The United States is among the winningest countries at the Winter Olympics, trailing only Norway in all-time medals.
While Team USA has dominated on the ice, slopes and tracks, there are a handful of Winter Olympic sports where medals have been hard to come by.
The U.S. will have a chance to earn its first Olympic medals in ski mountaineering, the lone new sport on the Olympic program for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. Beyond that, there is still another longtime Winter Olympic sport where the country is chasing its first podium finish.
Let’s look at the Winter Olympic sports where Team USA has had the toughest time earning medals.
In which sports has Team USA never earned a medal at the Winter Olympics?
Beyond ski mountaineering, the only Winter Olympic sport in which Team USA has yet to medal is biathlon.
After years as a demonstration sport, biathlon became a regular Winter Olympic sport at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games. The U.S. has sent at least four biathletes to each edition of the Winter Olympics since, but it has not been able to reach the podium.
Team USA has finished no higher than sixth in a Winter Olympics biathlon event, doing so most recently in the men’s relay event at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. It got a pair of seventh-place finishes at the 2022 Beijing Olympics from Deedra Irwin in the women’s 15km and a team effort in the mixed relay event.
Other Winter Olympic sports where Team USA has its fewest medals
Team USA has medaled only a handful of times in a number of Winter Olympic sports.
The U.S. has earned only one medal in ski jumping, with Anders Haugen landing bronze in the men’s large hill event 104 years ago at the 1924 Chamonix Games.
Team USA also has fewer than five medals in curling (2), cross-country skiing (4) and Nordic combined (4).
