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= MILAN CORTINA 2026 =
From Lane One
There is a new standard-bearer for the most Olympic Winter Games gold medals. Americans have almost surely never heard of him, but he’s special: Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo.
He won his fourth gold of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games to go with five he previously won and became the first Winter Olympian to win nine gold medals. And he’s not done. But he sits above all others in Winter Games history:
● 9: Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR: Cross Country 2018-26)
● 8: Marit Bjoergen (NOR: Cross Country 2010-18)
● 8: Ole Einar Bjorndalen (NOR: Biathlon 1998-2014)
● 8: Bjorn Daehlie (NOR: Cross Country 1992-98)
What is impressive about Klaebo is his ability to win at all distances. In three Winter Games – he’s still just 29 – he has won nine golds, one silver and one bronze:
● 1998: Sprint, Team Sprint, Team Relay golds
● 2022: Sprint, Team Sprint golds; Team relay silver;15 km bronze
● 2026: Sprint, 10 km, 20 km Skiathlon, Team Relay golds
He still has the Team Sprint and the 50 km Classical to go, both of which he won at the 2025 World Championships in Trondheim (NOR) and where he will be favored again.
If he does win, Klaebo will have 11 career Olympic golds and 13 Winter Games medals: the most golds ever and equal-third all-time for total Winter medals, behind Bjorgen (15) and Bjorndalen (14) and tied with Ireen Wust (NED: Speed Skating) and Italian star Arianna Fontana – both with 13 – with Fontana still competing!
At nine career golds, Klaebo is now tied for the second-most ever in Olympic history – winter or summer – with Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, Finland distance legend Paavo Nurmi and American swimmers Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky and Mark Spitz and sprint and jumps star Carl Lewis. If he’s wins any more, he’ll stand only behind Michael Phelps, who won 23 from 2004-16.
And Klaebo is only 29, so could he go on to French Alps 2030 and Utah 2034? With today’s training, nutritional and medical advances, why not? And by 2034, he might be closing in on Phelps.
Following his ninth career gold in the Team Relay on Sunday, Klaebo preferred to focus on the team:
“It was a fantastic race and great to be able to give this gold medal to Norway. The other guys made it so possible and easy for me, it’s a team result. There are so many people involved and I want to share the victory with all of them.”
~ Rich Perelman
● Milan Cortina 2026 ● The International Olympic Committee said Saturday that 1.27 million tickets for the 2026 Games had been sold through the first week. Moreover, more than 250,000 had visited the Fan Villages.
In terms of tickets vs. capacities, 94% of tickets were sold for speed skating, 90% for ski jumping, and 87% for luge. About 85% of the tickets available have been sold for the events held so far.
¶
The volunteer corps is 18,000 strong in Milan Cortina, with individuals from 98 countries and territories; 2,000 came from outside Italy to volunteer. They were selected from more than 135,000 applications, with 35,000 interviews made over 11 months, in Italy and abroad.
In terms of age, 46% are less than 35 years old, and 15% are over 60!
Some 14,000 are working during the Olympic Games; the remainder will be assisting during the Paralympic Games.
¶
Italian railway lines were hit again by sabotage attempts on Friday, possibly burnt-out cables, on high-speed line between Rome and Naples, Florence and Milan. The U.S. State Department’s Consular Affairs office posted Saturday:
“On February 13, Italian authorities announced enhanced security measures to prevent disruptions to railway networks during the Winter Olympics. These efforts include increased patrols along the tracks and rigorous technical monitoring of railway services.”
Italian authorities are treating the incidents as criminal acts.
● Il Tempo Olimpici ● Mostly cloudy weather will continue in Milan on the 16th, with highs of 52 F and a low of 39 F, but no rain in the forecast.
Cortina will be cold, with a 29 F high and a low of 16 F, with light snow forecast and winds averaging a light 3 miles per hour.
● Scoreboard ● Italy has done it. Led by Federica Brignone’s amazing Giant Slalom win, the Azzurri have won more medal at Milan Cortina then in any Winter Games in history.
