Renata Fast Looks to Defend Her Olympic Gold Medal at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games

February 6, 2026 — S Magazine (full story link) — Arts & Culture by Lindsay Patterson

Renata Fast is a name in Canadian women’s sports you may recognize. Already an Olympic silver and gold medalist, the 31-year-old ice hockey player is on the pursuit for her third Olympic medal. A multi-sport athlete from a young age, participating in volleyball, track, and snowboarding (to name a few), the majority of the winter months she spent growing up in Burlington, Ontario were spent on skates.

Choosing to pursue a career in hockey, Fast accepted a scholarship to play at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. In 2014 after leading her team to a historic 2014 NCAA National Championship victory, she also joined Team Canada for the first time on the Under-22 National Women’s Development Team. A short four years later, Fast‘s career would launch her to athletic stardom as she joined the Team Canada’s women’s hockey team at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics where she won her first Olympic medal claiming silver.

Since, the hockey star has joined the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), playing for the Toronto Sceptres. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Fast and Team Canada did themselves one better and clinched gold, cementing themselves as the top team in the sport. Looking forward to the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games, the hockey star and her team are looking to repeat history.

image courtesy of the PWHL

Ahead of her third Olympic Games, we caught up with the athlete to talk her past Olympic triumphs, influences and what she does to prepare for hockey’s biggest stage.

Can you describe the feeling of winning your first Olympic Gold Medal?

RF: “Winning my first Olympic gold medal was honestly magical. It’s something you dream about from the time you’re a kid, and when it actually happens, you realize you’re part of something so much bigger than yourself. The Beijing 2022 Olympic Games were especially unique because they happened during COVID, so everything was inside a secure bubble and our families couldn’t be there in person. Of course we would have loved to have them with us, but that bubble created a really special environment where our team leaned heavily on each other. That made the experience even more meaningful.”

How does having a gold medal under your belt help you prepare for these upcoming games? Is there anything you’re doing differently?

RF: “Every Olympic Games you get to attend comes with more experience. At my first Olympics in 2018, I was wide-eyed and just trying to soak everything in. By my second Games, I knew what to expect and was laser-focused on winning gold. Heading into my third Games, I feel confident in what I need to do to perform at my best. I’ve learned a lot about myself over the last eight years, and now it’s about trusting those experiences, trusting the work I’ve put in, and being ready to leave it all out there.”

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