As the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics concluded Sunday, publicly out LGBTQ+ athletes recorded their strongest Winter Games medal wins to date.
According to tracking by Outsports, 49 publicly out LGBTQ+ Olympians competed in Milan, a record number for a Winter Olympics. Of those athletes, 19 won gold, silver or bronze medals, the highest total documented at any previous Winter Games.
Team USA’s women’s hockey team secured gold after defeating Canada in overtime on Feb. 19. Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight and Alex Carpenter are publicly out LGBTQ+ members of the U.S. roster. The Games also marked a personal milestone for Knight, who proposed to Olympic speed skater Brittany Bowe while in Milan. In a video shared on Instagram, Knight wrote, “Olympics brought us together. This one made us forever.”
In alpine skiing, Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Johnson also became engaged during the Games after her fiancé proposed at the finish line of her Super-G race. In figure skating, Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, earned gold as part of the U.S. team event. Glenn became the first out queer woman selected for the U.S. Olympic figure skating team.
Glenn has spoken publicly about competing as an out athlete on the world stage. “I’m gonna keep speaking my truth. I’m gonna keep representing what I believe in and what I think all Americans believe in, which is freedom and being able to love and do what you want,” Glenn said.
LGBTQ+ athletes also reached the podium across Europe. French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle. Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat, a gay man, captained the British curling team to a silver medal finish.
Canada’s women’s hockey team earned silver, with six publicly out LGBTQ+ players on its roster: Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey and Marie-Philip Poulin.
Bronze medalists also included several openly LGBTQ+ athletes. Belgian and gay speed skater Tineke den Dulk was part of Belgium’s mixed 2000-meter relay team that won bronze. Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won bronze in ski cross. Gay Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier and his partner Piper Gilles won bronze. Laura Zimmermann, who identifies as queer, was a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that secured bronze after defeating Sweden.
The scale of participation in Milan reflects a measurable shift in Olympic visibility. Outsports has tracked publicly out Olympians for more than a decade, documenting steady growth in athletes competing openly at both Summer and Winter Games. Earlier Winter Olympics featured far fewer publicly out competitors.
Milan Cortina’s 49 openly LGBTQ+ athletes represent the largest group documented at a Winter Games since that tracking began, marking a significant milestone in Winter Olympic history. The 19 medalists in Milan represent athletes from multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Sweden, illustrating the international scope of openly LGBTQ+ participation. The medal count spans team and individual events, from women’s hockey and curling to alpine skiing, figure skating and freestyle skiing. Athletes competing openly in Milan also represented a range of identities across lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer communities, confirming the breadth of participation across disciplines and competitive levels at the Games.
That increase has changed the nature of representation at the Olympic level. Rather than a single athlete standing alone, openly LGBTQ+ competitors in Milan appeared across team and individual events, across medal ceremonies and across multiple national delegations, reflecting broader inclusion within elite winter sport.
Among Team USA’s openly LGBTQ+ competitors was speed skater Conor McDermott-Mostowy, the only out male athlete among the eight openly LGBTQ+ members of Team USA in Milan. He has spoken about the responsibility that can accompany competing openly at the Games. “I do feel I need to be a spokesperson,” he said in an interview with GLAAD. “Partly because I am gay and I’m the only out person in my sport.”
With Milan Cortina now complete, the 2026 Winter Olympics stand as the most successful Winter Games on record for publicly out LGBTQ+ athletes based on documented participation and medal counts.