The high was 20 in 1994 at Lillehammer, but they are now at 22 (8-4-10), also getting the most-ever gold medals; seven was the prior high, also in 1994. So far, after 68 of 116 events:
● 27: Norway (12-7-7)
● 22: Italy (8-4-10)
● 17: United States (5-8-4)
● 17: Japan (3-5-9)
● 15: France (4-7-4)
● 15: Germany (4-6-5)
● 13: Austria
● 11: Netherlands
● 11: Sweden
● 9: Switzerland
● 9: Canada
A total of 25 countries have won medals so far.
A better indication of team performance has to go beyond three places, so The Sports Examiner returns our eight-place scoring, using the NCAA track & field format of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 to score each event. With a week to go, the top 12:
● 319.5: Norway
● 270.5: Italy
● 220.5: United States
● 209.5: France
● 188.5: Austria
● 175: Germany
● 167.5: Japan
● 134: Netherlands
● 130: Canada
● 128: Sweden
● 116.5: Switzerland
● 73: China
In terms of top-8 place winners, Norway is ahead of Italy by 57-53, with the U.S. next at 48, then France (44) and Austria (43).
● Television ● NBC said that Friday’s viewing averaged 21.0 million across Milan Prime and the primetime show, so seven of eight days have averaged 20 million or more. The overall average has not been updated for a few days.
● China ● The Wall Street Journal noted that a Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau report for 2025 listed payments to snowboard star Eileen Gu and figure skater Zhu Yi – American-born athletes now competing for China – $6.6 million for the year and more than $14 million for the past three years combined.
The report has been revised to remove their names.
Observed: This is a surprise? No. Countries, especially those with a political view of sports such as Russia, China and others, routinely pay athletes to switch nationalities where it makes sense for them. Yi has been a minor performer at the international level, but Gu has been a sensation, winning two golds and a silver at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and has a silver so far in Cortina, with her best events coming up.
● Figure Skating ● U.S. Figure Skating did not file an appeal the scoring of the Ice Dance final, where Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the silver medal. In a statement to USA Today, USFS chief executive Matt Farrell explained:
“There has been a lot of thoughtful, and at times emotional, discussion about the ice dance competition in Milan.
“Working together with Madi and Evan after the Games, we will have thoughtful and intentional discussions about the best way to support them and the future of the sport.”
= RESULTS: SUNDAY, 15 FEBRUARY =
(9 finals across 8 sports & disciplines)
● Alpine Skiing: Women’s Giant Slalom
Here’s a timeline of a skiing miracle, the story of Italian star Federica Brignone:
● 13 Feb. 2025: Won the FIS World Championships Giant Slalom, following a silver in the Super-G seven days earlier.
● 03 Apr. 2025: Crashed at the Italian Championships in Val di Fassa, with multiple fractures of her left leg and tearing her anterior cruciate ligament.
● 17 Apr. 2025: First rehab session, in Turin.
● 26 Nov. 2025: First training session on snow.
● 20 Jan. 2026: FIS World Cup return, sixth in the Giant Slalom at Kronplatz (ITA).
● 31 Jan. 2026: Finished 18th in the Super-G at Crans-Montana (SUI).
● 08 Feb. 2026: Olympic Downhill: 10th.
● 12 Feb. 2026: Olympic Super-G: Gold.
● 15 Feb. 2026: Olympic Giant Slalom: Gold.
Nothing short of stunning, as Brignone, 35, stormed to a first-run lead by 0.34 over Lena Duerr (GER), then held on to win in 2:13.50, a remarkable 0.62 ahead of defending champion Sara Hector (SWE) and Thea Louise St Jernesund (NOR), who shared the silver.
Brignone won the bronze in this event in 2018, then the silver in 2022. Now her second gold in these Olympic Games, nothing short of dreamland.
Hector and St. Jernesund skied the exact same time in their first run (1:03.97) and were 11th-fastest in their second run (1:10.15) to end up sharing silver. What are the odds on that?
