Winter Olympics round-up
That’s our day.
Franjo von Allman won the Super-G gold for Switzerland
Norway, unsurprisingly, won the Nordic combined event, with ski jumping and cross-country racing, via Jens Luraas Oftebro
The controversial Julia Simon won the biathlon after France’s Olympic association was accused of cooking her suspension so she could compete
USA went one-two in the women’s moguls, via Elizabeth Lemley and Jaelin Kauf
Another American gold in the 1000m speed skating, Jordan Stolz winning after a controversial collision hampered Dutch champ Joep Wennemars
Italy doubled up in the double luge, winning the men’s and women’s medals
Sweden are leading Italy 3-2 in the men’s hockey group game, the medals are about to be awarded for the ice dance, Norway is leading the overall table that you can check below, and I am out of here. Until tomorrow.
Gold for France in the ice dance!
Laurent Beaudry Fournier and Guillame Cizeron collapse in elation and relief. There was a review of one of his early moves, where he was downgraded for coming out of a turn early. They held only a fraction of a point lead over the US team from the rhythm dance section in the first round. But they score 135.64 from their final dance compared to 134.67 for the Americans, almost a point ahead, and that will do the job!
Whatever the technical breakdown, both skates were of such high quality that really it was about what style the judges liked more: the dramatic storytelling piece of Chock and Bates, or the elegance and understatement of Beaudry Fournier and Cizeron. I’d probably go for the US performance, but here it’s the French.
Silver for the Americans, bronze for Canada. Lithuania in sixth was my favourite routine. Go and find some vision of all of them, they were all wonderful athletic displays.
Lewis and Fear finish in seventh spot, by the by, a good 13 points out of the medals, so even without that stumble from Lilah Fear, they wouldn’t likely have challenged the podium. So go easy on that.
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Figure skating: I’ll give you the downsides first. Didn’t like their costume colour, a kind of drab green, and their instrumental music choice is like something from a sad third-act movie scene. But everything else… these two are two columns of corded muscle. They are so lean but so strong, and they use that strength in their holds and their lifts to make them seem so fluent and natural. They’re not two skaters really, they’re one skater. The move where he gets low and holds her almost sideways, so that it looks like she’s flying unassisted over the ice while he disappears, is extraordinary. They were beautiful together. Now we wait.
Figure skating: Last, the French. Laurent Beaudry Fournier and Guillame Cizeron.
Figure skating: Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the USA have the second-last skate. They’re using an orchestral rearrangement of Paint it Black, super drama. All black outfits but she has a dramatic red flamenco kind of half skirt attached to the back of her waist, and the way it flares out with movement adds a striking visual element. They’re doing a matador-bull kind of dynamic, she’s killing him by the end. She’s also tiny, so he’s really able to throw her around in the lifts, spinning her on his shoulders like a pencil on his fingertips. Some very original dance elements too at the close, not like anything else we’ve seen. Highly expressive, the way they locked onto each other, their eye contact.
They collapse to the ice when they’re done. It was perfect, and it was very much their own. What will the judges make of it?
134.67! They’ve outscored the Canadians by three and a bit. Total score 224.39. They can’t win less than silver.
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Figure skating: Third from the end, here come Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier for Canada. Their routine is van Gogh inspired, music backing is Starry Starry Night, and Gilles’ dress is decorated as per the painting, while Poirier’s shirt has matching gold accents on the pale blue. They love the routine, they think they’ve nailed it – they both burst into tears as it ends. Not to be a downer, I thought it was less interesting than some of the others, but it was lovely and it was precise.
It’s good enough for a medal. What colour, we’ll see. But they’re top of the list on 217.74, having outscored the Italians in second by a full six points on that last routine. The Americans and the final French pair remain.
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Lewis and Fear stumble, could that cost a medal chance?
Figure skating: Big hopes for Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear in the ice dance, with their world ranking and coming in at the business end of the program. They did a Britpop bit in the first round, now they’re dressed in tartan and going a Scottish theme, and they start strong… but in skating terms, there’s a disaster. Have to be perfect, and during the twizzle sequence, Lilah Fear loses her balance. Doesn’t fall, but stumbles and has to recover her footing, get back into time with her partner.
They come back remarkably well. Find their rhythm, she puts it out of mind and nails the rest of the routine. Music goes from the Proclaimers, to Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, then into an Edinburgh Military Tattoo style drums and pipes rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Their finale is spectacular, a spinning lift sequence that fans out into a dizzying series of spins for Fear.
It’s spectacular, but that one mistake will cost.
