The US have gone up 2-0 in the hockey, and Canada up 5-0. Given there’s not much jeopardy in the ice dancing with only three pairs to miss out on the next section, we think that might be enough from us for the day. Fear and Gibson will be up before too long, they’re hyped as a medal chance too, so see if you can find vision of their routine after it takes place.
Medals tomorrow in men’s slopestyle ski, which will be fun, plus cross-country and the speed skating mixed relay. A lot more besides. We’ll see you then.
Figure skating: Great routine from the Americans in the ice dance, Zingas and Kolesnik “are covering a lot of ice”, says the commentary, which sure sounds like part of it. Great routine, they’ll score high. We’ve had 16 of 23 now. The GB pair Gibson and Fear are due late in the list.
“I do think of Brits and ice dancing!” insists Amy Buondonno on email. “Torville and Dean, for the win!”
Of course, but let’s be real, 1984 was a long time ago. My first association with contemporary France isn’t the Napoleonic wars, either.
The US pair go second as the scores come out.
Hockey: The USA lead the Swiss 1-0 in the second period, while the Canadians are beating up the Czechs 4-0.
The round-up
Gold for Mathilde Gremaud in the freeski slopestyle, the Swiss reigning champ going back to back after a huge battle in the first two runs with Eileen Gu of China, who fell on the third. Canada’s Megan Oldham won bronze.
Disappointment for GB in two of the trick events, with Kirsty Muir fourth on that ski run, and Mia Brookes the same placing after not completing her last snowboard jump attempt in the women’s Big Air
The Swiss men’s team won the combined slalom, Franjo van Allmen and Tanguy Nef the winners ahead of Austria and the other Swiss pair of Odermatt and Meillard.
Jutta Leerdam might have provided the image of the day, breaking down in profuse tears after an iron-willed performance in the final race of the women’s 1000m speed skating, having to break an Olympic record set minutes earlier to do so.
Phillip Raimund did not fly the furthest, but won gold in the men’s normal hill ski jumping. In one of the stranger sports going around, he recorded slightly shorter jumps than the silver medallist and one of the two dead-heat bronze medallists, but the judging component gave him a higher score on form.
The snowboard jumps event was won by Murase Kokomo, the most consistent jumper across three rounds to get gold for Japan. New Zealand get their first medal of the Games thanks to Zoi Sadowski Synett’s silver, with Yu Seungeun coming from nowhere with a breakout bronze for Korea.
Australia’s Tess Coady finished a creditable seventh in that event, but will need to level up her complexity to go higher in future. The other Aussie, Meila Stalker, landed one very good jump but not the other two.
GB’s mixed curling team will play off for bronze against Italy after going down to Sweden.
Want to catch the medal tally? The Norwegians and the Swiss leading on gold for now, with Norway ahead by a bronze.
Figure skating: The French pair are currently heading the standings after 12 routines out of 23, ahead of Georgia and Czechia, though I could have done without the Offspring yelling at us during the Georgian routine. Korea’s pair go for Gettin Jiggy With It, and they’re choreographed really well to move according to the staccato nature of the beat rather than a more flowing style of music, it’s impressive, but there’s one early stumble from Quan Ye and it costs a lot of points despite a good routine. Only three of the 23 pairs get dropped for the subsequent round, but for now Korea are in one of those spots. Quan drops his head in his hands when the scores come up.
Here comes Finland, backed by… Ricky Goddamn Martin. Spirit fingers, spirit fingers.
Phew. A couple of big finals happening simultaneously there, with the distance jumping of the skiers and the trick tumbling on the snowboards. The ice dancing is still going, while USA have started playing Switzerland in the hockey, the women’s group stage.
Back to that curling bout earlier, as expected the Swedes pressed home their advantage to beat the British team heavily in the mixed doubles semis, after that one disastrous end opened up the game, while USA snuck past Italy 9-8.
Gold for Germany in men's ski jumping
Talk about leaving your run late… Philipp Raimund roars on a teammate’s shoulders after winning the gold with the final jump of the night. He scores 138.5 on that jump, the highest mark of the day, and one that takes his combined score to 274.1.
He goes past Kacper Tomasiak of Poland, who takes silver, and there is a dead heat for bronze between Japan’s Nikaido Ren and Switzerland’s Gregor Deschwanden.
Updated
Murase Kokomo wins gold in women's snowboard Big Air
Yu Seungeun has the final jump, tries for the same frontside 14 that she nailed with her second jump, looking to improve that score, but loses it in the air and lands falling back. It won’t get her into the gold spot, but she already knew before she jumped that she at least had a bronze for Korea.
Zoi Sadowski Synnott has a second silver medal in this event, recovering remarkably after a first-jump fall, silver for New Zealand.
But Murase Kokomo is the only rider who nailed all three jumps, including a pair of 89s with her first and third. For that reason alone she deserves to win, and she takes home gold for Japan.
Snowboard: The podium is set, now it’s just the order on it. Murase Kokomo into the gold medal spot with a frontside 14, perfect landing, she knew it was good as soon as she landed, and the judges boost her up… one rider to go.
