2026 Winter Olympics were defined by redemption - and doing it your way by athletes such as Mikaela Shiffrin, Alysa Liu, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen
Updated 23/02/2026 at 17:43 GMT
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With the 2026 Winter Olympic Games brought to a close, TNT Sports' Pete Sharland looks back at some of the athletes who defined these Games. Specifically, the ones who have had to bounce back from heartbreak and those who did things their own way, and provided messaging that breaks through sport and reminds people of the importance of trying to find the joy in things, wherever they can.
Achille Lauro brings Closing Ceremony to an end
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There were so many heartwarming and incredible moments from the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina that picking just one feels impossible - a fool’s errand.
Likewise, picking one concurrent theme from the Games feels like an impossible task. Yet the more you study the past two-and-a-bit weeks, the more a key message seems to emerge.
More so than perhaps any recent international sporting event, these Olympics were defined by the greatness of athletes who had previously suffered disappointment or heartbreak.
And of those who triumphed at this ultimate pinnacle, there was an overriding core theme of doing it on their terms, often in stark opposition to what history would tell us is the right way. Â
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen - Bringing Samba to the snow
Let us start by considering a man from the tropical heartlands, who made history in these Games when he triumphed in the men’s giant slalom.
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Contender for 'best fit' of Closing Ceremony? Team GB look the part
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Not only was Pinheiro Braathen’s gold medal the first medal for Brazil at a Winter Olympics, it was the first medal at a Winter Games that the entire continent of South America had won.
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Watch Braathen's stunning final run to seal Brazilian gold in giant slalom
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For those who do not know his story, Pinheiro Braathen, still just 25, was once considered one of Norway’s greatest skiing prodigies. He won his first World Cup race at the age of 20 and looked poised to lead a new generation of male skiers in a post-Marcel Hirscher world.
However, nearly three years to the day of that win, he shocked the skiing world by stepping away from the sport entirely, aged just 23. He spoke of finally being free and happy, as well as citing frustration over various rules and regulations that governed his life as an athlete.
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Watch: Braathen hits wild celebrations after clinching Brazil's first Winter Olympics gold
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Just six months later though, he was back. Racing for Brazil, the land of his mother, rather than Norway. In the 2024/25 season he picked up five podiums. At the start of this season he went one better, winning the slalom in Levi in November. Three months after that, he was an Olympic champion.
And throughout this process Pinheiro Braathen has stayed true to who he is. He is funny, he is quirky and above all else he is astonishingly open and vulnerable. Society has made so much progress but we still have not normalised athletes talking about the intense pressure they are under, especially in the modern age, and how difficult that can be. Pinheiro Braathen is a liberating breath of fresh air, and a treat to both watch, and listen to.
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'I can't grasp reality,' says stunned Braathen after momentous gold
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Mikaela Shiffrin - A GOAT's redemption
From a history-making Alpine skier, to the greatest to ever do it.
In truth, Shiffrin did not need to win Olympic gold in Italy. She already had 108 World Cup victories (more than anyone by a large margin), eight World Championships gold medals - and 15 overall - again, the most of anyone, and three Olympic medals.
But anyone who has watched Alpine skiing, or indeed the Winter Olympics at large, knows why, deep down, Shiffrin needed the slalom gold she won.
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Watch Shiffrin's glorious run to win slalom gold - 'All the questions and drama are behind her!'
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In 2022 in Beijing, Shiffrin entered all six events available to her. A clean sweep was never on the cards but what transpired could not have been more shocking.
Shiffrin malfunctioned, there is no other word for it. She DNF’d in both the slalom and giant slalom and failed to threaten the medals in either the super-G or the downhill. The combined and team events also proved fruitless. The greatest to ever do it, left the Games medal-less.
Fast forward four years, and Shiffrin was a different Shiffrin. Over the past four years she has also become an ambassador for mental health, talking extremely openly about her struggles. Given the size of her platform it is fair to argue that there were few athletes who have done more than Shiffrin to talk about mental health.
These Games, like Beijing, did not start well. Shiffrin looked locked in for a gold in the team combined after Breezy Johnson’s stellar downhill run, but she made another mistake. Another followed in the giant slalom, heaping pressure onto the slalom, her favourite event.
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Watch: 'What's just happened!' - HUGE shock as Shiffrin misses podium in combined
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With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Shiffrin responded in style. She put down a dominant performance, highlighted by the below stat, and took her third Olympic gold medal. Only two skiers in history – Kjetil Andre Aamodt and Janica Kostelic – have won more golds than Shiffrin (both have four) but no skier will leave a legacy like her.
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Shiffrin struggling to 'process' stirring slalom gold
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Alysa Liu - Re-finding lost joy
Perhaps no athlete on this list better represents the struggle, and the journey, of elite young athletes. In a world with social media, they have to deal with a level of pressure and scrutiny that only their peers can truly relate to. Multiply that by a factor of 10 (and maybe more) if said athlete is female.