They clock 118 in the free dance, where those around them have been scoring between 120 and 125. And that leaves Lewis and Fear fourth, with three pairs to go.
She is devastated. Holding it together, just, at the judging table, but gosh, that is going to hurt for a long time.
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Figure skating: After the long warm-up, we’re into the last five. Results keep proceeding according to placement coming in, with the Italians jumping a good three points clear at the top of the standings, after their routine based on the Italian movie Diamonds.
Figure skating: Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik with an athletic routine in the ice dance. Nearly decapitated a judge with one of their final lifts as Zingas got a shoulder ride and flicked her legs around like helicopter blades near the judges’ desk. It doesn’t cost them though, they’ve also scored a PB and have gone top of the standings.
Five pairs to go.
Curling: Mostly done in the men’s team round robin. Great Britain beat China 9-4. The US beat Czechia 8-7, and Italy beat Sweden 7-6. There’s an extra end in the tied Canada Germany game.
Figure skating: Best friendship with Canada ended, new best friend is Lithuania. That was so much fun. Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius nailed that one, it was more active, more dynamic, more fun. The lifts were inventive but looked effortless, the music was a pared-back version of the track I posted below but still gave them some drive, and the routine got clearly the biggest response so far from the crowd tonight, they were fully engaged.
Personal best for them! That’s 121.71 for this routine, 204.66 overall. They’re leading now ahead of the French.
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Figure skating: What is more moody than a French figure-skating pair dancing to Björk? They’re less dramatic than some of the others, very technically smooth. Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud were a couple of my faves from the first round. And that first round takes them into the lead! They score lower than the Spanish in the free dance today, but their rhythm dance score keeps them ahead with 203.68 combined.
Seven pairs to go, and Lithuania are dancing to Faithless. Hell yeah…
Figure skating: Gorgeous, weightless, from Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha for Canada. Their routine ues the story of Rudolf Nureyev, and it really has that balletic feel. The lifts glide, the shapes could be dance on the stage rather than the ice. Bravo.
No deductions, they sit in second place overall with 120.14 for that routine. I thought they were better than the Dune one, more in sync, but I’m not judging. (I am however writing a stern letter to the IOC.)
Ice hockey: The last event of the day to begin has done so, Sweden and Italy 1-1 during the first period of their men’s group game.
Figure skating: We’re back for the next part of the program here, Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck for Spain doing an original take on the brief with a routine inspired by Dune. They use some of the super dramatic music from the film, costume it accordingly. I’m not one hundred percent convinced by the flow and synchrony of some of their movements. Some very athletic lifts in that routine though, starting in different ways to what you’d normally see. They’ve got their personal best score! And they’re top overall for now.
Snowboard: Louis Philip Vito crashes early, and that’s the Italian done as well as the qualifiers done. At least he’s wearing striking Italian blue. What is the deal with the snowboarders and their gear, by the way? Guseli wore Australian gold, Scotty James wore green, but everyone else is just neutral toned, beige, white, black. You can’t tell anyone apart, can’t tell who they’re representing. Why so bland, snowboarders?
Here are the finalists for Saturday.
Scotty James (Aus)
Totsuka Yuto (Japan)
Yamada Ryuso (Japan)
Alessandro Barbieri (USA)
Hirano Ruka (Japan)
Valentino Guseli (Aus)
Hirano Ayumu (Japan)
Campbell Melville Ives (NZ)
Lee Chaeun (Korea)
Wang Ziyang (China)
Josey Chase (USA)
Jake Pates (USA)
Curling: All of those men’s matches from before are still going. That sport takes a looooooong time. The scores are pretty close except for GB leading China 8-4.
Some extra info from our informal US correspondent Beau Dure on the speed skating champion. “USA’s Jordan Stolz won all six World Cup races at that distance this season. Stolz also swept the 500m, 1000m and 1500m in the 2023 and 2024 world single-distance championships, and he won a record 18 consecutive World Cup races before his illness in early February, which knocked him down to silver, bronze and silver at the 2025 worlds. He’s being hyped here as someone who could leave with three gold medals – maybe even more.”
Snowboard: Huge run from Wang Ziyang, but the Chinese rider is already in 10th so he’s probably safe… improves his score, though it doesn’t improve his standing, still 10th. Lee Chaeun in 9th doesn’t improve either, the Korean falling near the end of this run. David Habluetzel of Switzerland falls and will miss out.
Snowboard: A little movement! Jake Pates of the USA manages to improve his first score enough to sneak into 12th. Can he stay there? Nice camaraderie in this sport, it has always been a feature: Pates knocks out Lee Jio of Korea, bumped to 13th, and Lee is the first one up to Pates after his run to give him a hug and congratulations.
