Eileen Gu wins halfpipe gold as Zoe Atkin claims bronze in Milan-Cortina 2026
China’s Eileen Gu won gold in the women’s halfpipe with a score of 94. 75, while Zoe Atkin claimed bronze for Team GB in Livigno as eileen gu took her first gold of these Games after two silvers. Atkin’s bronze was the fifth medal for Great Britain at the Milan-Cortina Games, equalling the team’s record-best haul from 2014 and 2018.
Eileen Gu's winning run
Eileen Gu finished the final with 94. 75, securing her first gold at these Games after previously winning two silvers. Li Fanghui finished between Gu and Atkin, taking the silver medal in the final standings.
Atkin's family and Olympic history
Zoe Atkin, 23, said she had dreamed of a moment on the podium since watching her big sister Izzy win Winter Olympic bronze for Team GB as a 15-year-old at Pyeongchang in 2018. That spark burned for eight years until Sunday, when Atkin became only the second British athlete to win an Olympic medal on skis; the first was her sister’s Pyeongchang slopestyle bronze.
Atkin spoke of her sister as a driving influence, saying her sister "was always my biggest inspiration, she pushed me into the sport, she was always bullying me to jump off things on the mountain. " She called the result "a real full-circle moment" and acknowledged that her mother was "claiming that she's the first parent to have two Olympic medallists for GB in the family. "
Atkin's runs, background and scores
Atkin had already secured a medal before dropping into the pipe for her final run, and with the pressure off she improved her score to 92. 50. That mark left her just half a point shy of the silver medal position. Atkin had qualified in first place but fell behind Eileen Gu and Li Fanghui in the final.
Atkin arrived in Italy as the reigning world champion and fresh from winning the superpipe competition at last month's Aspen X Games. She is from Massachusetts, has held dual UK-American citizenship since birth, and has a British father. She told reporters she had been nervous in the final and "played it a little bit safe on my first run" before saying she "stepped it up a little bit on my third run. " She also reflected: "I've been working on my run for the past four years, even longer, and to be able to come back to the Olympics and be on the podium means so much to me. " On her Olympic debut in Beijing four years ago she finished ninth and had come to Milan-Cortina eager to improve that placing.
Team GB's record-equalling haul
Atkin’s bronze was Great Britain’s fifth medal at the Milan-Cortina Games, following three golds and a silver, equalling the total achieved in 2014 and 2018. Team GB’s three golds at these Games included mixed team snowboarding and mixed team skeleton, and the men's singles skeleton title.
Team GB’s run of success included a moment "exactly a week ago" when Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale secured the second of those golds in the mixed team snowboard cross. Last weekend the nation made history when Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won one gold and Matt Weston and Tabby Stoecker won another in the mixed team skeleton, the first time Team GB had secured two gold medals on a single day of any previous Winter Games. It was also the second gold at these Games for Matt Weston, who separately took the men's singles skeleton title.
Team GB narrowly missed out on a further gold after losing to Canada in a tense men's curling final on Saturday. The side led by Bruce Mouat had to settle for silver, a repeat of their result from the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
Other notable results and moments
Across the final days of Milan-Cortina 2026, USA claimed the final gold medal of the Games in ice hockey after Jack Hughes scored the overtime goal to give the United States the win, a match Beau Dure had been watching. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo saw his medal count hit five at the Games.
Mikaela Shiffrin returned to the top of the podium in the slalom, winning by 1. 50 seconds — the largest winning margin in an Olympic alpine skiing event in nearly three decades — to end an eight-year medal drought. Shiffrin, who at 18 in 2014 became the youngest US woman to win Olympic slalom gold, is now 30 in 2026 and was described as bringing her career full circle. Descriptions of her career in these Games noted a record 108 World Cup victories and a long run of Olympic races without a podium before this return to gold.
Italy provided a highlight in speed skating as Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti thrashed the US trio of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran to win the men's team pursuit gold medal, beating the Americans by 4. 51 seconds and securing Italy's first Olympic title in the event since the Turin Games in 2006.
There was also heartbreak for Kirsty Muir in the big air competition. The 21-year-old from Aberdeen landed a left double 1620 to move into the medal positions after two rounds, but Flora Tabanelli — who had no anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee after tearing her ACL in November — came down a 180-feet ramp and scored 94. 25 points to take the bronze and deny Muir a medal. "It was a little bit bittersweet, " Muir said.
These results rounded out a closing period of competition at Milan-Cortina 2026 that combined established stars and dramatic moments across disciplines.