At the age of 16, having just finished sixth in the Beijing Olympics, Liu made the decision to retire from her sport, that is seven years younger than Pinheiro Braathen was. Liu cited loneliness, pressure and the simple time suck that being an Olympic athlete is. You only get to be a teenager once, and we so often forget how much these young stars have to give up to reach the very top. Yes, we talk about it, but do we really sit and think about it? Liu’s actions really brought that into focus.
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Watch Liu's stunning gold-winning routine as USA end women's figure skating drought
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A little under two years later, Liu made the announcement that she was coming back. She spoke about finding the joy in skating again, and doing things on her own terms. You can see that in her performances. She is lighter now, she is a joy on the ice, the only things that seem to be weighing her down are the two gold medals around her neck from her time in Italy.
And like the two athletes we have already mentioned, Liu has been extremely open and vulnerable. She has spoken about how important taking a break was for her and how valuable she thinks it was. She has been upfront that she may not skate a full programme next season, and how it is vital it is for her to continue to feel that joy to be able to compete.
We are still in our infancy when it comes to discussions about mental health. We have made tremendous progress but there is still so much to do. Hustle culture and overworking are real dangers across all walks of society. It is therefore vital that these role models not only talk about it, but then back that up by acting on those words. Liu’s arc in these games can be a powerful lesson for everyone.
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Watch: Liu reveals secret plan to deal with newfound fame after sensational gold
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Matt Weston - The new British hero
Four years ago, he finished the men’s skeleton in 15th, a whopping 4.23s behind champion Christopher Grotheer. For Weston, who had been forced to give up a promising taekwondo career due to injury, it must have felt like he had a mountain to climb in a sport he had only started five years earlier, almost by accident.
Fast forward four years and Weston sits atop that mountain. Coming into the Games, he had won gold in two out of the three World Championships since Beijing (with a silver to boot) and he had won the skeleton World Cup for three straight years.
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Watch: Weston delivers EPIC gold for Team GB
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But as we have discussed already, the pressure of an Olympics can do funny things to elite athletes. So could Weston step up?
You bet he could. A little under a decade after he picked up this weird and wonderful sport, Weston stood atop the podium, confirmed as the best in the world. He even added a second gold in the mixed event along with Tabitha Stoecker for good measure. He is the first British man to win skeleton gold, and follows in the footsteps of legends like Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold.
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Weston still trying to process 'whirlwind' week, as Stoecker cries 'happy' tears
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Biathlon’s rock stars - Go fast or go home
Ski fast, shoot faster.
A sport like biathlon does not have the daring jumps or high-speed descents that maybe other Winter Olympic sports do. But it combines pace, power and precision in a way that few other sports across the globe do, and when it is done well it is utterly electric to watch, just ask Jurgen Klopp.
When it comes to the rock stars of biathlon, three names stand above the rest; Dorothea Wierer, Julia Simon and Emilien Jacquelin.
The former bid the sport farewell in front of her home fans alongside Germany’s Franziska Preuss after a memorable career. Wierer, a back-to-back overall World Cup champion, was legendary for her fast, accurate shooting on the range. Whilst others were slow and steady in a traditional sense, Wierer blew them away with a modern approach to biathlon. She gave the sport a character they will never forget, and she will be sorely missed.
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Watch: Klopp opens up on similarities between biathlon and Champions League nights
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But not entirely, thanks to France’s heavy metal duo of Simon and Jacquelin, who take things to an even more extreme level. Jacquelin’s shooting speed is legendary, and when it works it is unlike anything else. Sadly for him, there are often days when either his shooting falls apart, or his aggressive approach on track results in him completely blowing up before the end of a race. Thankfully, Jacquelin - a truly fascinating character - was able to secure bronze in these games.
Then there is Simon, herself a former overall World Cup winner, and a three-time gold medallist from these Games. Simon missed the first month of the season as the French team took action following a credit card fraud scandal involving team-mate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet but her return has been spectacular and there is still no athlete quite like her. Simon's return to both relay teams speaks to how integral she is.
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Where have we seen this before?
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Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo - A Nordic God amongst mortals
Where else could we finish?
Klaebo, at the ripe old age of 29, is the greatest Winter Olympian of all time and deserves to be in the pantheon of greats, as one of the best athletes we have ever seen in human history, full stop.
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Watch: Klaebo activates beast mode again to win SIXTH gold
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Klaebo won an astonishing six golds at Milano Cortina, more than any athlete has at a Winter Olympics. He now has 11 golds in his Olympic career, second only to legendary American swimmer Michael Phelps.
During a broadcast at one stage, former British biathlete Mike Dixon was asked whether we would ever see anyone match Klaebo’s record. His response? An emphatic no. We might never see an athlete quite like Klaebo ever again, and he has not finished yet.
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