Snowboard: Mia Brookes! So close! She tries a backside 16 melon, that’s four and a half rotations, gets them all done but jars the wrong way on the landing. Stays up but it’s not quite right. I don’t know why that’s classed as DNI by the judges, but either way it wouldn’t have got the points to challenge the podium, but that was a huge trick attempt. Massively ambitious. She’s laid down a marker.
Updated
Snowboard: The DNIs are coming thick and fast, Suzuki Momo another, so no podium for her with three riders to go.
Snowboard: Not quite the landing for Meila Stalker, missed the grab again on her first attempt, got it a second time but it throws off the landing. The jump is marked as DNI, not sure what happened there. “Oh well,” she says to somebody. “Get it next time.”
And it’s a similar story for Tess Coady. Doesn’t get the grab, and something doesn’t feel right with her jump, she bails out of the trick essentially. Didn’t have the right positioning in the air to get around for the jump she’d nominated, so she concentrates on landing and not wiping herself out for no reason. DNI.
So an anti-climactic ending for both Australians.
Snowboard: Iwabuchi Reira lands hard, loses balance and hits her chest hard, but she’s ok and smiling as she walks down and hugs a couple of her competitors. Big score on her first jump but didn’t land her second right, and DNI on her third. So she’s out.
Ski jumping: Austria in front here, Stephan Embacher. Then Vilho Palasaari for Finland is second, or was, but the German Felix Hoffman just bumped him to third.
Snowboard: Switch backside 1260 and lands it! Zoi Sadowski Synnott, gold in the slopestyle in Beijing and silver in this event, plus bronze in 2018. Fell on her first jump, nailed her second… anticipation on her face as the judges take their time…
She’s in gold medal position. Some big riders yet to come, but what a comeback. Scores 83.50, she’s up to 172.25 combined.
Snowboard: So a change in the jump order now, with the lowest scoring riders jumping first so that the leaders will know what they have to do at the end. The Austrians are out of contention: Gasser lands a 76 but doesn’t have enough early points, and Karrer falls again. So does Fukada Mari (also Mari Fukada when not using Japanese naming order, if you’re confused) who can’t rescue her final despite that huge second-jump score.
Zhang is good in the air on her last jump, not perfect on the landing, she comes through with a score of 70.25 which won’t get her on the podium, but a good night. Bows to the judges as she leaves the course.
Figure skating: The Australians are up! Holly Harris and Jason Chan, and they do not do Ricky Martin, they of course use Kylie Minogue. Big score, 67.75, second so far out of five, and they’re through to the next round.
Ski jumping: The men’s normal hill jump final is happening too. Felix Trunz leading for Switzerland after eight competitors.
Snowboard: That doesn’t last long! Murase lands a 72 to go second overall, then the possible favourite Sadowski Synnott lands a huge trick for an 88.75 to give herself a shot after her first fall. That’s the second round.
Snowboard: Mia Brookes into second place! Backside 1260, slight stutter on landing but it’s good enough to get her a 78 and take into second overall. A long way to go, but silver medal position for GB at the moment…
Snowboard: Hell of a jump from Fukada, cleanest landing of the night after four rotations, and she scores an 85 after her first-round fall. Nodding in appreciation as she watches back her replay on the big screen.
Yu Seungeun is more animated! Triple cork frontside 1440, lands a little back-heavy but stays up, and she hurls her board away in celebration at having stuck that trick… scores an 83.25, and she’s top of the pops on combined scores now, not many have landed two tricks. Coady is still third overall for that reason.
Snowboard: Iwabuchi also butt-plants on the landing, after her big first round score, so she’ll need her third trick.
Stalker, the Australian, drops in goofy foot, good in the air but just drops her hands on the landing… oh, she missed the grab in mid air on that one. Couldn’t get compact in shape, that threw off her aerodynamics and her spin, and in the end she did well to land that fairly cleanly without hitting the ice. Scores a 35.
Snowboard: Karrer and Zhang both crash on landing for their second jumps. Same jumping order as before. Gasser doesn’t fall but bounces out on the landing and gets flipped around to face the wrong way, looking super annoyed about that, big points loss, scoring 45 on it. She stacked her first score, so that’s her out of the medals. The previous two who fell both had a decent first round, so they’re still in it.
Suzuki Momo does land her frontside 1440, arms aloft as she comes down to the flat. Scored 54 in the first round, but 81.5 here and that takes her above Coady for combined scores.
Snowboard: So you have to get one score with both stances, apparently. The Australian Tess Coady goes strategically simple, a switch backside 900 scoring 61 with a nice clean landing again, so that means she has two solid scores banked and can go more ambitious on the third jump.
Snowboard: Zoi Synnot Sadowski for NZ crashes out as the last jumper, right after Murase Kokomo goes top of the board with a backside 1440. Onto round two.
Figure skating: I’ll be honest, you think ice dancing and you don’t think Great Britain. But Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez have charisma, they have chemistry, and they go top of the table early. There are 23 pairs, so don’t get carried away by the third one, but it’s a good routine, using George Michael as their backing musician.
Importantly they didn’t go for Ricky Martin again, because the Swedes did, La Vida Loca. That’s two Ricky Martins in four pairs. I’m getting Sparky Polastri vibes here, is he selling his wares around the circuit?
Snowboard: Mia Brookes for GB now, going with her opposite stance, cab 14 with a stalefish grab. (No, I don’t know what these mean, I’m just writing them down for people who do. She went around and around a bunch of times and didn’t fall over.) She’s into third spot.
