Olympic Medal Count: One Country Just Pulled Ahead

As the 2026 Winter Olympics come to a close on Sunday, Feb. 15, one country is pulling ahead and taking a notable lead after getting competition from below.

As of the end of the day on Sunday, Norway is up to 26 medals, 12 of which are gold and seven of which are silver and bronze, each, according to Olympics research. That gives them a substantial lead over any other country in the race for the top spot.

Coming in at No. 2 is Italy with 22 total medals  and eight gold. They also have four silver and 10 bronze medals. The United States is No. 3 with 17 total medals, including five gold, eight silver and four bronze. So, yes, the United States has a lot of catching up to do if they want to take the lead. The Netherlands and Sweden are tied for the No. 4 spot.

One surprise is that Japan, who wasn’t a favorite going into the Winter Olympics, has 17 total medals, including three gold, five silver and nine bronze.

More sports news: Olympic Skier Suffers Horrific Crash at Winter Games

Ahead of the Winter Olympics, countries favored to win the most gold medals, 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, in that order.

More sports news: Olympics Makes Major Change After Canada-Sweden Curling Scandal

According to stats 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.

One of the big developments from Day 9 of the Olympics is that American medal hope Mikaela Shiffrin didn’t make it onto the podium in the women’s Alpine skiing giant slalom. Instead, Italy’s Federica Brignone scored her second gold of the 2026 Games.

As for more news on Team USA, American Erin Jackson finished fifth in the 500m speedskating, amid Femke Kok of the Netherlands making history and breaking the Olympic record.