The other favorites all had trouble. Austria’s Julia Scheib was 11th after the first run, then fifth in the second, to finish fifth. New Zealand’s Alice Robinson was 10th and ninth to finish eighth. American Mikaela Shiffrin, who won this event in 2018, was seventh after the first run and then 13th in the second and placed 11th overall (2:14.42).
Fellow Americans Paula Moltzan (2:14.77) and Nina O’Brien (2:15.31) were 15th and 20th. A.J. Hurt did not finish the first run.
● Biathlon: Men’s 12.5 km Pursuit; Women’s 10 km Pursuit
Italy had never won a medal in the women’s Olympic Pursuit, but that changed with Lisa Vittozzi’s dominant win, shooting clean and finishing in 3:11.8 to earn her first individual Olympic medal and first Olympic gold.
She took the lead after the final shooting stand and was, in the end, an easy winner, finishing almost 29 seconds ahead of Norway’s Maren Kirkeedie (30:40.6/3), who endured two penalties in the final shooting segment. Finland’s Suvi Minkkinen shot clean to earn the bronze in 30:46.1, more than 15 seconds up on France’s Lou Jeanmonnot (31:01.2/3).
This is Vittozzi’s third Games; she finished 11th and 32nd in the Pursuit in 2018 and 2022 and had never been higher than fourth in an individual event. Not any more.
Deedra Irwin was the only U.S. entry, in 35th (33:51.5/4).
¶
France had won the men’s Pursuit at the last three Winter Games and Emilien Jacquelin was leading the event into the last shooting stanza, but suffered two penalties and the race got away.
Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma shot clean and took over, finishing in 31:11.9 (1) for his first Olympic gold and second medal, after a 2022 silver in the Mass Start. He was cleanly ahead of Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid (31:32.5/2), who emotionally confessed to infidelity after winning a bronze in the 20 km Individual race, then won another bronze in the 10 km Sprint and now a silver in the Pursuit! He still has the Mass Start to go!
Jacquelin ended up with the bronze in 31:41.6 with three penalties that hurt badly. France has now won a medal in this race in five straight Games.
Campbell Wright of the U.S. finished a very creditable eighth in 32:25.4, but with three penalties. Paul Schommer was 47th (36:41.4/4).
● Cross Country Skiing: Men’s 4×7.5 km relay
there wasn’t a lot of doubt about the outcome and Norway got strong early legs from Emil Iversen and Martin Nyenget and cruised to a 1:04:24.5 victory, anchored by Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who won his record ninth Winter Olympic gold medal.
Klaebo won six golds at the 2025 Nordic World Championships – four individual and two relays – and he is on track for the same in 2026. He’s won three individual events, including the Sprint, and one relay, and has the Team Sprint and the 50 km Classical still on the program. No one has ever won six golds at a single Winter Games; American speed skater Eric Heiden won five in 1980. But that’s still to come.
Klaebo was on the Norwegian gold-medal team in this event in 2018, then was second to Russia in 2022. This time, he had the lead after Einar Hedegart’s leg and won by 22.2 seconds over France (1:04:46.7) and 47.9 seconds over Italy (1:06:12.4).
The U.S. finished sixth – Sprint silver man Ben Ogden, Gus Schumacher, John Steel Hagenbuch, Zak Ketterson – in 1:06:11.8.
● Freestyle Skiing: Men’s Dual Moguls
The greatest Moguls skier in history, Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, was an appropriate favorite to win the first-ever Olympic appearance of the Dual Moguls. And he did not disappoint.
A five-time winner of the Worlds gold in this event, Kingsbury won his first two matches by 25-10 and 23-12, , then rolled past Dae-yoon Jung (KOR), who did not finish, to reach the semis. There, he sailed past Takuya Shimakawa, 33-2 to reach the final against familiar foe Ikuma Horishima.
This time, it was no contest, as Kingsbury completed a romp through the event with a 30-5 victory. It’s his second Olympic gold after a 2018 Moguls win and his fifth Olympic medal.