Reminder that each boarder gets three jumps and keeps their best two scores combined to decide the medals.
Updated
Snowboard: Fukada Mari falls on landing, now score for the Japanese rider. But it’s a huge trick nailed first attempt for Yu Seungeun, who stomps a backside 1440 easy as pie. Huge score, 87.75 to go top for Korea.
Snowboard: The second Australian in the comp, Leila Stalker, also goes the backside 1080, this with a mute grab, and she nails the landing too! Good solid foundation for the two Aussies early in this comp. She’s pumped, big smile as she leaves the course high-fiving, scored a 72.50 and she’s currently third. Iwabuchi Reira for Japan went top before Stalker’s jump, Zhang Xiaonan for China jumped second and is second.
Snowboard: Hanna Karrer skews the landing on her trick, stays up but with a big curve out of the landing, and Anna Gasser stacks hers, falling onto her butt, so despite big moves in the air the two Austrians score low. Suzuki Momo for Japan doesn’t nail the landing either.
Ice dancing: I think there’s a 1990s theme to this round. We talked about school discos before, now we’re right in it. The Spanish pair do a delightfully cheesy Ricky Martin montage number, before the Chinese pair come out dressed like West Side Story. What a sport.
Snowboard: The women’s big air is underway. We love this one. And it’s Australia’s Tess Coady who starts us off, perfectly landing a backside 1080 with melon grab. (I think.) She banks a solid 70.00 to begin.
What’s coming up? Plenty! The men’s ski jumping 1st round is about halfway through, with home team Giovanni Bresadola currently leading. The ice dance is about to start, this is the rhythm dance section where the top teams qualify for the free dance round, where the medals are decided, with points carrying over. And the women’s big air snowboard final is about to begin, with the first of three runs!
Ice hockey: Germany beat France 2-1 in overtime in the women’s group match.
Sweden beat GB in mixed curling semis
Curling: Massive turnaround in the match, and not in Great Britain’s favour. Sweden call their power play (once per match, a team can pre-place a stone before beginning play in an end). That plus some errors from GB open up Sweden for a five-shot advantage, perfectly placing their stones on each shot. They’re leading 8-3 with two ends to play, very unlikely to cough up that kind of lead. And the match is over very shortly after.
USA are leading Italy 7-5 in the sixth end.
Updated
Curling: Both semi-finals have levelled up, GB stealing one stone to go 3-3 against Sweden, Italy and USA are 5-5. Sweden though with a great chance to score big in the sixth end after a couple of British errors.
Speed skating: Jutta Leerdam looks very serious waiting to step onto the podium, holding back more tears, then erupts into a beaming smile as she is called up and jumps up and down. A harder to read expression on Femke Kok’s face, seemingly still conflicted which is of course understandable, perhaps just exhausted as well. The emotional expenditure of spending four years leading up to this must be immense. Tagaki Miho is much more composed, allowing herself a small smile as she snaps a selfie with the other two at the end, in remarkably her third successive Olympic podium in this event: bronze in 2018, gold in 2022, and bronze again here, a far more slight and diminutive figure than the powerful Dutch skaters.
Ice hockey: Germany and France at 1-1 in the third in their women’s prelim round match.
Curling: I’m pleased to announce that I’ve found a channel with the home Italian feed, and watching curling in Italian is my new favourite thing. Especially while they’re playing the USA. Spicy. The Americans are leading 5-4 in the mixed doubles semi final.
Over in the other game, Great Britain are 2-3 down to Sweden. Lots of chat between the British pair as Bruce Mouat sweeps like a demon, then says “Sorry” about his shot because it tapped the other stone slightly harder than his aim. We’re seeing the 5th end.
Updated
Jutta Leerdam gold, Netherlands one-two in women's 1000m speed skating
What a finale. The last pair of the day, facing a new Olympic record having just been set, only to see it last just a few minutes. Leerdam is powerful on her start, clocks one lap in just over 26 seconds, and finishes with her height and her long strides 1:12:31. Her teammate, Femke Kok, looks on, not knowing what to think by the looks of it, some poignancy to her expression seeing her own possible gold medal become silver but seeing her national team take the top two spots in this race. Leerdam can’t believe she’s done it. Last race, last chance, the perfect performance. She pulls off her racing hood, shakes her long hair loose, and glides around the track for a little longer, then eventually pulls up at one of the soft barriers and collapses across it, eyeliner leaving tracks across her cheeks as she weeps and weeps.
Her opponent in that race, the gold medallist last time, Tigaki Miho finishes with brozne this time for Japan, a much more reserved expression on her face as she slows down.
Updated
Speed skating: A blazing run from Erin Jackson of the USA finishes in 1 minute 15 on the nose! She’s gone top of the pops. Looks a little overwhelmed as she sits down to wait for the rest of the races. Ellia Smeding for Great Britain puts up a strong race against Lee Na-Hyun of Korea, who clocks the third-fastest time for a monent. But all of that is overturned by an incredible pair in Femke Kok and Brittany Bowe, Dutch vs American in that bout, the 2025 World Champ v the 2022 bronze medallist, but they push each other to greater heights.
