Team USA highlights from Thursday, February 19 at 2026 Winter Olympics

Milan-Cortina, Italy – In a single winter day that felt like an entire highlight reel, Team USA packed gold-medal glory, heart-stopping comebacks, and history-making firsts into Thursday’s program at the 2026 Winter Games. From a 20-year-old figure skater ending a 24-year drought to a veteran hockey core snatching victory from their fiercest rival in overtime, the red, white, and blue delivered a masterclass in high-stakes performance.

Alysa Liu ignited the American surge in the Palavela arena, unleashing a free skate that scored 150.20 and rocketed her from third to first in women’s singles. The marks sealed the United States’ first Olympic title in the event since 2002 and gave Liu her second gold of these Games after last week’s team triumph. Clean triple-triple combinations and a closing spin that whipped the crowd into a frenzy punctuated a program she punctuated with an emphatic “that’s what I’m talking about” when the scoreboard flashed.

Hours later the spotlight shifted to the women’s hockey final, where Hilary Knight authored her own slice of legend. Down 1–0 to Canada with under two minutes remaining, Knight crashed the crease and tapped in her record-extending 15th Olympic goal, forcing 3-on-3 overtime. There, defender Megan Keller swooped across the blue paint and slipped a backhand past the Canadian goalie, sealing a 2–1 victory and the Americans’ first Olympic women’s hockey title since 2018. Coach John Wroblewski, tears streaming, watched his bench empty into a pile of gloves and sticks as the rivalry gained another classic chapter.

The drama spilled into the curling sheet, where Tabitha Peterson’s rink stared down elimination and a Swiss surge that erased a three-point lead in the 10th end. In extras, Peterson’s final stone bit the four-foot for a 7–6 win, locking up the No. 2 seed and Team USA’s first women’s semifinal berth in 24 years.

On the speed-skating oval, Jordan Stolz’s quest for four golds met its first hurdle in the men’s 1,500 meters. Starting the final pair more than a second adrift, the 19-year-old reeled in the deficit to capture silver behind China’s Ning Zhongyan, who lowered the Olympic record to 1:41.98. Stolz, already the 500 and 1,000 champion, now eyes the mass start for a potential fourth medal.

In freeski halfpipe qualifying, teenagers signaled the program’s future. Svea Irving topped the American contingent to advance to the final, while 15-year-old Abby Winterberger, the youngest member of Team USA, finished 16th with poised runs that belied her age. Both Irving and Kate Gray will contest Saturday’s final.

Amber Glenn, though mathematically out of podium range after the short program, delivered one of the day’s emotional peaks with a clean triple axel and 147-plus free-skate segment, capping her comeback with a stunned grin and a whispered “oh my god” at the kiss-and-cry.

Technically struck the previous evening, Mikaela Shiffrin’s slalom gold still resonated across broadcasts, the champion’s candid, expletive-laced interview reminding viewers how heavy Olympic pressure can be—and how sweet release tastes when it finally lifts.

By nightfall in the Alps, the United States had padded its medal count, witnessed the birth of new stars, and watched seasoned veterans cement legacies. Thursday in Milan-Cortina belonged to Team USA, a program simultaneously honoring its past and accelerating toward its future.