Nikko Landeros won three Paralympic gold medals with Team USA. In Milan, he scored Italy's first goal of the 2026 Winter Games. The goal came against the United States, the team he'd spent 17 years building.

His mother is from Milan. His father is from Mexico. Italian heritage made him eligible to represent the Azzurri. At Milano Santagiulia Arena, 8,992 fans filled the stands, the highest attendance ever recorded at a Paralympic Winter Games para ice hockey match, and watched Italy lose 14-1. Landeros scored the only Italian goal.

After the game, he didn't sugarcoat it. "I am not happy about the score, that's for sure. We've played them in other tournaments, we've lost 2-0. I didn't expect to be losing by 13 points. But it's hockey, it's part of the sport. Things happen. They're No. 1 in the world for a reason and they displayed that today."

Two Boys, One Accident, One Sport

Nikko Landeros and Tyler Carron were best friends and Berthoud High School wrestling teammates. They were 17, driving their dates home from a school dance in 2007, when they got a flat tire and pulled to the side of the road. Another car came around the bend, didn't see them, and pinned both boys between the vehicles.

Neither kept his legs.

Landeros became a transfemoral amputee (above-the-knee). Carron became a bilateral amputee (above-knee on one side, through-the-knee on the other). Landeros remained conscious through the entire ordeal, developed pneumonia in the hospital, and underwent nine operations. At one point doctors opened his left arm, raising the possibility he might become a triple amputee.

For months they lived in adjacent hospital rooms, pushing each other to recover. Carron, a senior, wanted to walk at graduation in May. Landeros decided he had to keep up.

"I was in a dark place and we both had our rough times," Landeros said. "What got us through was each other and our families."

Carron put it this way: "We're brothers now and we fight like brothers. I know I can look to him for support because we understand what each of us is going through."

Landeros had played hockey his whole life. He encouraged Carron to try sled hockey, and they were soon teammates again. Landeros joined the U.S. national team in 2009.

Jerry DeVaul, from Colorado Sled Hockey, watched them build the program: "Nikko and Tyler were the original guys that started bringing everyone to Colorado because everyone wanted to play with them. Those two were like the original bash brothers of sled hockey."

Three Golds with Team USA

Landeros won gold at Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, and PyeongChang 2018. He spent 17 years with the U.S. national team, training in Colorado alongside teammates who had become brothers just like Tyler Carron had.

Then he made the switch.

At the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championship (B-Pool), representing Italy for the first time, he was the leading scorer across all teams: 30 points (24 goals, 6 assists), nine more goals than the second-leading scorer. He continued training in Colorado, still skating with Team USA players who would become his opponents.

Playing for Italy at Home

Italy hadn't won a game at a home Paralympics. At Torino 2006, they went winless. Going into Milan 2026, they needed to change that.

After the opening loss to the United States, Italy faced Germany. 4,000+ fans showed up. Italy won 2-1, the first time they'd ever won a game at a home Paralympics. Landeros scored the go-ahead goal in the second period to make it 2-1 final.

Then came Japan. Italy won 5-0. Landeros scored a hat trick, including the first Michigan goal of the Games by lifting the puck onto his blade and tucking it into the top corner. He completed the hat trick with 27 seconds remaining on a feed from Francesco Torella.

"It's a great feeling," he said after the game. "Everyone wants to score, so I'm just happy that I could help the team get a win like that."

Italy finished fifth at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, matching their Beijing 2022 result. For a program that had no home-ice victories until this year, fifth place isn't failure. It's a foundation.

What It Means to Switch Countries

Landeros didn't leave Team USA because he stopped believing in it. He left because he chose to represent the part of his heritage that had never been on a Paralympic roster. His mother's country. The city where his family still lives.

Josh Pauls won five Paralympic golds with Team USA. His grandfather was born in Italy. When Pauls won his fifth gold in Milan, the personal connection mattered. Landeros made a different choice: he chose to play for that connection, not just carry it.

The opening game loss was brutal. 14-1 is hard to process no matter how you frame it. But the next two games showed what Italy came to do. Landeros scored Italy's first goal against the best team in the world. Two games later he put up a hat trick against Japan and helped deliver the program's first home-ice win at a Paralympics.

He didn't just wear the Azzurri jersey. He earned it.