Kok has almost the perfect race, very aggressive on the last couple of turns, and gets home in a new Olympic record! Bowe finishes with the second fastest time, but looks metres adrift by the close. They’re one and two now.
The new Olympic record is 1:12:59.
Updated
Speed skating: Han Mei of China races herself into the bronze spot for now, the third skater today to go sun-1:16, just ahead of Nadezhda Morozova of Kazakhstan. But Yin Qi of China takes that spot from her compatriot in the next race, blowing away Natalia Czerwonka of Poland who is now sixth on time.
Good day! Thanks for your company. A bit of quiet at the speed skating, where we are having some “ice treatment”, I’m told. That means there’s a bit of a Blue Lighr Disco feeling to the arena, with dimmed lights and yacht rock classics on the PA, all designed to keep those skating fans from tearing the place apart while they wait for the machines to smooth over the rink. What are those machines called in ice hockey rinks? My mind says jabroni machine, but that’s from the Sopranos. Zamboni machines? The name is Italian adjacent. Anyway, I guess this is a version of that. I am not the maintenance expert.
Righto, that’s it from me for now. Here’s Geoff Lemon to croon you through the next bit of the day – and under way in four minutes is the mixed doubles curling semi, in which Great Britain meet Sweden.
At 5.05, so in just 11 minutes from now, we’ll all be frantically polishing our carpets, as GB go against Sweden in the semis of the mixed doubles curling. But back to the speed skating, Zdrahalova of Czechia is flying and Schulting’s leading time is under threat. She tears around the last corner … and finishes second, 0.37s slower.
Czerwonka of Poland is out in race six and she looks decent in slotting herself into second place. Meanwhile in the women’s luge, the first run is over and the first three is as was, Fraebel of Germany leading by 0.048s from Taubitz, also of Germany, with Hofer of Italy a further 0.271 behind.
Herzog of Austria is a lovely mover but she runs out of steam to finish up fourth overall. The big favourite for gold is Leerdam of the Netherlands; she goes in the final race against one of the only competitors with a chance of beating her, Takagi of Japan, while the third likely contender, Kok also of the Netherlands, goes in heat 13.
Updated
The more racers we see, the more Schulting’s time looks nails. McGregor of Switzerland is flying, but she’s still not especially close, finishing 0.70s off the lead and going second; Silaeva of Kazakhstan goes seventh.
Rosner of Austria and Lalibete-Roy of Canada are way off the leader in heat three of the speed skating, going fifth and sixth respectively.
Back with the luge, Fraebel still leads from Taubitz while, in the women’s ice hockey, Germany are still 1-0 up on France.
Updated
It’s Vanhoute of Belgium and Hiller-Donnelly of Canada out next, Hiller-Donnelly in front but a second down on Schulting. But Vanhoute comes on strong at the end to take second – for now – with Italy’s Maybritt, who was in the first heat, third.
We’re under way in the speed skating, two-and-a-half laps of the track. Schulting of the Netherlands is away quickly on the fresh ice, setting a benchmark time of 1:15.46, well outside the Olympic record.
Updated
“For a classic of the Italian anthem genre,” begins William Mata, “there is a whole Giorgio Chiellini section of YouTube of him loudly, badly, belting it out.”
I shall investigate.
Our speed skaters are warming up so, given there’re medals at stake, let’s focus on that for the next bit.
Back to the women’s luge, the two Germans are 0.048s apart; in third, Hofer of Italy is a further 0.288 back, which is to say that, by the looks of things, there’s a race for gold and silver, then another for bronze.
Updated
Coming up in 11 minutes, we have the final of the women’s 1000m speed skating. There are 15 heats, each with two racers involved, and the fastest time wins.
A terrific goal from Germany sees them lead against France in the women’s ice hockey. It looks like it’s Japan v Italy for the final knockout spot.
But what’s this? Merle Malou Fraebel, just 22 and also German, is absolutely rinsing it, and Taubitz’s time is under threat … Taubitz’s time is dealt with! Sahe goes first in 52.590, and might this be our battle for gold under way?
Germany have dominated this event at recent Games, but Natalie Geisenberger, the three-time reigning champion, has called it a career, meaning a chance for others; Julie Taubitz, also of Germany, is favourite and world champion; she’s out first and sets a solid time of 52.638. The format is two runs today, then two more medal runs tomorrow.
Updated
Righto, it’s time for some luge. “The Cortina Sliding Centre” sounds a lot more fun than luge looks.
It’s all Germany on the ice, five shots to one, but with 12 minutes left in the first, the score remains goalless
Updated
Group B table
Off we go on the ice. All the Group A teams – USA, Canada, Czechia, Canada, Switzerland and Finland move into the knockouts, along with the three top teams in Group B. Currently, that’s Sweden, Italy and Germany, but the second two are under threat form Japan, who meet Italy later on.
We’re seven minutes away from Germany v France in Group B of the women’s ice hockey. Then at 4pm it’s run 1 of the women’s single luge, after which it’s the women’s 1000m speed skating final.
For example:
I was, though, a little disappointed with this. Il Canto degli Italiani needs intensity, not wistfulness, inasmuch as I’ve any business having an opinion on the matter.
Updated
I missed the opening ceremony, so am catching myself up. There’s never a bad time for Mariah, right?
