Ukraine's Medal Drought Continues: Day 12 of Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics

Ukraine's Medal Hopes Unfulfilled on Day 12

According to Главком: On February 18, 2026, the twelfth day of competition at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, nine gold medals were awarded across six sports. Ukrainian athletes, however, failed to reach the podium in any of the day's events in freestyle skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, short track speed skating, and alpine skiing. The nation's ongoing struggle for a medal at these Games is becoming a significant storyline.

Day 12 Medal Winners

In cross-country skiing, two sets of medals were awarded for the team sprint events. The men's gold was won by:

• Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Einar Gadegaard of Norway
• Silver went to Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher of the United States
• Bronze was claimed by Elia Barp and Federico Pellegrino of Italy

The women's team sprint champions were:

• Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist of Sweden
• Switzerland's Nadine Fähndrich and Nadja Kaelin took silver
• Laurien van der Graaff and Coletta Rydzek of Germany earned bronze

In snowboarding, the men's slopestyle podium featured:

• Gold medalist Yiming Su of China
• Silver medalist Taisei Hasegawa of Japan
• Bronze medalist Jake Canter of the United States

The women's slopestyle medals were awarded to:

• Gold winner Mari Fukada of Japan
• Silver medalist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand
• Bronze medalist Kokomo Murase, also of Japan

Alpine skiing saw notable results in the women's slalom:

• Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States won gold
• Camille Rast of Switzerland secured silver
• Anna Swenn-Larsson of Sweden captured bronze

In freestyle skiing, the women's aerials competition was dominated by China:

• Gold went to Mengtao Xu
• Silver was won by Danielle Scott of Australia
• Bronze was taken by Shao Qi of China

Biathlon's women's relay gold was claimed by:

• France
• Sweden took silver
• Norway earned bronze

In short track speed skating, the women's relay podium featured:

• Gold medalists South Korea
• Silver medalists Italy
• Bronze medalists Canada

The men's 500-meter event winners were:

• Gold medalist Steven Dubois of Canada
• Silver medalist Melle van 't Wout of the Netherlands
• Bronze medalist Jens van 't Wout, also of the Netherlands

With just five days of competition remaining, Ukraine has yet to secure a medal at these Games. The pressure is mounting for the nation's athletes to break through before the closing ceremony.

The continued absence of Ukrainian medals at the Milan-Cortina Olympics is causing concern within the sporting community. While athletes still have several days to improve their results, performances so far indicate significant challenges for the Ukrainian team across multiple disciplines.