Christop Lechner, the German low in the standings, crashes out.
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Figure skating: This is my favourite winter event. All of the figure skating really, but the extra creative element to the ice dance makes it something else, challenging the arbitrary boundaries between art and sport. Another stunning routine to take us halfway, Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko now take top place for the USA.
Snowboard: With 12 riders out of 24 progressing to the final, this is starting to take shape. Chase Blackwell in 14th spot crashes out on his second attempt. There are eight riders left outside that top dozen who could push their way into it.
Figure skating: The Finns get creative, a tango-inspired number telling the story of La Rubia Mireya, a kind of tango archetype of a woman who is admired and then undermined. Juulia Turkkila is resplendent in a sparkling red gown with a choker, Matthias Versluis is supposed to be a source of menace and contrast dressed in all black. There is a lot of drama in the way they interact, competing moments of power, ascendancy, descent. Quite the composition. It puts them into top spot for now, as the ninth pair.
Figure skating: Top of the pops now for Georgia, with Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (I keep reading his name in the voice of The Mask, but don’t let that distract you). A huge 118.87 on their routine, they’re the eighth pair out of 20. Three American pairs coming up later for our Guardian US readers, and the Great Britain pair of Lewis and Fear.
Snowboard: Patrick Burgener of Brazil crashes out on his second run, as does Campbell Melville Ives of NZ. They’re 8th and 12th effectively. Now here comes Scotty James. The cab triple cork 1440 he lands to perfection, so much elevation on that first trick, but his second one he completes without nailing the landing, and doesn’t have the momentum going into his third elevation to try a trick there. Bails out and coasts down the rest of the run, but he’s through on the strength of his first run anyway.
Snowboard: A lot of fondness in Australia at the moment for Valentino Guseli, and he’ll do that no harm with a great second run. Some big tricks in there, including a triple cork cab 14, and he lands the lot. Doesn’t quite improve on his 86.75 from his first run, probably because a couple of the landings were a bit shaky, but he’s well placed.
Snowboard: If you’re ever inclined to be sniffy about snowboard sports, get over it, this is such spectacular viewing. I will not claim the slightest expertise but the halfpipe seems more advanced today than at previous Games. A couple of huge second runs from the Japanese riders Hirano and Totsuka who both improve on their first scores.
Barbieri doesn’t, he crashes out, but qualifying only takes your score from your best run, so he’s still in a good spot with an 88 first up.
Snowboard: Right! We’ve neglected the men’s halfpipe so far, given it was qualification time on the first run while there were medals being decided elsewhere. But some good news for Australians, Scotty James is top of the scores after that first run has been completed for all competitors. Yamada Ryusei is second, Alessandro Barbieri third, and the other Aussie, Valentino Guseli, lurking in fourth. There’ll be a second run, then the final happens on Saturday.
Italian gold in the men's double luge
It’s an Italian double in the double luge!
Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer did it in the women’s event not long ago, and now Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner have done it in the men’s, but in very different styles. The women had the best first-run time and had to nail the last run in the competition. The men came back from third place after the first run, a remarkable result given how these competitions tend to go. They clocked a competitive time, then watched as first the Austrians, then Mueller and Haugsjaa for the USA, couldn’t match them. Nothing dramatic in those last two, just not the perfect run when it was time.
The Americans drop all the way back to sixth. And the second German team that improved their position, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, steal into third for bronze.
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Luge: The Italians do their bit, Rieder and Kainzwaldner going off at the bottom of the course after a good run that means they can’t miss a bronze medal. Then the Austrians, Steu and Kindl… and they don’t nail their run! No major errors, no collisions, but they’re just a touch too slow, can’t get momentum, and now the Italians are guaranteed silver! The Austrians will have to settle for bronze. Assuming the USA team do their bit…
Luge: Results largely going as expected in the men’s doubles, though the fifth-ranked German team have hopped up into fourth spot, assuming the top three don’t mess up.
Figure skating: I would love to see a session of ice dance done on vibes-based judging rather than technical. Just watched the full Harris and Chan routine back, and to an untrained eye, they were perfect. The emotion of it, the aesthetics. A far lovelier thing than the cheesy 90s music demanded by the first round: they went Clair de Lune, twinkling piano, there was a softness to the routine, a gentleness along with the athletic skill. Go and find it if you can, that was beautiful.
For now, they go to top spot with a 108.64, though with only four pairs having danced, they will be passed as we go. Still, reward for their work, they can proud.
