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(For a round-up of weekend competitions in other sports; see the “Intel Report” section at the bottom of this post.)
= MILAN CORTINA 2026 =
From Lane One
Italian athletes are already enjoying a great Olympic Winter Games, winning nine medals (1-2-6) through the first two days. The most Italy has ever won at a Winter Games is 20 in 1994 and it looks like they may sail past that quickly.
So, how much is “home cooking” worth at a Winter Games? Often, quite a it, but not always (!). In terms of the history, let’s look at the home-team performance starting with the 1998 Nagano Games, since the 1992-1994 change-over in cycle skews the results for those Games:
● 1998 Nagano: Japan went from 5 medals in 1994 to 10 (+100%)
● 2002 Salt Lake City: U.S. from 13 to 34 (+162%)
● 2006 Turin: Italy from 13 to 11 (–15%)
● 2010 Vancouver: Canada from 24 to 26 (+8%)
● 2014 Sochi: Russia from 13 to 29 (+123%, after 4 doping disqualifications)
● 2018 PyeongChang: Korea from 8 to 17 (+113%)
● 2022 Beijing: China from 9 to 15 (+67%)
● 2026 Milan Cortina: Italy from 17 to ?
It must be noted that the number of events in the Winter Games has been enlarged from 61 in 1994 to 116 in 2026, which also has an impact in terms of medals won. But home cooking has a real impact.
~ Rich Perelman
● Milan Cortina 2026: Security ● A march by as many as 10,000 protesters in Milan on Saturday against the environmental impact of the Winter Games and the U.S. turned violent as a much smaller group tried to reach the Santa Giulia hockey arena and threw firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottles. Italian police responded with tear gas and a water cannon to keep them way from the site. Six arrests were made by the police.
Milan Cortina 2026 spokesman Luca Casassa said at Sunday’s media briefing that (per the simultaneous interpreter):
“We believe that sport is also based on dialogue, but everything has to be carried out within certain limits and it has to be respectful at all times. Anything that turns into violent demonstrations is not part of this, and I would like to thank the police forces, law enforcement agencies for handling beautifully these demonstrations.”
● Coming Attraction ● The Rosen Report will follow this post, with full coverage of the U.S. win in the figure skating Team Event. You’ll find it on the home page: www.TheSportsExaminer.com.
● Il Tempo Olimpici ● Cloudy skies are forecast for Milan, with a Monday high of 53 F, turning to sunshine in the afternoon and then a low of 42 F.
In Cortina, it will be mostly cloudy with a high of 39 F and a low of 24; winds are expected to average about 5 miles per hour. Snow is predicted for Thursday.
● Scoreboard ● Just two days in and the medal count after 13 of 116 events:
● 9, Italy (1-2-6)
● 6, Norway (3-1-2)
● 4, Japan (1-2-1)
● 3, Austria (1-2-0)
● 3, Germany (1-1-1)
● 2, United States (2-0-0)
● 2, Czech Rep. (1-1-0)
● 2, France (1-1-0)
● 2, Sweden (1-1-0)
● 1, six tied
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. After two days:
● 1. 88.0, Italy
● 2. 73.0, Norway
● 3. 49.5, Austria
● 4. 35.0, Japan
● 5. 31.5, United States
● 6. 30.0, France
● 6. 30.0, Germany
● 8. 24.0, Czech Republic
● 8. 24.0, Switzerland
● 8. 24.0, Sweden
Just two days in, the home Italians have already enjoyed 17 places in the top eight!
● Television ● NBC announced preliminary data on the Milan Cortina opening ceremony on NBC and Peacock, averaging 21.4 million U.S. viewers, 34% more than for the 2022 Beijing opening.
This was a combined total of the live broadcast and the primetime version, vs. the 15.9 million from 2022. The streaming component was 3.0 million; more comprehensive data will be available on Tuesday.
