‘O Canada’: Olympians land back at home after Milan Cortina Games

A hero’s welcome awaited Canada’s Olympic athletes Monday as they were greeted by friends, family and fans on their return from the Milan Cortina Games.

Canada ended the Games with 21 medals, including five gold. But our athletes had just eight medals and no gold at the halfway mark and rebounded with 13 in the second half, beginning with freestyle skier Mikaël Kingsbury’s dual moguls victory. 

Kingsbury, speaking to reporters in Montreal, said the Milan Cortina Games were “everything I dreamed of.” 

The 33-year-old won a silver medal in the men’s moguls before taking the gold in the Olympic debut of the dual moguls event.

“Obviously, to win that first in history in mogul skiing, the first gold medal, and the first for Canada, to be the flag-bearer, it was huge,” he said. “And to have my family there, my son, at the bottom of the course, I couldn’t script it better.”

Speedskating star Courtney Sarault, who won four short track medals, was greeted by a large contingent of family who met her with hugs and flowers.

“They’ve been so supportive through this whole experience and rooting for me, waking up early or whenever the times were,” Sarault said. “So just to share this experience with them, it’s something I’ll never forget.”

A group of well-wishers applauded as speedskater Valérie Maltais walked through the gate with her three medals around her neck.

Maltais said carrying Canada’s flag at the Olympic closing ceremony was an emotional experience.

“I really wanted to enjoy that moment and a little bit forget all the cameras, all the interviews that I’ve done, of what it means,” she said. “And I really went inside of me, of ‘what is this journey that I just went through?’”

The 35-year-old won Canada’s first medal of the Games with a bronze in the 3,000 metres, and followed it up with gold with teammates Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann in women’s team pursuit before adding another bronze in the women’s 1,500 metres.

Maltais said she expects it will take time for her Olympic experience to sink in fully, but she is glad to have inspired others with her performance and the emotions she showed.

“I was myself during these Olympics,” she said. “I was just, like, fully enjoying it, fully expressing how I was feeling.”

Maltais has confirmed this will be her final Olympics. 

About two dozen supporters, waving Canadian flags and wearing red and white, cheered as curler Ben Hebert, wearing a gold medal around his neck, along with fifth Tyler Tardi and coach Paul Webster, arrived in Calgary.

Hebert, the lead, was part of Brad Jacobs’ gold medal team. He also won a gold medal in Vancouver in 2010. Hebert said he’s not quite sure it has sunk in yet, and this gold medal is different because Canada was not the favourite like it was in Vancouver.

“We were probably the second or third seed going in. We weren’t ranked No 1 like we were in Vancouver, so to climb to the top of the podium — it feels just as good. There once was an expectation that you were going to go and win gold every time as a Canadian curler,” said Hebert.

“There’s five or six really, really good teams at every international event that could all be wearing gold medals, so I don’t think there’s that expectation of gold or bust anymore. Any medal you can come home with from a world championship or Olympic games is a huge accomplishment, and so this one for us is extra special.”

About a dozen supporters were at Toronto Pearson airport. Some waved Canadian flags while others took selfies with athletes and asked for autographs. 

Hebert’s teammate, Brett Gallant, was glad to be back after a month.

“I just feel kind of some of the Canadian pride, some of the excitement that we have been feeling from afar, but now to be home — it’s great,” he told reporters. 

He said it felt “pretty exciting” when Canada got momentum towards the end of the Olympics.

“When there was the curling medal round and then the women’s and men’s hockey medal rounds, as Canadians, we were pretty excited to watch most of that,” Gallant said.

The Olympics ended Sunday.

It was after 11:30 p.m. when members of the silver-medal-winning women’s hockey team came through the gate after landing in Montreal, after a tough Olympic tournament that saw both the men’s and women’s squads lose the gold-medal matches to the United States in overtime. 

Captain Marie-Philip Poulin said the team was coming home with their heads held high.

“I don’t think we can be disappointed about the way the men’s and women’s teams played their matches,” said Poulin, who played most of the tournament on a sore knee after an injury in the second game. 

When asked how she felt physically and mentally, she kept her answer brief.

“I think the Olympics is at the highest level of every athlete, that’s what you dream of,” she said. “There’s ups and downs to it all.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2026.

— With files from Sharif Hassan in Toronto and Morgan Lowrie in Montreal