Belated gold for the USA in men's 1000m speed skating
So that is Jordan Stolz’s night. An anti-climactic ending for him, he half celebrated earlier but couldn’t fully go for it, and now that his gold is confirmed he’s just getting his kit together, sorting his laces, and getting ready to exit the rink. No explosion of joy, but he’ll have his moment on the podium soon enough and that’s when it can hit home.
Jenning de Boo wins silver for the Dutch, and Ning Zhongyan bronze for China.
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Speed skating: The loudest roar of the night, perhaps, as he takes off. A big Dutch contingent in the stands. He’s close in touch on the first split, but can he keep it going? Probably not… he’s a second outside gold on the second timing point, and that slips to 2.18 seconds by the time he hits the line. It was never likely to happen, racing solo so soon after spending all of that energy earlier, muscles tired, lactic acid and all the rest. He finishes a little slower than his 1:07:58 from his first attempt, so that will go down as his recorded time, leaving him fifth.
Speed skating: Wennemars is on the start line…
Luge: The men’s doubles final run is happening two, while we wait for this reskate in the men’s 1000m race. A few minutes away, as Wennemars gets ready.
Figure skating: The ice dance final round is on now, the free dance part of the program, and there’s a gorgeous routine from the Swedish pair early, Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov with a passionately romantic number. Seems to be a Romeo and Juliet theme there? Now the Australians are up, Holly Harris and Jason Chan.
Speed skating: Last pair, and Damian Zurek can’t make it stick! He’s ahead of the gold-medal time with 400 metres to go, but he’s a 500-metres specialist, and his last burst to the finish isn’t enough. He drops back past the whole podium, finishing a second outside the top time.
But there will be a re-skate! Joep Wennemars is currently in fifth spot, but he’s been afford a re-skate based on being impeded earlier. How likely is it that he can challenge on that basis? Surely he would be physically and emotionally spent after his flying run earlier? He finished 1.3 seconds outside the gold medal spot, the collision probably didn’t cost him that much time, but he was only 0.22 seconds from the bronze time and 0.8 seconds from silver.
He’s the reigning world champion. He’ll have to race solo, too, which generally means a slower time. So don’t expect this to change the result, but then what do we know?
Speed skating: New Olympic record! Both skaters in this pair beat the old mark, in fact. But it’s Jordan Stolz of the USA who holds it for now. He looks beaten by Jenning de Boo with a lap to go, then surges back to take the pair and take the lead. Both under 1:07.
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Speed skating: Wennemars loses top spot immediately after the next pair, with another Chinese skater Ning Zhongyan pipping him by two tenths of a second. Four skaters to go.
Speed skating: Back underway in the men’s 1000m after a break to reset the ice, and there’s drama on the track for the Dutch team. Not for their racer Kjeld Nuis, who gets past di Stefano to the top of the rankings in the first pair, but for their world champion Joep Wennemars in the second pair. As they come around for the final transition, Chinese skater Lian Ziwen makes a mess of it. Comes out wide, gets in the way of Wennemars, then doesn’t follow through to clear out of the way. There’s a stumble as Wennemars tries to avoid a collision, then a clip of skates as the Dutchman tries to get around. They both manage to stay upright, and Wennemars eventually charges past and hammers to the line in what is still the fastest time of the night, but it’s 1:07:58 and that will be caught by others to come. The obstruction might have cost him a second overall, which makes all the difference. He loses his cool after the race, gesturing angrily at Lian, who is disqualified for the error as well, and looks emotional himself, and a little confused as to how that all played out. The other skater was behind him when the mistake was made.
Hockey: Slovakia have beaten Finland 4-1 in the end, in the men’s group match.
Gold for Italy in the women's double luge
They hold their nerve. Perfect through the chicane, home chute advantage, and there is another gold medal for the home side. They’re getting mobbed! The whole support team pours out, wrapped up in white padded shell suits. Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer have done it, bettering the second time recorded by the Germans just as they bettered the first time. Neither team was quite as fast as their own first run, but in the second it’s about doing what needs to be done to protect the standings.
Italy gold, Germany silver, Austria bronze, and the Latvians didn’t see the errors they were hoping for to swoop into a medal spot.
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Luge: Eitbgerger and Matschina for Germany, only trailing top spot by about a tenth of a second, have their chance. A slight problem at the top of the course costs a fraction of their speed. They finish with a good time, but just outside their first run. Can the Italians nail the final run?
