An Olympic love story!
The 2026 Winter Olympics were always going to be noteworthy for University of Wisconsin hockey legend Hilary Knight and speed skating star Brittany Bowe after both announced that they would retire from international competition afterward.
Now, for them, it will be remembered for even more than any of their competitions.
A day before Knight is set to lead the United States women’s hockey team into its gold-medal match against Team Canada, the 36-year-old proposed to Bowe, 37, in the Olympic Village in Milan, Italy.
“Olympics brought us together,” Knight wrote on Instagram with a video of the proposal. This one made us forever.”
Bowe showed off the bling as the two embraced.
The proposal came during a day off for the two. But Knight and Bowe will soon be back on the ice, looking to add medals around their necks.
Knight is one of the most accomplished Olympians in Team USA hockey history.
As the team captain, Knight already has two goals in these Olympics to push her total to 14 and tied for most of any U.S. women’s hockey player. Her five Olympics are also a record for any U.S. hockey player. Knight has one gold (2018) and three silvers (2010, 2014 and 2022) in her Olympics career.
Knight, one of six connections to the Wisconsin program on Team USA, won two national championships at UW, in 2009 and 2011. She’s Wisconsin’s all-time leader in goals and the former record-holder in points.
Bowe, a 13-time world speed skating champion, concludes her final Olympics the next day on Friday, Feb. 20, when she’ll compete in the women’s 1,500-meter race.
She finished just off the podium in her two earlier events: fourth place in both the women’s 1,000 and the team pursuit.
Bowe has won bronze medals in each of the last two Olympics. She finished third in team pursuit in 2018 and in the 1,000 meters in 2022.
US women’s hockey team schedule: When does the US women’s hockey team play next?
Knight and Team USA will play Team Canada in the gold-medal match at 12:10 p.m. CT Thursday, Feb. 19.
The match will be televised on USA Network and streamed on Peacock.
Stream the Olympics on Peacock
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin grad Hilary Knight proposes to Brittany Bowe at Olympics
Reporting by Christopher Kuhagen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