BBC are showing an interview with Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, representing GB in the figure skating. How much they love what they do is contagious, and they get going this evening, Spice Girls routine and all, at 6.20pm.
I enjoyed this from Yara El-Shaboury:
She didn’t get a medal, no, but did make clear to the world that she’s a sound individual, so. Here’s Sean Ingle’s report on Kirsty Muir and fourth place in the women’s slopestyle.
We’re an hour away from action so, in the meantime, anyone seen Boys of 80 on Netflix? It tells the story of USA’s against-all-odds gold-medal ice hockey win, also known as The Miracle on Ice.
I keep getting interrupted while watching it but, thus far, can’t say I’m totally at home with its “our way of life” jingoism, USA juxtaposed against USSR in pretty a basic way. Other hand, I also can’t say I’m not enjoying hanging with the lads as they recount their individual stories of triumph from nothing.
I love this one.
And also this one, which isn’t in the selection.
I want me and my mates to be that happy.
Updated
Oh man, these are so, so good.
We talked about this much earlier, but here’s video footage.
Well in that man.
Thanks Billy and hi again all. We’re all friends here, so we can be honest: there’s no actual action 3.40pm, when Germany meet France in Group B of the women’s ice hockey; goodness we’ll be absolutely ganting on it by then. Then, at 4pm, we’ve got the first run of the luge women’s single, after which comes the final of the women’s 1000m speed skating at 4.30pm.
I’ll be departing after that, but at 5.05pm comes Great Britain v Sweden in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles curling; in the other, Italy meet USA having beaten them 7-6 earlier today.
The high point of the evening dig, though, comes at 6.30pm, when Mia Brookes goes in the final of the women’s snowboard big air; she was third-best in qualifying.
Daniel Harris is back and is your guide for the afternoon’s action from Italy. Ciao.
Well, what a Games this is turning into for Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen. He won individual downhill gold on Saturday, then went fourth-fastest in the first leg of the combined event this morning. His partner Tanguy Nef put down an excellent slalom run this afternoon to move them all the way up to gold again. Switzerland have a new Olympic star.
🥇 Switzerland win men's team combined skiing gold
Alex Vinatzer’s slalom run is well below pair and he and Giovanni Franzoni can only finish seventh! It’s a second gold of the Games for Franjo von Allmen, who wins alongside his Swiss partner Tanguy Nef.
Gold: F von Allmen & T Nef (Swi) 2min 44.04sec
Joint Silver: V Kriechmayr & M Feller (Aut) +0.99s
M Odermatt & Loic Meillard (Swi) +0.99s
Updated
Team combined skiing: Alexis Monney smiles into the camera at the bottom before his Swiss partner Daniel Yule sets off on his slalom. He loses significant time in the first half of the course and they end way off the podium. A bit of a botched job, that.
Alex Vinatzer can win gold alongside his Italian partner Giovanni Franzoni, who recorded the fastest downhill time. Here he goes …
Updated
Team combined skiing: It’s another Swiss pair next as Marco Odermatt’s partner Loic Meillard isn’t sharp enough through the poles on his slalom and they end tied in silver medal position with Austria. Nef and Von Allmen still the pair to beat with two teams to go.
Team combined skiing: Switzerland’s Tanguy Nef is next … he and downhill gold medalist Franjo von Allmen go into provisional gold with an excellent slalom that knocks almost a second off the Austrian pairing’s leading time.
Team combined skiing: Tommaso Sala follows Dominik Paris’s downhill run with a slalom of 52.77sec – it’s only enough to go into provisional bronze for this Italian pair.
Team combined skiing: We are down to the final five runners in the slalom, with Austria holding the top two positions and France bronze as it stands. There are two Italian pairs and three Swiss pairs to come, so expect it to change.
Updated
Day three latest summary
Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud defended her women’s freeski slopestyle title, with China’s Eileen Gu in second and Canada’s Megan Oldham third. Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir finished 0.41 points off a medal.
Italy qualified for this afternoon’s semi-finals of the mixed doubles curling after a thrilling 7-6 win over the USA in the final round robin fixture.
Italy have a chance of a second gold of the Games in the men’s team combined skiing after Giovanni Franzoni went fastest in the downhill discipline.
Here are the best pictures so far:
Updated
Women's freeski slopestyle report
Olympic champion Mathilde Gremaud from Switzerland retained her title on Monday in the slopestyle freestyle skiing competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games in Livigno.
China’s Eileen Gu, who had been hoping to convert her Beijing 2022 silver medal in the event into gold this time, came in second after tumbling at the start of her last run. Canada’s Megan Oldham, 24, made it to the bottom step of the podium despite a big crash on her second run.
Giving herself a day-late birthday present, Gremaud skied well above the already very high bar set by Gu, with three spectacular runs, wearing the Swiss flag like a cape on her last run having already ensured herself the gold medal. On a crisp and sunny day, Gremaud kicked off the final performing – for the first time ever by a woman – an elite level trick known as the nose butter double cork 1260. In this trick the skier presses the tips of the skis on the takeoff to start the spin and then performs a double cork 1260, two distinct off-axis, inverted flips combined with three and a half full, horizontal rotations.
Known for her variety of tricks on the slope, the Swiss champion veered towards very technical ones followed by breathtaking acrobatic jumps in her second run, which earned her the top score of 86.96, just pipping Gu’s first-run score of 86.58.
