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For hundreds of athletes, representing Team USA at the Winter Olympics can be a career-defining honor. Years later, however, a select group has managed to stay in our memories.
Whether it’s a teenage sensation having a breakthrough, an all-U.S. contingent atop the podium or the neighborhood dads picking up a curling gold, these moments are enduring images from the 2014 Sochi, 2018 Pyeongchang and 2022 Beijing Games.
The choices are subjective and, beyond separation based on Olympic year, listed in no particular order.
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Gero Breloer/Associated Press
At the 2014 Sochi Games, slopestyle made its Olympic debut. And the United States thoroughly dominated the event.
Joss Christensen posted a 95.80 thanks to a switch triple 1440, which—per Lindsay H. Jones of USA Today—he’d learned only two days earlier. For good measure, he scored a 93.80 that would’ve landed the gold anyway on his glory run.
Also on the podium were teammates Gus Kenworthy (93.60) and Nick Goepper, (92.40) who earned silver and bronze, respectively.
“I knew they all had a chance to medal, whether it was one of them, or two of them, or three of them, you just do what you can to get them all ready,” U.S. freeskiing coach Skogen Sprang said. “They did their jobs, stomped their runs, and crushed it. I’m stoked for all of them.”
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Luca Bruno/Associated Press
Nearly a decade later, Mikaela Shiffrin has become one of the most decorated skiers in U.S. history. Even after a disappointing slate in 2022, she’s a three-time Olympic medalist.
But in 2014, Shiffrin was simply a rising star.
Shiffrin headed to Sochi as the favorite in slalom but faced a loaded field. All three medalists from the 2010 Vancouver Games—plus 2006 bronze medalist Marlies Schild of Austria—returned to challenge Shiffrin, then an 18-year-old reigning world champion.
However, she notched the fastest time on her opening run and wrapped up the gold, defeating Schild by 0.53 seconds. Shiffrin became the youngest slalom winner in Olympic alpine skiing history.
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David J. Phillip/Associated Press
T.J. Oshie was a very good hockey player who made Team USA because he was exactly that. But he also secured a spot on the roster in part because he was very, very good in shootouts.
Unlike the NHL, international rules permitted a player to take any number of attempts once the opening rounds of the shootout were complete. Wanting a specialist to take advantage of the rule if necessary, the United States put Oshie on the roster.
And that moment arrived in group play against Russia.
Oshie opened the shootout with a goal, then returned for another five attempts in the sudden-death portion of the shootout. He outdueled Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky 4-of-6 times overall. And after U.S. teammate Jonathan Quick made a save during the seventh round of the shootout, Oshie scored the game-winner to give the Americans a dramatic 3-2 victory over the host country.
Team USA later fell to Finland in the bronze-medal game.
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Four years later, U.S. hockey put together another epic shootout—and this time, it resulted in a long-awaited gold medal.
After winning the inaugural women’s tournament at the 1998 Nagano Games, the United States narrowly missed in four straight Winter Olympics. Team USA lost to Canada in three gold-medal games (2002, 2010, 2014) and managed a bronze in 2006.
In 2018, Canada toppled the Stars and Stripes during the preliminary round. But the rematch went to the United States, which scored a third-period equalizer to force overtime.
Even at 2-2 through five rounds of the shootout, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson deked Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados to put Team USA ahead. U.S. netminder Maddie Rooney then stoned Meghan Agosta to seal a 3-2 victory and snap the gold-less streak.
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Gregory Bull/Associated Press
Snowboarding has rarely had mainstream stars, but Shaun White cracked the national consciousness in the 2000s. The next generation, though, announced itself in Pyeongchang.
And by next generation, we mean 17-year-olds.
During the 2018 Winter Olympics, both Chloe Kim (halfpipe) and Red Gerard (slopestyle) won gold medals and the hearts of U.S. fans. Kim tweeted through her hangry-ness on the day of qualifying, then routed the field with a 98.25 in the final. Gerard—who overslept, lost his jacket and swore on live television—scored a 87.16 to clip Canadian pair Max Parrot (86.00) and Mark McMorris (85.20).
Kim successfully defended her title at the 2022 Beijing Games, while Gerard finished fourth.
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Gregory Bull/Associated Press
Speaking of rare first mainstream U.S. snowboarder, Shaun White had redemption on his mind in 2018.
The legend of the “Flying Tomato” began at the 2006 Torino Games, where he evolved from an X Games star to a national icon. White backed up his crown with the “Tomahawk” at the 2010 Vancouver Games and went to Sochi seeking a three-peat.
However, he missed the podium in Russia with a fourth-place finish. Then, mere months prior to Pyeongchang, White crashed on a training run and needed 62 stitches.
The setbacks led to a golden triumph in 2018.
Entering his final run, White trailed Japan’s Ayumu Hirano (95.25) but landed back-to-back 1440s—which he’d never previously done—to post a 97.75 and reclaim the highest step on the podium.
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Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
At the outset of the Pyeongchang Games, U.S. cross-country skiers undoubtedly knew this reality: The only American to ever medal at the Olympics was Bill Koch, who took silver in 1976.
Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall teamed up to halt the drought.
In the team sprint, Diggins mounted a furious late-race comeback to secure Team USA’s first gold medal in the discipline. After separating from Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla, the U.S. star outraced Sweden’s Stina Nilsson down the final straight as NBC broadcaster Chad Salmela exclaimed “Here comes Diggins!”
Diggins again made history in 2022, taking bronze in the sprint and becoming the first U.S. woman to earn an individual medal in cross-country sprint.
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Curling is often considered the most relatable sport at the Winter Olympics. While the sport unquestionably requires an immense level of skill, no reasonable person will argue curling is more difficult than, well, literally anything else on the program.
And the U.S. team—led by skipper John Shuster—gained a cult following en route to a gold in Pyeongchang.
Shuster was part of a bronze-winning team in 2006. In the next two Olympics, though, the United States’ men finished 10th and ninth, respectively, out of 10 nations. Expectations were higher in 2018, but certainly not to the point of a gold.
Joke’s on us!
Shuster, John Landsteiner, Tyler George, Matt Hamilton and alternate Joe Polo combined to land Team USA’s first curling gold. They recovered from a 2-4 start, winning five straight games—including over Canada in the semifinals and Sweden for gold—to shock the curling community and spark a wave of new fans in the States.
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In the moment, it’s impossible to know which results from the 2022 Beijing Games will be widely recognizable as years pass. Still, a handful of prime candidates have emerged.
The unfortunate possibility is Shiffrin not seizing a medal in five individual events. Expected to compete for three medals, at worst—a staggering, though not baseless, level of expectation—she skied out in each of the slalom, giant slalom and combined.
Among many positives, Lindsey Jacobellis finally won gold in snowboard cross 16 years after a stunning fall cost her one in Torino. She added another gold alongside Nick Baumgartner in the team event.
Erin Jackson became the first black woman a speedskating medal in Olympic history, taking gold in the 500 meters. Figure skater Nathan Chen scored a world-record 113.97 in the men’s short program before celebrating a gold of his own.
Additionally, 50 years after his mom, Barbara Cochran, earned gold in slalom, Ryan Cochran-Siegle won silver in super-G.
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