It’s also the first gold in the 2026 Winter Games for Canada, which has been disappointing through the first half of the program.
Horishima had previously won two Moguls bronzes (2022-26) and now has an Olympic silver.
The third-place match saw 2021 World silver medalist Matt Graham (AUS) defeat Shimakawa, 20-15, for the bronze.
The U.S. duo of Charlie Mickel and Dylan Walczyk finished sixth and seventh.
● Skeleton: Mixed Team
Britain’s men’s gold winner Matt Weston teamed with Tabitha Stoecker and the pair were unbeatable in this first-time event at the Winter Games, with Weston’s best-of-the-day time lifting them to the win in a combined 1:59.36. They moved up from silver at the 2025 World Championships.
That was 0.17 better than the German pairing of Susanne Kreher (third-fastest woman) and Axel Jungk (second-fastest man) of 1:59.53 for silver and the bronze – just 0.01 back – for Germans Jacqueline Pfeifer and Christopher Grotheer (1:59.54). The second British team of Marcus Wyatt and Freya Tarbit was fourth at 1:59.65.
The U.S. pair of Austin Florian and Mystique Ro – the 2025 World Champions – was seventh overall (2:00.39). Kelly Curtis and Daniel Barefoot finished 10th (2:01.43).
● Ski Jumping: Women’s Large Hill (141 m)
Norway seized the first round and had the top four jumpers heading into round two: Worlds bronzer Eirin Kvandal (140.6 points), Normal Hill gold medalist Anna Stroem (136.7), Silje Opseth (131.8) and Heidi Traaserud (129.6). Favored Nika Prevc (SLO: 128.3) was fifth.
Prevc, jumping fifth to last in the final, put the pressure on with a 127.5 m jump and 143.2 points to move into the lead with 271.5 points, with the four Norwegians to follow. Traaserud and Opset both fell back to third and fourth, then Stroem, jumping next to last, uncorked a 132.0 m jump that scored 148.1 points and took the lead at 284.8.
Last up was Kvandal, whose effort was out to 133.5 m – best of the day – but scored 142.1 points, behind Prevc, but still good enough for silver, at 282.7. Sweden’s Freda Westman moved up to fourth with a big second jump and a 265.4 total.
So, Stroem swept the women’s events, including the first appearance of the Large Hill, and Prevc ended with a silver and a bronze.
The U.S. had three jumpers in, but Paige Jones scored 182.7 and was 28th. Annika Belshaw was disqualified and Josie Johnson did not start.
● Snowboard: Mixed SnowCross
Britain’s Huw Nightingale and Charlotte Bankes won the only World Cup race in this event this season, beating Italy’s Michela Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva.
Ditto!
The British barely won their quarterfinal over Austria (+0.02), but easily won over France in their semi. The Italians won their quarter by 0.13 and their semi over Australia by just 0.04 to make it to the final. Once there, the Brits were decisive winners, taking the gold by 0.43 over Italy, with Loan Bozzolo and Lea Casta getting the bronze for the French. Australia finished fourth.
This was only the second time for this event on the Olympic program, but Nightingale and Bankes were able to repeat their 2023 Worlds win in this event!
The U.S. team of 2022 winner Nick Baumgartner and Faye Thelen were eliminated in their quarterfinal; Nathan Pare and Stacy Gaskill did not finish in their quarterfinal race.
● Speed Skating: Women’s 500 m
Everyone sensed this was going to come down to the final pair, between defending champ Erin Jackson of the U.S. and three-time World Champion Femke Kok (NED). It did.
Beforehand, Japan’s Miho Takagi, the Beijing 2022 silver winner, put down an impressive time of 37.27 in the fourth of the 15 pairs. It took until the 12th pair for 1,000 m winner Jutta Leerdam (NED) to move ahead, winning in 37.15.
A surprise win (and time) for Italy’s Serena Pergher in the 10th pair had her third going into the last pair with Jackson and Kok. While Jackson was off well at the start, Kok had much better speed and won easily and took her expected gold in an Olympic Record of 36.49, close to her world mark of 36.09 from last November.