= RESULTS: SUNDAY, 8 FEBRUARY =
(8 finals across 7 sports and disciplines)
● Alpine Skiing: Women’s Downhill
There were a lot of stories in this race, beginning with no. 3 starter Federica Brignone, the Italian star who crashed last April and fought her way back to the slopes for this race against considerable odds.
She finished in 1:37.29, settling into second place. The next stage in the drama came with the no. 6 starter, American Breezy Johnson, the reigning World Champion, who had no Downhill World Cup medals this season and one in the Super-G.
But Johnson was superb and rushed down the slope in 1:36.10 and that was going to be a medal-contending time.
German Emma Aicher, a two-time World Cup winner this season, followed at no. 10 and moved into second at 1:36.14, just 0.04 behind Johnson. No. 11, Austrian Cornelia Huetter, also a World Cup medalist this season, moved into third at 1:36.96. American star Lindsey Vonn, at 41 one of the most talked-about comebacks for this Games, started at no. 13, but her Olympic dream was shattered with a crash just 13.4 seconds after her start, requiring her to be airlifted off the course and taken to a hospital.
Two racers later, it was Italian star Sofia Goggia on the course, the 2018 gold winner and 2022 runner-up and she skied beautifully, with a slight mistake in the second half and finishing in 1:36.69 and into third place.
Goggia’s run ended the top group, but there were contenders left, notably American Jackie Wiles at no. 17. Also a World Cup medal winner this season, she raced through the course and scared the podium, but had to settle for fourth – in a tie with Huetter – at 1:36.96. The final American, Isabella Wright, was 21st at 1:38.85.
The U.S. Ski Team posted that “Lindsey Vonn sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians.”
Johnson, meanwhile, won the first American medal of these Games and repeated her gold-medal performance from the 2025 Worlds, also on 8 February! She said:
“I still can’t believe it yet, I don’t know when it will sink in. I knew I had to push, go harder than I did in training. I had to be super clean and felt like I did that. But I knew the speeds were good so I hoped it would be enough.”
She is now a World Champion and Olympic Champion and has yet to win a FIS World Cup race. Johnson is the first American to win the women’s Downhill since Vonn in 2010 in Vancouver.
Goggia now has a full set of Downhill medals: gold in 2018, silver in 2022 and bronze in 2026.
● Biathlon: Mixed 4 x 6 km Relay
The second Olympic appearance of this event figured as a showdown between France and Italy, and it was, with the French winning in 1:04:15.5 with seven combined penalties. It was close until the third leg, when Lou Jeanmonnot, a four-time Worlds relay gold medalist, took an 18.9-second edge on Italy’s Dorothea Wierer and broke the race open.
Julia Simon was also faster by 6.6 seconds than Italian anchor Lisa Vittozzi and crossed with a 25.8-second win, with the Italians second in 1:04:41.3 (5). Germany was an easy third over Norway, 1:05:20.8 (4) to 1:05:52.7 (8). The French moved up from silver to gold from 2022.
The U.S. was 14th in 1:07:43.2 (14), with a team of Maxime Germain, Campbell Wright, Deedra Irwin and Margie Freed.
● Cross Country Skiing: Men’s 20 km Skiathlon
Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo has the possibility of six gold medals in the 2026 Games and he got off – with some difficulty – to a golden start.
He trailed teammate Martin Nyenget by a half-second at the 10 km mark and they were joined by Hugo Lapalus and Mathis Desloges of France, and Lapalus was in the lead at the 16.6 km mark. But Klaebo got to the front with 1.2 km left and managed to get across first in 46:11.0.
He was two seconds up in Desloges (46.13.0), with Nyenget taking the bronze in 46:13.1 in a lean at the finish. Lapalus fell back to fifth (46:15.3). Gus Schumacher of the U.S. was 24th (48:27.5), Hunter Wonders was 31st (49:02.1 and Zak Ketterson was 43rd in 50:23.5.
Klaebo, 29, now has eight Olympic medals (6-1-1) and now has a day before the Classical Sprint on the 10th. Norway has won this event now six times out of the 10 times it has been held.