Luge: Egle and Kipp, for Austria, go third last, and they can’t go lower than bronze as they clock 53.350, not quite as fast as their first run but no mistakes. They’re pumped.
Luge: Domowicz and Piwkowska, the Polish pair, have jumped themselves up the list a couple of spots. The China and Ukraine teams coming after them can’t beat their combined time. So Poland third for now, as Latvia and USA skip ahead, though the fastest teams are to come.
Curling: A couple of emails that I missed on that curling win yesterday. Tony Mason: “What a fantastic and delightful victory jump by the Swedes in the curling and then humbly congratulating the Americans. Beautiful stuff. Sweden have had a great day.”
Beau Dure: “Before the competition started, everyone would’ve been happy with silver. But Korey and Cory ended with some tactical mistakes, even with their coach involved. Hate to lose on correctable errors. Too much risk when it would’ve been perfectly fine to give up 1 and take the hammer in the extra end.”
Now to put all that behind everyone, for now, and onto the next medal attempt.
Curling: A bunch of games about to get underway in the men’s round robin: Sweden and Italy, Canada and Germany, Czechia and the US, China and Great Britain. These are four-man competing teams with a fifth alternate player.
Rasmus Wranå, gold medallist in the mixed doubles only yesterday, now has to get back in the game for the Swedes. Korey Dropkin who won silver for US is not in the men’s team, though. Bruce Mouat, who missed bronze for GB, will skipper the Brits.
Luge: The women’s doubles has started, second run, meaning this is where the medals will be decided. The young Canadian pair, Allan and Podulsky, improve on their first run by a full two seconds. That puts them ahead of the Slovakians, then the Romanians pass to the top. Results going on start order so far, now Poland go top. Four teams out of 11 to go, changing the order is basically a matter of whether someone makes a mistake.
Speed skating: For now, di Stefano holds onto top spot, with Klein and Voste (Germany and Belgium) falling short of his time. It’s a photo finish, with four thousands of a second putting the German ahead. Plenty of skaters to go, though.
Hockey: Slovakia have kicked ahead in the third period of their men’s group game, Dvorsky and Slafkovsky scoring in quick time to go ahead of Finland 3-1.
Speed skating: Something for the Italians now, as Daniele di Stefano just pips Laurent Dubreil of Canada on the line. Dubreil is more a sprinter, Dubreil typically does longer distances, and Dubreil was absolutely hammering down the back straight but running out of puff, while di Stefano outlasted him and caught him on the line.
Speed skating: Betti’s time soon starts to get bumped down the list. Koo-Kyung Min blasts to the top for Korea, with 1:08:53, leaving his Norwegian opponent Bjorn Magnussen back in third place.
Speed skating: It’s time for the men’s 1000 metres. Francesco Betti goes first, and sets a track record, but the expectation is that this will soon be beaten. This is a strange one, because normally speed skating happens in pairs, even though the standings are decided by overall time. But Betti doesn’t have a pair partner, he has to race on his own. Not sure if that was an injury scratching or something else, the commentary won’t actually say why. (Email to let me know.) But it’s a disadvantage because on the turns, the skaters use each other as cover to catch a draft and be more aerodynamic.
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Luge: I’ve been especially enjoying how janky the luge course is, just a bunch of cheap pine panelling wherever the ice ends, walls at apparently random height. Someone’s uncle knew a guy who knocked it together in a weekend. The first run is now complete for the men’s doubles, and the Americans are on top in a track record of 52.482. Mueller and Haugsjaa are a couple of youngsters, 21 years old.
The Austrians, Steu and Wolfgang, are second, while Reider and Kainzwaldner are another Italian success story in third. Three runs to go, and the times for all four runs get combined. The two German teams are fourth and fifth.
Good day, all. A bit of pointless push and shove between the Finns and the Slovakians as the second period comes to an end, scores tied up at 1-1. That’s the kind of energy with which I’m entering the blog today.
Time for me to hand over to Geoff Lemon, with the Men’s double luge in full flight and things still level in the ice hockey. Thanks for your company – bye!
An email! Julia Simon’s gold medal in the biathlon has irked Chris Page. “I can’t escape the feeling that being a potential gold medal prospect had something to do with the French Olympic Committee looking the other way and allowing Julia Simon to be selected, when an ordinary French citizen would probably be in prison for the theft and fraud she committed.”
Chris, I couldn’t possibly comment.
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Men’s luge doubles: They don’t hang about. First the Italian pairing of Nagler and Malleier, who can’t catch the Austrian pair after a little wobble and a foot on the ice. Then the bookies’ favourites, the Bayern Express. They hurtle away, but its a wobbbly racing line, and they too finish behind the Steu and Kindl.