The Dutch 1-2 was historic: they had never won an Olympic gold or silver in this event.
Jackson’s 37.32 was good for fifth; Sarah Warren of the U.S. finished 28th in 39.19.
Elsewhere:
● Curling: Questions continue to be raised about “double touching” of the stone by some teams, but on the ice, Danny Casper’s U.S. team beat defending champ Sweden and Niklas Edin by 8-5 early on Sunday and then edged Norway, 10-8, to move to 4-2. Yannick Schwaller’s Swiss side is 5-0, with Canada (Brad Jacobs) standing second at 4-1. The round-robin continues through the 19th.
The women’s standings have Sweden’s 2018 winner Anna Hasselborg at 5-0, with the U.S.’s Tabitha Peterson’s rink at 4-1 and four-time World Champion Switzerland (Silvana Tirinzoni) at 3-1. The U.S. edged China, 6-5, on Sunday.
● Ice Hockey: In the men’s round-robin, Canada crushed France, 10-2, to finish 3-0 in Group A with a 20-3 total score. Slovakia and Finland were both 2-1 in Group B and advanced to the quarters.
In Group C, the U.S. got a first-period goal from Zach Werenski and two in the second, from Auston Matthews and Brock Faber to lead 3-0, with a 28:15 shots advantage. The win was sealed with third-period scores from Tage Thompson and a second from Matthews, at 6:46 of the period. The Germans got a score at 11:22 from Tim Stutzle, that made the final 5-1. The U.S. finished with a 37-24 shots total and a 16-5 scoring total for their three games.
The playoffs will start on the 17th with play-in matches to the quarterfinals (18th).
The women’s semifinals (USA-Sweden, Canada-Swiss) come tomorrow.
= PREVIEWS: MONDAY, 16 FEBRUARY =
(6 finals across 6 sports & disciplines)
● Alpine Skiing: Men’s Slalom
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen secured the first-ever Brazilian medal in the Olympic Winter Games in the men’s Giant Slalom on Saturday. He’s just as much a threat in the Slalom.
He won the first Slalom World Cup race in Finland in November, beating defending Olympic champ Clement Noel (FRA), and took a silver in January behind Norwegian seasonal leader Atle Lie McGrath.
McGrath has five Slalom medals this season, and teammate Henrik Kristoffersen has four, so it will be no surprise if they show up on the podium. Kristoffersen already has an Olympic Slalom bronze from 2014 and he’s the 2023 World Champion.
But there are lots of contenders. Swiss Loic Meillard won the 2025 Worlds gold and was part of the Swiss gold in the Team Combined. But teammate Tanguy Nef, who has never won a World Cup medal in his career, had the fastest Slalom in the Team Combined!
Austria has two threats: Manuel Feller and Michael Matt, who were second and third-fastest in the Team Combined Slalom, won the Worlds silver in this event in 2017, and Olympic bronzse in 2018, respectively. And while Noel won the Olympic title in Beijing, teammate Paco Rassat won twice on the World Cup circuit and is a definite medal threat.
● Bobsled: Women’s Monobob
This is the second appearance of this race on the Olympic program. The IBSF World Cup circuit in this event was dominated by 2023-24 World Champion Laura Nolte (GER) and Australia’s Breeana Walker, who led all riders with three wins. Just behind were Lisa Buckwitz (GER), a two-time Worlds bronzer and American Kaillie Armbruster Humphries, the defending Olympic champion.
Armbruster Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. went 1-2 at Beijing in 2022, and Armbruster Humphries won once on the World Cup circuit, as did fellow American Kaysha Love. Austria’s Katrin Beierl won three medals and was in the top five in the seasonal standings.
The favorites were in front after the first two runs, with Nolte at 1:59.12, then Meyers Taylor – on her best day of the season – at 1:59.34, followed by Armbruster Humphries at 1:59.43. Swiss Melanie Hasler stood fourth at 1:59.90 and Love was fifth at 2:00.01.