● Figure Skating: Team Event
The U.S. started the day with a 44-39 lead on Japan, but that was narrowed in the Pairs as two-time World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won the Free Skate at 155.55 points with the U.S. duo of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea fourth, scoring 135.36. That closed the score to 51-49 for the Americans.
Next was the women’s Free Skate, with three-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) winning at 148.62, ahead of Georgia’s Anastasia Gubanova (140.17) and a disappointed Amber Glenn of the U.S., in third at 138.62; she lost execution points on her first three jumps. So, the score was knotted at 59-59 going into the men’s Free Skate.
The men’s Free Skate was the decider, with World Champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S. going fourth and 2025 Worlds sixth-placer Shun Sato (JPN) last. An emotional performance from Italy’s Matteo Rizzo scored a seasonal best 179.82 and he was rapturously mobbed by his teammates in what turned out to be the bronze-medal-clinching skate. It was Italy’s first medal in the event and the first time anyone other than Canada, the U.S. and Russia have won a medal in the Team Event.
Malinin was smiling during his warm-up, but was all business on the ice, performing with a restrained fury, including five quadruple jumps – with a slip that had two hands on the ice on one of them – that still scored 200.03 to take the lead.
That left Sato, whose best-ever score was 194.02 from earlier this season, skated brilliantly, with excellent technical execution. Sato scored 194.86, scary close to Malinin, but just short.
So the Americans, who moved up from second to first in 2022 after the disqualification of Russian Kamila Valieva to a doping charge, won gold on the ice in 2026. The U.S. has medaled in all four editions of this event: 3-3-1-1.
The U.S. finished at 69 points to 68 for Japan, then 60 for Italy, 56 for Georgia and 54 for Canada.
● Luge: Men’s Singles
Germany’s Max Langenhan came in as the 2024 and 2025 World Champion, but had a mixed record on the FIL World Cup circuit this season. He was unstoppable in Cortina.
He led the first day with track records of 52.924 and 52.902 in the two races and he improved two more times in the final two heats, getting track records of 52.705 in race three and then 52.660 in race four to win convincingly in 3:31.191! It’s Langenhan’s first Olympic medal and the third win by a German racer in the last four Games.
Just as steady in second was 2023 World Champion Jonas Mueller, second after the first day and faster in both of Sunday’s races to total 3:31.787 for the silver. Third and fourth also did not change from Saturday, as Roland Fischnaller (ITA) maintained his bronze-medal position in 3:32.125 and Latvian Kristers Aparjods was fourth (3:32.612). The spread, across four races, from first to third was just 0.934 seconds!
American Jonny Gustafson finished 11th (3:34.32) and Matthew Greiner was 20th (3:35.872).
A German – west or East or combined – has won this race 12 times in 17 runnings in Olympic history.
● Snowboard: Men’s and women’s Parallel Giant Slalom
After two golds in a row in the women’s Parallel Giant Slalom in 2018 and 2022, it was anticipated that the Czech anthem would be played for star Ester Ledecka, easily the top qualifier, with teammate Zuzana Maderova second.
The Czech anthem was indeed played, but not for Ledecka.
She was stunningly eliminated in the quarterfinals, by Austrian star Sabine Payer, twice a World Cup gold winner this season. And Payer then dispensed with Italy’s two-time World Cup winner, Lucia Dalmasso, to reach the final.
On the other side of the bracket, Maderova breezed into the semis and won by 0.45 over Italy’s Elisa Caffont, then crushed Payer in the final by 0.83 for the third straight gold for the Czechs. Delmasso won the bronze in the all-Italian third-place race, 0.11 up on Caffont. It was the first Italian medal in this event since 2002.
The men’s race had another defending champion, Austria’s Benjamin Karl, who qualified third-fastest and was a smart medal choice. He squeezed by in his round-of-16 race against home favorite Maurizio Bormolini by 0.03 seconds, then slid past countryman Andreas Prommegger (+0.12) in the quarters.