Despite the big crash on her second run, Oldham picked up in the third run, soaring through the rails and performing conservative yet still very acrobatic jumps at the end, winning her a score of 76.46.
Kirsty Muir missed out on Great Britain’s first medal of the Games by less than half a point. Scotland’s Muir scored 76.05 on her final run, agonisingly short of the Oldham.
Fourth place will come as a relative disappointment for the 19-year-old Muir, who broke down in tears afterwards, considering she had won the prestigious Aspen X Games two weeks ago with a score of 93.66.
Muir had touched down on her first run and ranked sixth after a relatively safe second run that scored 63.01, with only the best of each athlete’s final runs counting towards their final ranking.
Muir, who made her Olympic debut as a 17-year-old in Beijing, will get another medal chance later in the Games when she competes in the ski Big Air. Reuters & PA Media
Updated
Team combined skiing: Finland take the lead approaching the halfway point of the slalom runs. Eduard Hallberg goes down in 52.14sec which, combined with Elian Lehto’s downhill, puts them 0.27s ahead of a Norwegian pair in second. It’s still an outside shot of a medal for Finland but you never know …
Updated
Right, next up we have the second instalment of the men’s team combined skiing. Saturday’s downhill stars returned to Stelvio this morning for the first leg of this event. Each are paired up with a slalom skier, whose category is now under way, and the best combined time wins gold.
An Italian pair lead the standings after Giovanni Franzoni, the downhill silver medalist, went fastest this morning. Then three Swiss teams follow, with downhill champion Franjo von Allmen only fourth behind Alexis Monney and Marco Odermatt.
Updated
It’s disappointment for Kirsty Muir but there are more medals up for grabs for Great Britain later today. Mia Brookes will go for glory in the women’s snowboard big air at 6.30pm (GMT). The mixed doubles curling team can also confirm at least a silver if they win their semi-final against Sweden at 5.05pm.
Women’s freeski slopestyle final standings
Gold: Mathilde Gremaud (Swi) 86.96pts 🥇
Silver: Eileen Gu (Chn) 86.48 🥈
Bronze: Megan Oldham (Can) 76.46 🥉
Fourth: Kirsty Muir (GB) 76.05
Agonising for Muir, such small margins.
Gremaud comes down the slope with a Swiss flag acting as a cape, showboating for the crowd a bit and milking the moment. She defends her Olympic title from 2022.
Updated
🥇 Mathilde Gremaud wins the women's freeski slopestyle
Eileen Gu had to go for it on her final run to dislodge the Swiss and she goes off on the first rail, handing gold to Gremaud before she’s even taken to her final run.
Updated
Freeski slopestyle: So close for Muir! She gets a slick first few rails and bars under her belt, then a huge first jump before a wobble on the penultimate. She puts down a massive final jump but it’s agonisingly short of a medal! She scores 76.05 – 0.41 off Oldham in third.
Updated
Freeski slopestyle: Finland’s Anni Karava goes well with a final run of 63.51 before the American teenager Avery Krumme gets it all wrong on the first rail and crashes into it. She finishes her run with a couple of straightforward jumps and gets some cheers. Kirsty Muir goes next …
Freeski slopestyle: Here come the big guns. Megan Oldham gets a clean final run off the rails and tube before landing her jumps, including a final 900, to give her medal chances a major boost. It’s 76.46pts and that’s the benchmark for bronze now.
Freeski slopestyle: Austria’s Lara Wolf (7th) goes off the first rail and her final run ends before it begins. Still she turns on the style for the rest of her run, ending with a superman front flip. When the pressure’s off …
Canada’s Naomi Urness hasn’t managed above 47pts so far but jumps up to 6th with an impressive final run.
Updated
Freeski slopestyle: China’s Liu Mengting can’t break into the medal positions as she pulls out of a rail on her final run. Italy’s Maria Gasslitter and Switzerland’s Giulia Tanno don’t do enough either.
Freeski slopestyle: The top 6 standings before the third and final run:
1 M Gremaud (Can) – 86.96pts
2 E Gu (Chn) – 86.58
3 M Oldham (Can) – 69.76
4 Liu M (Chn) – 67.46
5 G Tanno (Swi) – 65.85
6 K Muir (GB) – 63.01
There’s still a medal in this for Kirsty Muir. It looks like Gremaud and Gu will do battle for gold.
Freeski slopestyle: Leader Eileen Gu comes off the first rail and recovers to score 23.00, which can be shelved. Her first jump of 86.58 is still the score to beat.
Second-placed Mathilde Gremaud lands a huge 1260 on the penultimate jump and goes for an equally impressive final jump, landing superbly backwards. This could threaten the lead … it does! She goes top by 0.38pts with a 86.96 score.
Updated
Freeski slopestyle: GB’s Kirsty Muir goes 270 switch-up, backswap, 270 off the down-bar, then a huge first jump before landing the last two. It’s 63.01pts and puts her in 6th. Something on the board.
Freeski slopestyle: Finland’s Anni Karava can’t stick the landing off the penultimate jump after a couple of near misses in a cautious run. She stays on 49.61pts.
