Hilary Knight Proposes to Brittany Bowe at Olympics; Bowe Sits Courtside for Gold-Medal Final
hilary knight popped the question to Brittany Bowe during the 2026 Winter Olympics, and the newly engaged pair turned a headline-making proposal into an emotional team moment as Bowe cheered from the stands at Knight's gold-medal game.
hilary knight's proposal: a coffee-run engagement and an Instagram reveal
The engagement unfolded in a quiet moment between events: hilary knight got down on one knee after a morning coffee run, and Brittany Bowe accepted. The couple announced their engagement on Feb. 18 with a short video and a caption that framed the Games as central to their relationship—an arc that began when they first connected at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
Following the proposal, Knight joined the rest of the women's hockey squad for a final practice ahead of the gold-medal matchup. Knight's decision to propose on-site at the Games underscored how intertwined the athletes' personal and professional lives have become; both are competing in what each has described as their last Olympics.
Bowe in the stands and another shot at a medal in the 1500m
Brittany Bowe was visible in the Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena on Thursday, Feb. 19, wearing a Team USA jersey as the crowd of roughly 16, 000 watched the women's hockey final between longtime rivals. Bowe, who finished fourth in both the 1, 000-meter and the team pursuit earlier in these Games, will return to the ice oval on Friday, Feb. 20 for the women's 1, 500-meter race—an event where she has previously held a world record and hopes to land a late-career Olympic medal.
Her presence at the rink showed the couple balancing competing schedules: Bowe paused her own medal chase to support Knight in what could be the capstone of her hockey career, attending Knight's gold-medal game on the same weekend as her next race.
Olympic origins and what comes next for the engaged athletes
hilary knight and Brittany Bowe first forged a connection in the closed environment of the 2022 Beijing Games, where long masked walks gave them time to get to know each other away from the spotlight. The relationship grew after the Games and became public the following year, helping Knight find the strength to live openly while continuing a prolific international career.
With Team USA set to face Canada for the women's hockey gold at 1: 10 p. m. ET on Thursday, the engagement added another emotional layer to a game already laden with history and rivalry. Knight's teammates and Team USA staff rallied around her at practice and in the arena, and Bowe's decision to attend signaled the pair's priorities as athletes and partners heading into retirement from Olympic competition.
Both athletes have framed Milano Cortina as a culminating chapter: this edition of the Games marks Knight's fifth Olympics and Bowe's fourth. The proposal, the Instagram announcement on Feb. 18, the packed arena appearance on Feb. 19, and Bowe's looming 1, 500m race on Feb. 20 together create a condensed, storybook finish to their Olympic careers—one that mixes competition, personal milestones, and the high emotions that come with both.
As the U. S. women's hockey team prepared for the gold-medal showdown, the engagement served as a human counterpoint to the tactics, drills and final preparations that defined the days leading up to the match. For now, the couple will juggle Olympic obligations—Bowe's final races and Knight's championship pursuit—with wedding planning that began amid the world's biggest winter sporting stage.