Karl then beat 2022 silver winner Tim Mastnak (SLO) in his semi by 0.24 and faced 37–year-old Sang-kyum Kim (KOR) in the final. Karl managed a win by 0.19 and won his second straight gold, only done once previously by Swiss Philipp Schoch in 2002 and 2006! He also now has medals in four Winter Games: PSG silver in Vancouver, a Parallel Slalom bronze in 2014 and now golds in 2018 and 2022. He celebrated by ripping off his shirt and flexing to the crowd!
Bulgaria’s Tervel Zamfirov won the bronze over Mastnak in a photo finish at the line, the first-ever Snowboard medal for Bulgaria!
● Speed Skating: Men’s 5,000 m
There was little doubt that Norway’s Sander Eitrem, the world-record holder, was the favorite and so all eyes were on pair no. 9, where he was skating with Czech Metodej Jilek (19), a two-time World Cup winner this season.
Eitrem was ready and skated evenly to a dominant 6:03.95 win and the Olympic Record, shattering Swede Nils van der Poel’s 6:08.84 from Beijing in 2022. Jilek, for his part, stayed strong throughout and his time of 6:06.48 moved him into second place with only one pair to go.
But that pair included former world-record man Tom Loubineaud (FRA), but this wasn’t his best day and while he won his race, his time of 6:11.15 placed him only fifth. Instead, the bronze went to emerging Italian star Riccardo Lorello, the 2025 European silver medalist, who won the third pair in 6:09.22, which held up for a medal.
His teammate, Davide Ghiotto, the 2025 Worlds 10,000 m winner, was the nearest challenger, in the eighth pair, timing 6:09.57, good for fourth. American record holder Casey Dawson, skating in the eighth pair, finished in 6:11.88 and was eighth.
Eitrem is the first Norwegian winner of this race since the iconic Johan Olav Koss won it in 1994. Absent from the podium were the Dutch, who had won a medal in this event in 10 straight Games.
Elsewhere:
● Curling: In the Mixed Doubles, the round-robin won’t finish until Monday, but the four playoff teams are set.
Britain’s 2021 World Champions, Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, finished at 8-1 and led the qualifying. The U.S. team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, the 2023 Worlds winners, are 6-2 with a match to play, ahead of defending champion Italy (5-3) and Sweden (5-4). The U.S. and Italy will play tomorrow to sort out the seedings, with the semis starting Monday evening.
● Ice Hockey: The women’s tournament grinds on with the U.S. at 2-0 in Group A and Canada playing its first game on Saturday and blanking the Swiss, 4-0. The U.S. and the Swiss play on Monday, while Canada faces the Czech Republic.
American star and captain Hilary Knight tied the U.S. record for most career goals at an Olympic Games with 14 in the 5-0 win over Finland. Natalie Darwitz (2002-06-10) and Katie King (1998-2002-06) also had 14.
The Americans and Canadians will play on Tuesday (10th) and then Canada will finish group play with the delayed match against Finland on the 12th. Playoffs start on the 13th.
= PREVIEWS: MONDAY, 9 FEBRUARY =
(5 finals across 5 sports & disciplines)
● Alpine Skiing: Men’s Team Combined
This is a new event, matching a Downhiller and Slalom racer from the same country.
Can anyone stop the Swiss? Franjo von Allmen already won the Downhill and Loic Meillard has been a consistent World Cup Slalom medalist this season.
France has defending Olympic Slalom king Clement Noel and Norway has Atle Lie McGrath in the Slalom, but no Downhill stars to ensure a medal. Perhaps home favorites Italy might be in position for another medal after a 2-3 in the Downhill from Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris and hope for the best in the Slalom.
The U.S. can pick from Ryan Cochran-Siegle or Kyle Negomir or Bryce Bennett in the Downhill and River Radamus in the Slalom for a possible upset.
● Freestyle Skiing: Women’s Slopestyle
Defending champion Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) led the qualifying, but will have to fight off China’s Eileen Gu once again, the 2022 Olympic runner-up and second in qualifying.