Nolte, Meyers Taylor and Love were 1-2-3 on the first run, then Armbruster Humphries won the second heat, ahead of Nolte, with Meyers Taylor fourth and Love falling back in 15th. Consistency wins and Nolte was good on both runs. The Americans will need a mistake from her to jump to gold.
● Figure Skating: Pairs
The three World Championships from 2023-25 were won by Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (twice) and Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (once). They’re the favorites, with the 42-year-old Stellato-Dudek cleared to compete after hitting her head on the ice during training on 30 January. But they did not appear in the Team Event.
China’s defending champs, Wenjing Sun and Cong Han, returned to competition for the 2025-26 season and placed third in two Grand Prix events. Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii were second at the ISU Grand Prix Final, ahead of Germans Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin. Along with Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, they’re in the next tier.
So what happened in the Short Program? Hase and Volodin were elegant and precise and scored 80.01 to lead by a considerable margin over Metelkina and Berulava (75.46) and Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (74.60). Miura and Kihara had problems and stand fifth at 73.11, with Conti and Macii also disappointed in eighth (71.70). Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps were 14th at 66.04.
Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea scored 71.87 for seventh, just ahead of teammates Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe (9th: 70.06). Both qualified for the Free Skate.
● Freestyle Skiing: Women’s Big Air
Defending champion Eileen Gu (CHN) is back, but did not contest the event at any of the three FIS World Cup events this season. Same for Swiss Mathilde Gremaud, the 2022 bronzer, who already has a 2026 Olympic gold in Slopestyle.
This is the second appearance for this event, after its Beijing debut. During the 2025-26 World Cup, Britain’s Kirsty Muir (21) won and is back for a second Games, Finland’s Anni Karava won and was the 2025 Worlds bronze winner and Canada’s Naomi Urness won once, in her second season in World Cup competition.
Urness and China’s Mengting Liu, the 2025 Asian Winter Games winner, were the only ones to medal twice during the World Cup season. Italy’s Flora Tabanelli won the 2025 Worlds gold, but has been quiet this season; same for Swiss Sarah Hoefflin, the 2025 Worlds silver winner, who won Olympic gold in 2018 in Slopestyle.
In qualifying, Canadian Megan Oldham – the Olympic Slopestyle bronzer and the 2023 Worlds Big Air bronzer – led the field at 171.75, followed by Gu at 170.75 and Gremaud at 169.00.
No Americans advanced to the final (top 12) as Grace Henderson was 14th (139.25), Avery Krumme was 19th (125.00), Marin Hamill finished 22nd (115.50) and Reli Harwood was 23rd (101.25).
● Short Track: Women’s 1,000 m
The home crowd wants to know what 35-year-old Arianna Fontana will do. Now the owner of 13 Olympic medals (3-5-5), tied for the third-most all-time. A 14th would tie her for second, with Ole Einar Bjorndalen (NOR: Cross Country 1998-2014).
She has stiff opposition, starting with 500 m Olympic champ Xandra Velzeboer, who won this event at the 2023 Worlds, over Korea’s 2022 Olympic silver winner Min-jeong Choi and Canadian Courtney Sauralt. All three could be on the podium again.
American Kristin Santos-Griswold won this event at the 2024 ISU Worlds, over Korea’s Gil-li Kim with Fontana third. Then at the 2025 Worlds, Belgian Hanne Desmet got her first Worlds gold, beating Sauralt with Velzeboer in third.
Sauralt won three of four times on the World Cup circuit and Desmet won the other. American Corinne Stoddard won three medals in four events this season, but has crashed out twice in the Games. This is her chance for redemption.
● Ski Jumping: Men’s Team (141 m)
Austria, Slovenia and Germany won the medals in 2022, and Slovenia, Austria and Norway won the medals at the last two World Championships. Add in Japan and those are the medal favorites.