The 17-year-old American Avery Krumme also lands on her side on the final jump with a spin between 700 and 900 degrees. Kirsty Muir goes next for GB.
Freeski slopestyle: After such a promising second run, 3rd-place Megan Oldham of Canada crashes out on the final landing, both skis coming off. She looks a bit shaken but raises both hands to the crowd. Ouch.
Updated
Freeski slopestyle: Neither Guilia Tanno nor Lara Wolf can break into the medal places currently occupied by:
Gold: Eileen Gu (Chn) – 86.58pts
Silver: Mathilde Gremaud (Swi) – 83.60
Bronze: Megan Oldham (Can) – 69.76
Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir scored 37.15 on run 1 after losing it on the final jump.
Updated
Thanks Daniel. We’re approaching the business end of the women’s freeski slopestyle final. It’s make or break for those whose first run wasn’t high-scoring.
Italy’s Maria Gasslitter follows her first-run 50.33 with a 52.45. China’s Liu Menting (4th after run 1) loses her footing early on and can only manage 13.66.
Righto, that’s it from me for now. I’m going to watch the end of this then go and sauna, so here’s Billy Munday to chill with you through the next two hours.
Grimaud, the favourite and defending champ, comes out last, and there’s a lot of backwards stuff to start, hitting the centre of the rail, then a 1260 to finish that has her punching the air then holding her head, contemplating the ludicrousness of her behaviour. She’s going well ahead, I shouldn’t wonder … not she isn’t! She must make do with 83.60, which puts her second behind Eileen’s 86.58.
Eileen of China is out next, dead smart in her white suit, and lands a double cork 1260 at the end, lovely stuff. She loves it, and that felt like the best run we’ve seen so far, which ai appreciate sounds vaguely ridiculous coming from me. It’s absolutely insane what humans do to entertain themselves, and 86.58 takes her first.
She goes into the first jump backwards, then finishes with a huge jump that she doesn’t quite land. She looks devo’d at the end, but she nailed the rails at the start, and though the judges punish her with a score of 37.15, which puts her eighth out of nine, she was one move away from killing it and has two more goes so to do.
Backwards into the rail, switching direction, and this is so, so smooth…
Avery Krumme of USA starts poorly, but improves further down the course, 52.40 putting her fourth. So here comes Kirsty …
Updated
I should say, each competitor takes three goes, their best score the one which goes forward to decide who wins what.
It’s getting serious as Karava of Finland zooms down the slope, her tricks less wild that the ones we saw from Oldham, and her 49.621 puts her second-bottom.
Oldham of Canada also errs on a rail at the top of the course, but a 1260 spin at the end is followed by another with a safety grab, then a 900, and she absolutely loves it. Her 69.76 takes her into the lead.
Updated
Urness of Canada comes off a rail early doors, looking to turn her back on it, and she gets 24.65, which puts her last. Ouch.
Lara Wolf of Austria nails her routine, but our commentators reckon the difficulty wasn’t too high, a bizarre observation when we see her spinning in mid air. She gets 52.83 and third place, which tells us that “perfect execution means nothing if the difficulty isn’t there”.
Updated
Giulia Tanno of Switzerland is out next, finishing with a double cork 1080 and celebrating on landing. To my inexpert eye, she looked in good control, and gets 65.85, putting her second behind Liu.
Liu Mengting of China is next, her run not too complex, and she gets 67.46. She seems to like it.
And off we go, Gasslitter of Italy slipping off a rail – I’d obviously have nailed it all the way. She’s awarded 50.33, not great, but in a three-run final there’s plenty of scope to remedy situations. The competitors, by the way, are running in reverse order of qualification scores, so Muir goes three from the end, Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland, the defending champion and favourite for gold, waiting till last.
Updated
This is our field…
BBC tell us Muir has some of the bigger tricks – that others don’t – which make her a medal threat. She’s especially good at rails, but may well showcase gear we’ve not seen before.
Kirsty Muir says she always listens to music when she’s competing to get her into the zone. Her thoughts vanish, and once she leaps off, she can’t hear it any more. What a joy it must be to experience that flow state – speaking as a Tetris veteran, I know what she means.
Check out our daily briefing:
Let’s also send Maisie Hill a hold tight. She didn’t make the final but, on the other hand, did return from a:
lacerated liver
punctured lung
major brain bleed
two broken vertebrae
four broken ribs
damaged pelvis
Not normal behaviour, mates.
On TNT, they’re showing Mia Brookes’ big air qualifying from last evening. After falling when landing her first go, she nailed her second and third, showing ridiculous temperament to perform under pressure like that, and she’s a really good chance of a medal; the final is 6.30pm.
The morning’s mixed doubles curling is over, completing the round robin section and, with Italy beating 7-6, we now know that in the semi-finals, at 5.05pm, Great Britain will face Sweden with USA meeting Italy a second time.
Updated
So what is freestyle skiing slopestyle? Says the Team GB website:
Slopestyle combines elements of freestyle skiing and skateboarding. Athletes navigate a course filled with rails, boxes, and jumps, performing tricks at each feature.
Judges focus on how creative tricks are, their difficulty, how well they are executed and the amplitude that is gained whilst they are being performed. Progression is also judged, by which skiers are rewarded for producing tricks and combined moves that have been done before.
