Italy celebrated a record-breaking medal haul at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Monday, surpassing its previous best of 20 medals achieved at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. The nation’s 19th medal of the Games arrived with a bronze in the men’s cross-country skiing 4×7.5km relay, secured by the team of Davide Graz, Elia Barp, Martino Carollo, and Federico Pellegrino. This was followed in quick succession by gold medals in women’s giant slalom, claimed by Federica Brignone, and in biathlon, won by Lisa Vittozzi, and a silver in mixed snowboard cross.
Brignone’s victory in the giant slalom marked her second gold medal of the Milano Cortina Games, adding to an already impressive recent run of success. The 35-year-old also secured a gold and silver medal at the 2025 World Championships, a World Cup overall title, and three previous Olympic medals – one silver and two bronze – according to reporting from the Associated Press. She dominated both runs of the giant slalom, finishing 62 hundredths of a second ahead of Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund, who shared second place.
Vittozzi’s gold in the biathlon pursuit represents a historic first for Italy in the discipline. Starting in fifth place after the sprint event, Vittozzi mounted a remarkable comeback, achieving a perfect shooting performance – hitting all 20 targets without a single miss. She overcame a 41-second deficit to Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide, who took silver, although Finland’s Suvi Minkkinen claimed the bronze. Vittozzi’s performance mirrored her form at the end of 2025, when she returned to winning ways on the World Cup circuit.
The bronze medal won by Graz, Barp, Carollo, and Pellegrino in the cross-country relay ended a 20-year drought for the Italian men’s team in Olympic relay events, with the last medal coming at the 2006 Turin Games. This was the first Olympic medal for Graz, Barp, and Carollo, while Pellegrino secured his third Olympic medal, adding to the two silver medals he won in individual events at the 2018 and 2022 Games.
Italy narrowly missed a fifth medal of the day in the women’s 500m speed skating event, with Serena Pergher finishing just three hundredths of a second behind Japan’s Miho Takagi in the race for bronze. In the mixed team skeleton event, Alessandra Fumagalli and Amedeo Bagnis finished sixth with a time of 2 minutes and 4.00 seconds.
According to the FIS website, Davide Graz was born on March 5, 2000, and currently competes for the Gruppo Sciatori Fiamme Gialle team. He is currently ranked 32nd in distance and 31st in sprint as of February 15, 2026.
