CIt’s someone who wins an Olympic medal and turns it into the goal of an entire career. And then there’s the skater Arianna Fontanawho made a collection of medals: 14 in total (three gold, six silver, five bronze)becoming the most medal-winning Italian athlete in the history of winter sports. At Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics has already added to his palmarès one gold in the mixed relay and two silvers (in the individual 500 meters and the women’s relay). And he hasn’t finished writing his story yet.
Arianna Fontana follows South Korea’s Kim Gil-li during the final of the women’s 3000 m short track relay at Milano Cortina 2026. (Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP via Getty Images)
The most medaled athlete ever at the Games
With 14 Winter Olympic medals, Fontana has become the most medaled Italian athlete ever at the Gamespassing the fencing icon Edoardo Mangiarotti.
In front of her, in the history of the Winter Games, there is only Marit Bjørgen (15 medals). Next, at equal altitude, Ole Einar Bjørndalen (14). If we narrow our gaze to ice sports, the record is his: no one, man or woman, has done better. Yet, the numbers don’t explain everything. Because Fontana is not just a champion who wins: she is a champion who endures.
The little girl from Valtellina born on ice
Arianna skated as a child. He grows through training at dawn, bruises, falls and frozen slopes. At fifteen he is already on the biggest stage in the world: the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics. He returns home with a medal that seems to promise everything, but which actually opens the most difficult part of the journey: prove that it wasn’t just luck. The last silver of Milan-Cortina arrives in women’s short track relaythe race that more than any other tells its double soul: solo champion in the 500 meters, but also a team womancapable of putting himself at the service of the group without giving up his leadership role.
Arianna Fontana of the Italian team competes in the quarterfinals of the women’s 1000 m at Milano Cortina 2026. (Photo by Joosep Martinson/Getty Images)
Consistency: six Olympics on the podium
From Turin 2006 to Milan-Cortina 2026Fontana reached the podium in six consecutive Olympic editions. An unprecedented record for an Italian woman. In blue history, alone Armin Zöggeler he was able to go through six Olympics always with a medal around his neck.
In an era that burns talents in a few years, its continuity becomes almost an act of rebellion: Against the idea that women’s sport has an early expiration date.
The queen of the 500 meters
The 500 meters are his signature. Pure explosiveness, fragile balance between aggression and control. Fontana reached the podium in the same race for five consecutive Olympics: a feat achieved, in the women’s field, only by two icons of the long track like Ireen Wüst And Claudia Pechstein. And with three golds at the Winter Games he has achieved two symbols of Italian sport as Alberto Tomba And Deborah Compagnoni.
It has earned a place in the collective memorybringing into the pantheon of myths also a woman from short track, a young discipline that has long remained on the margins of sports stories.
The true legacy of Arianna Fontana
Its story is not just that of a collection of medals. It is the story of a career that has changed its skin several times, that has accepted moving abroad, criticism, the loneliness of unconventional choices. It is the story of a woman who learned to lead others without stopping racing for herself. And this is perhaps the rarest record of all: never stopped starting again.
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