Says me: absolute freak-of-nature insanity which, I concede, doesn’t differentiate it from any other of the many very different other events we’re enjoying.
Learn more about Muir by reading Yara El-Shaboury’s interview.
Our next big event is the freestyle skiing women’s slopestyle final. That’s at 11.30am, and Kirsty Muir of Great Britain is going for a medal.
Updated
Chemmy Alcott advises that slalomers under pressure, trying to bring home the medal opportunity their downhilling teammate has set up for them, need to forget what’s happened this morning and just get after it – “there can be no safe skiing”, words which absolutely terrify me.
Updated
I enjoyed that – it’s so interesting how tiring something that looks like involves no effort can be. But the forces, torques and tensions are so extreme that it takes an unreal toll on the body.
That’s the downhill section of the men’s combined done with; they’ll reset the course, then slalom section will be with us at 1pm, and the medals will be settled.
Goodness me, Sejersted of Norway is racing with a broken shoulder; I guess I’d assumed limbs were necessary for this activity, but apparently not. He’s trying to give his mate McGrath a shot at something tomorrow, and finishes 1.89s off the lead; effort, old mate.
Updated
Oh whoops, I misinformed myself. We’re not quite done, but it’d be a surprise if anyone among those yet to go again goes faster than Franzoni.
Franzoni of Italy does indeed record the fastest run, with Monney of Switzerland second, Odermatt of Switzerland third, and Von Allmen of Switzerland fourth. We’ll see how their partners go in tomorrow’s slalom section.
Franzoni, by the way, looks not unlike a non-ginger version of Jannik Sinner – himself a brilliant skier, good enough to contemplate life as a pro before opting for tennis. Naturally, though, he’s not missing this, so has himself a job.
There’s a second Italy team, 36-year-old Dominik Paris an old stager relative to the 24-year-old Franzoni, and he’s close … but tires on the second half of the run and has to settle for third.
Updated
The speedometer in the corner of the screen is a pleasing addition, reminding us just how nuts all this is, and Franzoni of Italy has a chance of dipping under Switzerland’s time … here he comes, clipping a gate, and he’s quicker by 0.28s.
Updated
Austria have Switzerland in their sights, through Daniel Hemetsberger with his two black eyes and missing teeth following a training-run crash. He goes quicker … but Odermatt of Switzerland beats the time on his second run, then Schieder of Italy falls at 90mph, then gets up and dusts himself down like he’s Jake Blues.
Updated
Furthermore, which event demands the hardest athletes?
Which of these events is most terrifying? This a question that reminds me of when a teacher asked five-year-old me which hand I wanted to be caned on, and I kept saying neither – yes, a real man would’ve said either or both – except the other way around, the answer being all of them. But for the less lily-livered, there must be an answer.
The slalom section of this competition is tomorrow, which is to say the downhillers go today, then the times of the two team members are added together, with the quickest taking gold. Germany now lead, having gone faster than Switzerland.
We’re away in our skiing, Switzerland up first. They set a combined time of 1:53.64, believed to be pretty decent, but let’s see how Chechia do; so far, they’re behind.
Updated
The opportunity to absorb into a whole new world of sport and competition, love and joy, is such a blessing. It’s nice and sunny today, and I’m looking forward to seeing who has the best big coat. Last time, Ghana were the winners and by far – click the arrow, third photo.
Updated
We’re almost ready to start the men’s team combined skiing. This is a new Olympic event that begins with downhill then moves into slalom.
The photo in question…
Trump must’ve been steaming, etc etc.
Updated
Shout out, hold tight, biggup.
Today's highlights
Times are all GMT. For Sydney it is +11 hours, for New York it is -5 hours and San Francisco it is -8 hours
9.30am – Alpine skiing men’s team combined, downhill
11.30am – Freestyle skiing women’s slopestyle final, featuring Kirsty Muir
1pm – Alpine skiing men’s team combined
4.30pm – Speed skating women’s 1000m
5.05pm – Curling mixed doubles semi-final, featuring Great Britain
6.30pm – Snowboard women’s big air final, featuring Mia Brookes
7.12pm – Ski jumping men’s individual – normal hill, final
Updated
A primer for today’s Team GB hopes.
Preamble
Buongiorno a tutti e benvenuti alle Olimpiadi invernali 2026 – terzo giorno!
We open today with some light curling, after which it’s into the alpine skiing and the downhill discipline of the men’s team combined. That should get us going nicely for the freeski women’s slopestyle final, up at 11.30am and featuring Team GB’s 21-year-old Kirsty Muir, third-best in qualifying and going for a medal.
After that comes the final of the men’s team combined slalom at 1pm, then we might take in some women’s ice hockey, with Germany facing France, before it’s into some luge and the final of the women’s 1,000m speed skating.
At 5.05pm, Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds go for Great Britain in the semi-final of the mixed doubles curling – they’re heavy favourites – then we’ve more luge, some ski jumping and figure skating, before the medal run of the women’s big air snowboarding, featuring the 19-year-old Brit Mia Brookes – who has a serious hope of a medal after saving herself following a fall, nailing her second and third efforts to qualify.
“I listened to Metallica. Megadeth. Pantera, Judas Priest, stuff like that,” she explained. “It came out of me in an athlete way.”
Esattamente! Andiamo!
Updated
