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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● “A historic day, a great result, the result of extraordinary teamwork. I thank the women and men who made all this possible and in particular the Government for their constant closeness and support.”
That’s Fabio Saldini, chief executive of the Società Infrastrutture Milano Cortina 2026 (Simico), responsible for the government’s construction responsibilities for the 2026 Winter Games, commenting on the next step in the completion of the new sliding track in Cortina d’Ampezzo. He added:
“Today we started to ice and will continue throughout next week: this is the beginning of the path that will lead us to the pre-homologation that will begin on March 24, as planned. We respected the schedule and we quickly and well built the new track: some didn’t believe it, today the facts speak for themselves. A track, beautiful, safe, sustainable. The Sliding Centre is a reality, a beautiful reality.”
The track is being built on an extremely tight time schedule, with the 2026 organizers even arranging a back-up plan to hold the bobsled, luge and skeleton events in Lake Placid, New York, if necessary. Controversy continues in Italy as to whether the post-2026 Games use of the track will have been worth the expense and drama.
● Diving ● British star Matty Lee, who teamed with Tom Daley to win the Tokyo 2020 Olympic men’s 3 m Synchro gold, announced his retirement at age 26.
Lee and Daley scored a major upset in 2021, defeating China’s reigning World Champions Aisen Chen and Yuan Cao by a tight 471.81 to 470.58, despite losing on five of the six dives. A 20-point margin in the fourth dive turned out to be decisive.
Lee and Daley won the men’s 3 m Synchro bronze at the 2019 Worlds, and Lee and Noah Williams won silver at the 2022 Worlds. Lee and Lois Toulson took the 2017 Worlds silver in the Mixed 3 m Synchro.
Lee wrote on Instagram:
“After 20 years in the sport, it’s time for me to step away from diving. This decision hasn’t been easy, but after losing my dad in 2022, I struggled to find the same passion I once had, he was my why. Then came injuries, [spinal] surgeries, and the realization that I don’t want to be a broken man moving forward. …
“What’s next? Honestly, I don’t know. And that’s both terrifying and exciting. But I do know this. there’s more to life than diving, and I’m ready for it.”
● Nordic Skiing ● The 44th FIS World Nordic Worlds are underway in Trondheim (NOR), with a shock in the Nordic Combined.
The women’s Nordic Combined has only a short history at the World Championships, held in 2021 and 2023, with Norway’s Gyda Westvold Hansen winning the Individual gold both times and Norway winning four of the six medals in those two editions. In the 2024-25 women’s World Cup, Norwegians had won eight of the 12 races so far.
The women’s Mass Start event – the first ever at the Worlds – started with a 5 km race and followed with jumping off the 102 m hill, and Westvold Hansen led after the race at 13:36.3, followed by teammate Marte Leinan Lund (13:38.3).
But in the jumping, it was the Japanese sisters Yuna Kasai and Haruka Kasai who emerged as contenders. Haruka finished second in the jumping and Yuna was third and with Westvold Hansen only seventh, and so it was Yuna Kasai who became World Champion with 121.0 points to 118.7 for Westvold Hansen and 115.6 for Haruka Kasai!
Moreover, American Alexa Brabec, 20, was seventh in the race and eighth in the jumping, but the consistency placed her fourth at 111.4, just a few points out of the medals, a big surprise.
Seasonal leader Nathalie Armbruster (GER) finished sixth; American Annika Malacinski was 25th.
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No such shocks in the men’s Cross Country Freestyle Sprint, as Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the men’s race in a tight finish with Federico Pellegrino (ITA), 2:45.74 to 2:46.41, with Finland’s Lauri Vuorinen (2:50.53) in third. American Ben Ogden made it to the semifinals and finished 12th overall in 2:49.68.
It was Klaebo’s 10th career Worlds gold, stretching back to 2019 and his fourth straight Sprint title. Pellegrino was the 2017 World Sprint Champion and a two-time Olympic Sprint silver medalist and won his third Worlds medal in the event (1-2-0).
The women’s Freestyle Sprint was the third straight Worlds gold for Sweden’s 2022 Olympic Sprint champ Jonna Sundling, who crossed the line with a convincing win in 3:03.36, ahead of Kristine Skistad (NOR: 3:05.49) and Nadine Faehndrich (SUI: 3:06.20). Skistad and Faehndrich both won their first individual Worlds medals.
American Julia Kern was a very creditable fifth in 3:13.89; superstar Jessie Diggins and teammate Kate Oldham were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
The Nordic Worlds continue through next week.
● Wrestling ● American Chance Marstellar scored a men’s Freestyle gold at 86 kg at the United World Wrestling Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event in Tirana (ALB).
Marsteller won his three matches by pin (1:17), then 4-0 and 2-0 to finished undefeated and unscored on.
Rio 2016 gold medalist Kyle Snyder won a bronze at 97 kg, losing in the semifinals on criteria to Japan’s Arash Yoshida, at 5-5. Snyder went through a grueling effort just to get the Tirana, competing in a Professional Wrestling League (PWL 8) tournament in Astana (KAZ) on Tuesday and then flying to Albania to compete on Thursday!
The U.S. finished the men’s Freestyle events with five medals (1-0-4) and 97 points, second to Iran (135).
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