Those two look solid for medals, but there are more challengers, such as Britain’s Kirsty Muir, who won a World Cup gold this season, three-time Worlds medalist Megan Oldham and 2025 Worlds runner-up Lara Wolf (AUT).
Unheralded American Avery Krumme, 17, qualified fourth with a solid second run. She’s never won a World Cup medal; perhaps her first podium comes at the Olympic Games?
● Ski Jumping: Men’s Normal Hill (109 m)
Defending Olympic champ Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) is back and has two wins on this year’s FIS World Cup circuit, but all eyes will be on another Prevc: Domen. His older brother Peter won an Olympic silver in this event in 2014 in Sochi (RUS), and younger sister Nika just won the women’s Normal Hill silver.
Domen, 26, has dominated the World Cup this season with 11 wins, including the last four in a row! But he could be upset by a countryman, Anze Lanisek, a Worlds bronze winner and a three-time World Cup himself this season.
Kobayashi’s teammate, Ren Nikaido has made great strides this season, with seven medals and one win and is a definite medal threat. Then there are the Austrians: Daniel Tschofenig (two wins), Stefan Kraft (three-time World Champion) and Jan Hoerl, who won two medals at the 2025 Worlds, and Germans Philipp Raimund (five World Cup medals this season) and Felix Hoffmann (four medals). All could land on the podium.
● Snowboard: Women’s Big Air
This will be the third time for this event in the Winter Games and two-time winner Anna Gasser (AUT) is back to keep it all to herself.
The rest of the podium is back from 2022, with silver winner Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) and Japan’s third-placer Murase Kokomo, also the 2025 World Champion. Kokomo’s teammates, 2025 Worlds runner-up Reira Iwabuchi and bronzer Mari Fukada are clear contenders as well.
Youth will be served by Britain’s Mia Brookes – 19 – a World Cup winner this season, and the 2023 World Champion in Slopestyle.
Sadowski-Synnott (172.25), Murase (171.25) and Brookes (167.00) were the top qualifiers.
● Speed Skating: Women’s 1,000 m
Dutch skaters have won this event four times, tied for the most ever in Olympic competition and are in position to make it five. Stars Femke Kok and Jutta Leerdam ranked 1-2 on the ISU World Cup circuit in the event this season, with Leerdam winning three of the four races she contested and Kok finishing 2-1-3-2-3 to take the seasonal title.
Leerdam won the Olympic silver in Beijing in 2022 and has two Worlds golds in the event from 2020 and 2023. Kok is stronger in the 500 m, but won the 2025 Worlds silver in the 1,000.
But standing in their way is defending champ and two-time World Champion Miho Takagi (JPN), who won once and was second twice in her four World Cup races.
American Brittany Bowe – the 2022 Olympic bronzer and a three-time Worlds winner in 2015-19-21 – ranked third in the World Cup standings and figures as a contender for bronze, and teammate Erin Jackson, the 2022 Olympic 500 m winner, is also in this race, but is only an outside contender for a medal (but with the speed to surprise for sure).
= INTEL REPORT =
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● Finland-based OURA, maker of the OURA Ring was named the Team USA and LA28 exclusive provider of continuous health and fitness tracking devices.
This is in the Official Supporter category, the third tier of the LA28 domestic sponsorship program, and is the 13th company in that level.
● Athletics ● At the World Athletics World Indoor Gold meet in Karlsruhe (GER), Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell, the 2025 Worlds 800 m runner-up and 2024 Paris 1,500 m bronzer, grabbed the world 1,500 m lead in 4:00.04, out-dueling Ethoipia’s Birke Haylom (4:00.88).
American Grace Stark, the 2025 Worlds 100 m bronze winner, moved to no. 2 in the world in the women’s 60 m hurdles, winning in 7.86. World women’s high jump leader, Olympic champ Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) won the women’s high jump at 2.01 m (6-7). Italy’s Larissa Iapichino, the 2025 Euro Indoor winner, took the women’s long jump at 6.84 m (22-5 1/4).
