’s 500 m. Sarault won an additional two medals in team events for four medals overall. She teamed up with Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle, William Dandjinou, Dubois and Felix Roussel to win silver in the mixed 2000 m team relay. Sarault then teamed up with Boutin, Danaé Blais and Brunelle to win bronze in the women’s 3000 m relay.

Freestyle Skiing

Mikaël Kingsbury was the highest-profile Canadian freestyle skiing star at the 2026 Games. He won gold in men’s dual moguls (which made its Olympic debut) and silver in men’s moguls. Shortly after the Games, Kingsbury announced his retirement after 143 World Cup medals, 15 World Championship medals and five Olympic medals.

In other freestyle skiing events, Megan Oldham won gold in women’s big air skiing. Like Kingsbury, Oldham was a multiple medallist, winning the bronze medal in women’s slopestyle skiing. Meanwhile, Brendan Mackay won bronze in men’s halfpipe.

Curling

For the fourth time, Team Canada won a gold medal in men’s curling at the Olympic Winter Games. This was the second Olympic gold medal for skip Brad Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert. In the round robin in Milan, Canada finished in second place with a record of seven wins and two losses. They beat Norway 5–4 in the semifinals and bested Great Britain 9–6 for the gold.

In women’s curling, Canada was skipped by Rachel Homan for the second time. Homan had gone through Olympic disappointment in the past. She had missed the playoffs in women’s curling, both at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang and in mixed doubles curling with John Morris at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Things did not go well for Team Homan at first, as they lost three of their first four round robin games. However, they then won five straight round robin games to make the playoffs with a record of 6–3. They then lost 6–3 to Sweden in the semifinals before defeating the United States 10–7 to win a hard-fought bronze medal.

One of the hottest topics throughout the Olympic curling tournament centred around “double touching” the stone — when the player throwing a stone touches it after it has passed the hog line. Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Kennedy of cheating by double touching. Homan was also penalized for double touching in Canada’s round robin loss to Switzerland.

Ice Hockey

There was great excitement and anticipation for the Olympic men’s hockey tournament leading up to Milan. Canadian sports fans would finally get to see NHL superstars such as Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon representing Canada at the Olympics for the first time.

Team Canada won Group A with a record of 3–0. They outscored their opponents 20–3 by beating Czechia 5–0, Switzerland 5–1 and France 10–2.

In the quarter-finals, Canada defeated Czechia 4–3 on an overtime winner by former Toronto Maple Leaf Mitch Marner. In the semifinals, Canada defeated Finland 3–2. MacKinnon scored the game-winning goal with 35 seconds left. In the gold medal game, Canada got a goal from Cale Makar, but it was not enough as the United States won 2–1 in overtime, largely due to a spectacular performance from goalie Connor Hellebuyck. This was the first gold medal for the United States in men’s ice hockey since the “miracle on ice” victory at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid.

In the women’s hockey tournament, Canada advanced from Group A in second place with a record of 3–1. They defeated Switzerland 4–0, Czechia 5–1 and Finland 5–0. Their only loss came to the United States by a score of 5–0. Canada then beat Germany 5–1 in the quarter-finals and Switzerland 2–1 in the semifinals before losing to the United States 2–1 in overtime in the gold medal game. It was the first time the United States won the gold medal in both men’s and women’s ice hockey at the same Olympic Winter Games.

Figure Skating

Heading into the figure skating tournament at the 2026 Games, the expectations for Canada were not very high in the men’s and women’s singles events. However, Stephen Gogolev of Toronto put together a brilliant men’s free skate. He made three quadruple jumps and finished in 5th place.

Team Canada did reach the podium in the ice dance competition. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won bronze by posting a final score of 217.74 points. Canadian-born Laurence Fournier Beaudry teamed up with Guillaume Cizeron to win the gold medal for France with a score of 225.82 points.

Snowboarding

For the second straight Olympic Winter Games, Éliot Grondin won the silver medal in the men’s snowboard cross event. After Grondin finished second to Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, Haemmerle defended his title in 2026. The fact that Grondin did not win gold was something of an upset, since he was the defending world champion and had won 13 World Cup events since 2021.