The United States prevails as the country becomes top four for medals at the 2022 winter olympics in Beijing China. As of February 15, the states have 17 medals overall, with 7 gold, 6 silver, and 4 bronze. Many athletes have taken to the podium and risen to the top of their events in Snowboarding, bobsledding, and freestyle skiing. 

Athletes such as Nathen Chen, Khloe Kim, and Kailee Humpries will all go back to the states with a gold medal. This achievement hasn’t come easily to the crew as being part of the team has had its challenges. The US had two medalists in the event of monobob— the new event of monobob, where a sledder is alone as they travel the course. Previous team athletes Kailee Humphreys and Elana Meyers Taylor took home a gold and silver medal for Team USA as they became the first ever Olympians to hold this title. 

Ice Skating brought in two medals for the states as athlete Nathen Chen won gold in the Men’s Single Skating event. Duo Zach Donahue and Madison Hubble took home bronze in the duo event of Rhythm Skating. Their performance mash-up to Janet Jackson’s greatest hits including “Rhythm Nation” and “When I think of you.” Their spins and tricks were enough to impress the judges and beat couples from Norway, France, and Russia. 

California’s Cloe Kim took home gold in the women’s snowboarding halfpipe after three qualifying runs that put her at the top of the women’s snowboarding internationally. She joins snowboarding cross athlete Lindsey Jacobellis for gold as they both curated award winning scores and joined the other 10 entries that have won gold for the States. In 2018 Kim became the youngest athlete to win gold for Team USA as she was just 17 years old when she won for the women’s halfpipe. NBC calls it a “repeat win” as Kim’s score of 94 put her at the top of the halfpipe spot overall and she added to the overall medal count for her country. Kim calls the pipe her “safe space” as she recalls the many times she used snowboarding as a way to escape. As for her win at the 2018 PyeongChang games, she explains how she wishes she could go back to that moment and how it helped her prepare for other wins. In addition to the Gold, Kim is also the X games 2021 world champion, beating out both men and women in many areas of technicality and drive. 

The US team is rapidly winning as they take the fifth spot overall and prepare for just a week more of the 2021 Winter Olympics. The US team is one of the most equipped with over 200 athletes who have trained for years to get to where they are today. The best of the best are in Beijing this year and will show the world what they have to offer in the games to come. As for what they’ve done so far, many are proud to cheer for Team USA.