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Men’s Luge doubles: Austria's duo of Steu and Kindl go first and immediately nab the track record. “It wasn’t pretty,” says the commentator, “but it was fast.”
Men’s Luge doubles: Back to the sliding centre, where the leading men prepare for their first run. The Bayern Express of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt are after a fourth successive gold in this event. Is there a world where Bayern Express meets Burnley Express?
Men’s Ice hockey: Finland deservedly draw level in Milan: from a rattle of sticks, a backhand across the ice by Tolvanen outwitting the keeper.
Shortly afterwards, the stripey-shirted refs have to get involved to break up a face-off.
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Men’s Ice hockey: It’s still 1-0 to Slovakia at the Milano Santagiulia Arena, despite Finland having more than three times the number of shots on goal.
Women’s Luge Doubles: Canada have a horrible near miss, nudging the left wall and nearly going completely over as the sled ricochets away. They sit in last place after the first run, with Italy, Germany and Austria in the top three places going into the second run, just before 6pmGMT.
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Women’s Luge Doubles: Just nine hundreths of a second currently separate the top three duos - Italy, Germany and Austria -with three countries yet to luge.
Athletes steer via tiny movements in shoulder and calves, ooof the Slovaks bounce off a wall on their way down.
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Women’s Luge doubles: Men have been competing in the doubles event since 1964, but this is the first time women have had the opportunity.
The two athletes lie on top of each other and hurtle down the icy tube at 70mph on a tiny sledge, with nothing to protect them other than a helmet. This is not an event I aspire to.
Each team has two runs, and Italy are leading after three countries have had had their first go.
Men’s ice hockey: the first men’s ice hockey goal of the Olympics puts Slovakia 1-0 up, thanks to six foot four Juraj Slafkovský, the 2022 Winter Olympics MVP. He does it with a little one- handed nudge into the net, and celebrates by pumping the air while sliding across the ice on one knee. The Slovaks in the crowd enjoy that very much.
Ice hockey: there’s a tasty gladiatorial feel to the Milan ice hockey rink, where the defending Olympic champions Finland are taking on 2022 bronze medallists Slovakia. Its high-speed, high-stakes chaos, like British Bulldog on ice. With sticks. Brutal. And 0-0 after the first period.
NHL players return to this Olympics for the first time since 2014, ensuring the best players in the world are on display.
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We know that a lot of these extreme sport lunatics stars rely on their earphones for focus and relaxation, often to heavy metal and grime. GB’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson have chosen a more melodious tune for tonight’s ice dance final, performing to the Proclaimer’s (I’m Gonna Be) 500 miles.
A reminder that they currently lie fourth, going into the final discipline. If they do manage to pick up a medal, it will be Britain’s first in the ice dance for 34 years.
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With four of today’s eight gold medals settled, a 15 minute break in the action.
Things restart with Slovakia and Finland’s Group B ice hockey game at 3.40pm, and then the Women’s and Men’s luge Doubles at 4pm. Then we’ve got speed skating starting at 5.30pm, curling at 6pm, ice dance and half pipe qualification at 6.30pm with Sweden v Italy closing the day’s events in the ice hockey at 8.10pm.
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New Olympic champion Julia Simon cuts a somewhat colourful figure. She was found guilty of theft in October, racking up over £1000 worth of purchases on her team-mate’s credit card.
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🥇Julia Simon wins her second gold, this time in the Biathlon
Women’s biathlon: apologies, I thought I was watching live Biathlon; I was not. Julia Simon has won her second gold of the games, with her sharp shooting and speedy last lap. Her countrywoman Lou Jeanmonnot comes in second, collapsing in a heap as she crosses the line, and Bulgaria’s Lora Hristova picks up a surprise bronze after shooting clean.
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Spare a few minutes with today’s picture gallery, which captures the gravity-defying feats and human emotions of the athletes at the Milano-Cortina games.
Women’s 15km biathlon: Skiing and rifle shooting, the bacon and eggs of mountain activiites. It’s a former military sport that calls for supreme physical fitness, a steady hand and eye, and nerves of steel. Don’t get into a fight with these women.
It is also quite a confusing watch, as a conveyor belt of sharp shooters throw themselves onto the snow in the shooting range, fire off a hail of bullets, before hauling their rifles onto their backs and skiing off.
🥇Gold for Elizabeth Lemley in the Women's Moguls
So it’s a surprise gold-silver for the USA, with Jaelin Kauf finishing in second, and 2018 champ Perrine Laffont of France in the bronze medal position. The defending champion Jakara Anthony slips off to lick her wounds.