¶
Dutch 400 m hurdles star Femke Bol made a very successful debut in the 800 m in Metz Moselle Athletor meet in France, winning in 1:59.07, now no. 5 in the world for 2026. It’s her recorded mark at the distance.
At the Woo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Olympic 100 m women’s champ Julien Alfred (LCA) won in 7.00 to take the women’s world lead in the 60 m.
¶
A U.S. (Atlanta Track Club) team of Clay Pender, Luke Houser, Luciano Fiore and Sean Dolan set a world record for the men’s indoor 4×800 m at the Penn Classic in Philadelphia on Friday (6th), running 7:10.29 and winning by more than 12 seconds.
The old mark was 7:11.30 from 2018 from another U.S. squad, set in Boston.
¶
Norwegian distance star Jakob Ingebrigtsen confirmed he had surgery in the U.S. on his left Achilles after a flare-up in January of an April 2025 injury that dogged him during the season. He wrote on Instagram:
“My Achilles tendon is absolutely fine and has been for many months – it is the sheath around it that has been causing the issue and unfortunately it has not been able to recover properly.
“The sheath has been ruined and covered in scar tissue, which is what we have gone in and removed. So the surgery by itself is not that big, which is why the recovery time is somewhat short. Hopefully I am not going to be out for very long but it is necessary for me to be healthy again. So don’t be concerned – it’s not as bad as it seems.”
● Cycling ● Italian star Elisa Longo Borghini won her third title at the UCI Women’s World Tour UAE Tour – and second straight – winning the final stage on Sunday after Dutch star Lorena Wiebes had won the first three flat stages.
Wiebes had an 18-second lead on the field coming into Sunday and Longo Borghini was 30 seconds back in 35th place. But Sunday’s race on 156 km had a significant uphill finish and the Italian broke away and won by 12 seconds over fellow Italian, Monica Trinca Colonel, in 4:13.04.
Wiebes was 54th, finishing 8:46 behind and ended up 40th. Longo Borghini and Trinca Colonel were 1-2 at the end in 13:06:32 and 13:06:48.
● Fencing ● Italy swept the medals at the FIE women’s Epee World Cup in Wuxi (CHN), with Giulia Rizzi taking the final from 2023 Worlds silver winner Alberta Santuccio, 15-9, for her fourth career World Cup gold. Two-time World Champion Rossella Fiamingo won the bronze.
The Team title went to host China, with a 45-35 win over Korea.
● Judo ● A huge field of 488 judoka from 78 countries gathered for the IJF World Tour Paris Grand Slam in France, with the home team getting first-day wins from Paris 2024 bronze winner Shirine Boukli in the women’s 48 kg class and two-time Olympic medalist Sarah Cysique at 57 kg. Two-time Olympic bronzer Romaine Dicko won the women’s +78 class on Sunday.
Japan saw World Champion Takeshi Takeoka win at 66 kg on Saturday, then ran the table on Sunday, winning the men’s classes at 81 kg (Yuhei Oino), 90 kg (Goki Tajima), 100 kg (Dota Arai) and +100 kg (Kanta Nakano).
Olympic champions taking golds were Tokyo 2020 Olympic champ Distria Krasniqi (KOS) in the women’s 52 kg division and Rio 2016 Olympic winner Rafaela Silva (BRA) in the women’s 63 kg.
● Rugby Sevens ● The fourth stage of the HSBC Sevens Series was in Perth (AUS), with Fiji and Australia taking the men’s pools at 3-0 each, and New Zealand and Australia sweeping through their women’s pools.
The playoffs saw Fiji continuing through to the men’s final, but lost to South Africa, 21-19. Australia won the bronze over New Zealand, 12-10.
The women’s final was another AUS-NZL showdown, this time convincingly won by the Kiwis, 29-7. France took the bronze over the U.S. women, 21-14.
● Wrestling ● Cohlton Schultz won the only medal for the U.S. in Greco-Roman at the United World Wrestling Ranking Series in Zagreb (CRO), taking a silver in the final against seven-time World Champion Riza Kayaalp (TUR), losing by 7-1.
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