The Slovenians won last year with Domen Prevc, Anze Lanisek, Timi Zajc and Lovro Kos, with Lanisek, Zajc and Kos all holdovers from the 2023 Worlds winners. They should be favored, but Austria has three consistent stars with Daniel Tschofenig, Jan Hoerl and three-time World Champion Stefan Kraft.
Domen Prevc will be trying to add to the family trophy case again; older brothers Peter and Cene were on the Olympic silver-medal team (as were Zajc and Kos) in 2022.
= INTEL REPORT =
● Artistic Swimming ● At the World Aquatics World Cup 1 in Medellin (COL), Canada’s 20-year-old Audrey Lamothe scored two wins, winning the women’s Solo Technical at 237.9382 over Zofia Strapekova (SVK: 237.0800), and the Solo Free at 247.0625, ahead of Germany’s Klara Bleyer (236.7025).
Bleyer teamed with Amelie Blumenthal to win the Duet Technical with 275.2792 points; Russian “neutrals” Mayya Doroshko and Aleksandra Shmidt won the Duet Free at 257.2693.
The men’s Solo Technical was won by Ranjuo Tomblin (GBR: 223.8033), with the Solo Free taken by Eduard Kim (KAZ: 195.2476). The Mixed Technical final saw Isabelle Thorpe and Tomblin (GBR) win, scoring 202.9517 and they doubled back in the Mixed Free at 241.0792.
Mexico won the Team Technical, 263.2375 over the U.S. (249.8833); Kazakhstan took the Team Free at 189.8591.
● Athletics ● A first world record in the men’s Half Marathon Walk, as Japanese star Toshikazu Yamanishi – a two-time World Champion at 20 km – won in 1:20:34 at the national walk championships in Kobe.
This is a new event and Yamanishi’s mark is the first under the minimum standard of 1:21:30. Yamanishi was the 20 km world-record holder at 1:16:10 from 2025.
¶
A plethora of hot indoor times on Friday and Saturday, with World 5,000 m champ Cole Hocker of the U.S. blazing the second-fastest mile in history – and an American Record – of 3:45.94 at the ASICS Sound Invite in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, ahead of Cooper Teare (3:50.94). Hocker took Yared Nuguse’s U.S. mile mark from 2025 (3:46.63).
Hocker passed 1,500 m en route in 3:30.80, another American Record, bettering Nuguse’s 3:31.74 and the no. 3 performance in history (no. 2 performer).
Cooper Lutkenhaus, the 17-year-old phenom, won the 800 m in 1:44.03 for a world indoor U-20 record and no. 6 on the all-time list and no. 2 all-time U.S.
Hurdles star Trey Cunningham won the 60 m hurdles at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina in 7.37, another world leader and tying him for seventh-fastest in history.
At the Boston University Hemery Valentine Invitational, Elle St. Pierre won the women’s invitational mile in 4:17.83, best in the world this year and the no. 9 performance ever. She passed 1,500 m in a world-leading 3:59.33.
Britain’s Olympic 800 m champ, Keely Hodgkinson blasted the women’s 800 m in 1:56.33 at her national championships in Birmingham in a heat, then skipped the final. It’s the no. 3 performance in history (no. 3 performer) and the fastest in the event indoors since 2002!
¶
An impressive 10 km road debut for triple Olympic women’s 1,500 m champ Faith Kipyegon (KEN), winning the Monaco Run in 29:46 on Sunday. It moves her to third on the 2026 world list and equal-15th all-time.
● Sport Climbing ● At the USA Climbing National Championships in Orlando, Florida, 2023 Worlds silver medalist Colin Duffy was an easy winner in Lead at 47+, ahead of Dillon Countryman (33+).
Ben Jennings won the Speed title (5.10), defeating Noah Bratschi, who fell. The Boulder final was held after this post went live.
Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalist Brooke Raboutou won the women’s Lead at 46, well ahead of Analise van Noang (34+) and Sophia Curcio won the Speed final over Piper Kelly, 6.95 to 8.30. The Boulder final was held after this post went live.
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