Olympic medal count: One country continues to strike gold
As the 2026 Winter Olympics enter their second week of competition, one country is clearly starting to dominate the Olympic medal count.
At the end of the competitions on Monday, Feb. 16, this country pulled ahead and started to take a more comfortable lead.
That country is Norway. After only having a narrow lead in the beginning of the Games, Norway has managed to pull ahead in the tally.
As of the final competition results on Monday, Norway is up to 28 medals, 12 of which are gold, seven of which are silver and nine of which are bronze, according to Olympics research. Even though they only gained two bronze medals during competitions on Monday, that gives Norway a healthy lead over the other countries in the race for the top position.
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As for No. 2, that’s Italy with 23 total medals, eight of which are gold. They only added one medal on Monday. The United States is No. 3 with 19 total medals, adding two on Monday. Six of those medals are gold.
Underdog Japan continues to surprise the world with their solid showing in the Winter Olympics. They now have 18 total medals. They’re at No. 10 on Monday. The top five include Norway, Italy, the United States, the Netherlands and Austria, in that order.
So, which countries were favored to dominate the Olympic medal count going into the Games? According to research from CBS Sports, included Norway, the United States, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, China, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Belgium, Finland, Australia, South Korea and Slovenia.
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According to research from the International Olympic Committee, 2,916 athletes are competing in this year’s Winter Olympics. The U.S. has the highest number of athletes at 235, plus three alternate athletes, followed by Canada with 211 athletes and Italy with 195 athletes.
A major development for the U.S. on Monday was Team USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, who took gold in the women’s individual bobsleigh event. It marks Meyers Taylor’s sixth medal and first gold, which ties her with Bonnie Blair as having the most medals for a U.S. female Winter Olympian in history.
