The fiancée boost only went one way.
Hilary Knight captained the U.S. women’s hockey team to gold on Thursday after announcing her engagement to speedskater Brittany Bowe, but Bowe fell tenths of a second short of her own medal.
The 37-year-old, who is retiring after the Milano Cortina Games, finished fourth in the 1500-meter race despite a fast and furious start that saw her fade just slightly toward the end.
Despite the disappointing finish, Bowe waved to fans as she skated around the track — her family and Knight, fresh off a clutch goal in the gold medal game, among them.
Bowe missed the podium by 0.61 of a second, racing against the Netherlands’ Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong.
Known for her starts, Bowe came out fast, holding a second-place pace throughout the course. However, towards the end, Rijpma-de Jong pushed past her and earned the first-place finish with a time of 1:54.09.
Rijpma-de Jong’s time stood through the 15h and final heat on the day for her first gold medal — and the sixth medal of her career.
Norway’s Ragne Wiklund secured silver (1:54.15) and Canada’s Valerie Maltais claimed the bronze (1:54.40).
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
Bowe also earned fourth place in both the 1000-meter and the team pursuit event. She never medaled in the women’s 1500-meter race, but earned bronze in the 1000-meter race in Beijing for her first individual Olympic medal. She also earned a bronze in 2018 in the women’s team pursuit.
She’ll leave Milan with an engagement ring and an American speedskating legacy. She has a total of 91 World Cup medals, 22 national titles, six world titles (one in the 1500m), and four world records (one in the 1500m) to her name.
Bowe and Knight began their relationship during the 2022 Winter Olympics, where they took evening walks together to manage stress during the Games.
Knight is set to carry Team USA’s flag during the closing ceremony on Sunday with figure skater Evan Bates.