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Key event
No! Despair for Jakara Anthony, whose skis cross as she hurtles down the mountain, she stays upright but finishes in eighth. Victory goes to Olympic debutant Elizabeth Lemley.
Women’s Moguls: Tension! Afer a great run, Jaelin Kauf jumps into silver, but there is still one skier to go – and it’s the great Australian Jakara Antony.
Women’s Moguls: Japan’s Tomitaka Hinako looks good, but isn’t quick enough to steal the lead and she settles into bronze for now, with two to ski.
Women’s Moguls: eight qualified for the final, where competitors fizz down snow formed into a landscape of waves and do a gravity-defying trick off a mini slope. The USA’s Elizabeth Lemley is currently in the lead.
Thank you, Yara. The conditions in the mountains are rather less miserable than the persistent great grey drops falling outside my window. They’re about to go in the women’s Moguls final, but first an email, from a very happy Patrick Halladay.
“With Ryan Cochrane Siegle’s silver in the Super G, that is three skiing medals for Vermonters in about 24 hours! For context, Vermont has about 600,000 residents. Incidentally, all three medalists (RCS, along with Ben Ogden, and Paula Moltzan) skied on the University of Vermont ski team.”
Congratulations mighty Vermonters!
That is all from me today. But fear not, Tanya Aldred is back to steer you through the rest of the afternoon’s happenings.
Summary of the day so far
If you’re just joining us, here is what has happened on day five at Milano Cortina.
Franjo Von Allmen became only the third male skier to win three gold medals at the same Winter Olympics after storming to victory in the men’s super-g in Bormio. The Swiss clocked a time of 1:25.32 in front of the silver medallist Ryan Cochrane-Siegel of the US, and Switzerland’s multiple World Cup champion Marco Odermatt.
Von Allmen, who had already won the downhill and men’s combined titles, joins Austrian great Toni Sailer, who won three golds in Cortina in 1952, and Jean-Claude Killy, who repeated feat in Grenoble six years later.
Von Allmen said: “For the moment I feel like I am dreaming. I hope I don’t wake up. I’m missing the words today. It’s completely surreal what’s going on today and the whole Olympics.”
Jens Lurås Oftebrø recovered from a minor collision to win gold in the men’s Nordic combined individual normal hill/10km. The 25-year-old – who clinched team gold for Norway in the large hill event at Beijing 2022, as well as individual silver on the large hill – made a perfectly timed move with one lap remaining, breaking clear of the lead group and surging into the front.
Johannes Lamparter clung to the charging Norwegian for as long as he could, but couldn’t match Oftebrø’s pace in the closing stretch and had to settle for silver. Finland’s Eero Hirvonen took bronze.
Chloe Kim of the US got the drama over early in halfpipe qualifying, nailing her first run on the way to a top finish and a spot in the final where she will go for her third straight title.
Kim showed no signs of rust in her first contest since injuring her shoulder four weeks ago. Her score of 90.25 in her first run was 2.5 better than Japan’s Sara Shimizu and 4.25 better than Kim’s American teammate, Maddie Mastro.
The Chinese snowboarder Liu Jiayu took a scary fall in the halfpipe qualifying and had to be carried off on a stretcher after landing hard on her left arm and shoulder, slamming her face and stomach to the ground then bending backward and somersaulting through the bottom of the pipe.
There was no immediate word from the Chinese team on Liu’s status. The fall, which came after the 33-year-old Liu caught an edge while landing her final jump, stopped action on the halfpipe for about 10 minutes while medical personnel attended to her.
Skating: Organisers said today they were happy with the quality of the short track ice after some competitors said it had been hard to navigate in the first races.
The Milano Ice Skating Arena is hosting short track and figure skating events, sometimes with both being staged on the same day. Italy took gold in the mixed short track relay yesterday, beating Canada into second place.
“The ice was pretty bad, honestly, but I feel like that’s always a little bit of the case when we share the ice with figure skating,” said William Dandjinou, part of the Canadian team. “You just got to adapt, and that’s what we did.”
Short track requires thinner, more resistant ice, while figure skating is performed on a slightly thicker surface, meaning work is needed between events to tailor the surface in the appropriate way.
Luca Casassa, a spokesman for Milano Cortina, said he was aware of only a few speed skaters raising issues. “What I can guarantee you is that the ice master measures the temperature of the ice and monitors the quality of the ice constantly during competitions,” he said. “We are honestly getting compliments for the quality of the surfaces.”
