LIVIGNO, ITALY - Alex Ferreira, a 31-year-old free skier from Aspen, Colorado, won a gold medal in the freeski halfpipe event on Friday night. For Ferreira, who had previously earned a silver and a bronze medal at the past two Winter Olympics, the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Games completed his set.
For Team USA, Ferreira clinched the tenth gold medal of these Games, tying the nation's all-time record for gold medals earned at the Winter Olympics – a record set at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon.
Ferreira joins a gold medal streak started by alpine skier Breezy Johnson on February 8. Other gold medalists for the U.S. include alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, bobsledder Elana Meyers-Taylor, figure skater Alysia Liu and the U.S. figure skating team, Elizabeth Lemley on the freeski moguls, the U.S. women's ice hockey team, and speedskater Jordan Stolz – the only American so far to earn two individual golds at these Games.
At these Winter Olympics, the U.S. is second only to Norway in the medal count. Norwegian athletes have earned 17 gold medals at the Games so far, breaking their own record for the most first place podium finishes of any nation in a Winter Games (Their previous record, set at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, was 16 gold medals, Mallon says).
There are still several opportunities for U.S. athletes to surpass the American gold medal record. On Saturday, speedskater Jordan Stolz races in the mass start and bobsledder Elana Meyers-Taylor competes in the two-person race. The U.S. men's ice hockey team is working its way towards a gold medal match Sunday.
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