Short track and figure skating were also held under the same roof in Beijing in 2022.
The Dutchman Jens van ’t Wout raised the issue at the end of the mixed relay where the Netherlands failed to qualify for the medals final after Xandra Velzeboer fell. “I was having a bit of blade troubles myself. The ice is really tricky here right now,” he said.
The Dutch team set an Olympic record in the B final, scant consolation for missing out on a medal.
The Italian Pietro Sighel, part of the winning Italian team, was understandably more sanguine about conditions. “The ice was difficult today, and we were among the best at interpreting it,” he said.
Freestyle skiing: Jaelin Kauf of the United States takes the lead halfway through the first run of the women’s moguls finals with a score of 80.13.
The American had a rocky start that saw her miss the first day of qualifiers and needed to secure her place in the finals in the second qualification round.
Favourite Charlotte Wilson of Australia is in third with a score of 78.38, with Japan’s Hinako Tomitaka in second with 79.42.
Biathlon: The women’s 15km individual is also underway. The three medallists from Beijing 2022 have retired so we will see a new top three in this event. Lou Jeanmonnot and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet of France are favourites but Sweden’s Hanna Öberg (Olympic gold medallist in PyeongChang 2018), Elvira Öberg and Anna Magnusson are all contenders.
Freestyle skiing: The women’s moguls finals has just begun. This is the event to watch if you have been patiently waiting for Australia’s first medal. The defending champion, Jakara Anthony, topped qualifying round 1 and Charlotte Wilson topped qualifying round 2. The two Aussies will face some stiff competition from the Americans though.
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Curling: Great Britain’s men’s team carry the weight of the favourites tag, but Bruce Mouat turned the heat back on their opponents, saying that pressure cuts both ways.
The silver medallists from Beijing had a stellar 2024-25 season in which they became the first rink to win four Grand Slams in one campaign and captured the 2025 world championships.
They followed that up by winning two more Grand Slam events in the lead-up to the Games as well as all nine of their round-robin matches at the European Curling Championships in November before losing to Olympic gold medallists Sweden in the semi-finals.
Asked if their performances had left them with a target on their backs, Mouat said: “Yeah, probably. We have been world number one for over a year now. But we see that pressure as a good thing. A lot of teams know that they have to play well to beat us. And that puts a lot of that pressure on the other teams.”
The 31-year-old will be looking to put his disappointing fourth-placed finish in the mixed doubles competition alongside Jennifer Dodds in the rear-view mirror when he takes to the ice with his men’s team.
“It’s nice to be back with the guys. They have obviously been training without me for the last week, so yeah, it was nice to get back on the ice with them and the practice was good there.”
Britain begin their campaign with a round-robin clash against China at 6.05pm GMT.
🥇Oftebro wins in nordic combined to claim Norway's seventh gold
Jens Lurås Oftebro opens up a gap on the downhill and here he comes … the best cross-country skiier in the world takes Olympic gold for Norway with a time of 29:59.4. Johannes Lamparter takes silver for Austria and Eero Hirvonen of Finland takes the bronze. The top three collapse after the finish line which shows you just how much this race takes out of you.
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Nordic combined: It’s Norway v Austria. Oftebro leads but Johannes Lamparter is right on his tail. Is he going to wait until the final moments to make his move?
Nordic combined: Oh no! Norway’s Jens Lurås Oftebro and Finland’s Eero Hirvonen get their skis and poles taggled on an uphill. Both manage to stay on their feet, and are able to keep going. There are still seven athletes fighting for that gold and there goes the bell for the final lap.
Nordic combined: The front is all packed together at the start of the third lap, and they are all closing in on Ilves, with his lead now cut to about 0.8sec. There are seven athletes in contention for gold.
Nordic combined: Ilves remains in the lead after the first lap. The athletes will complete four 2.5km laps today and the Estonian holds a 23sec lead over a nine athlete chase pack.
Skeleton: The International Olympic Committee has pleaded with the Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych to compete without his banned helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war against Russia and avoid a potential disqualification.
The IOC banned the helmet yesterday for any competition at the Olympics, saying it violated rules on political statements at the Games, drawing the ire of Ukrainian politicians. The 27-year-old, who has been training for days in Italy, including today, with the helmet showing 24 images of dead Ukrainian athletes, has said he will wear it in competition on Thursday. He is free to wear it in training at the Cortina sliding centre but not in competition.
“We would beg him ‘we want you to compete’,” an IOC spokesman said. “We will contact the athlete today and we will reiterate the many, many opportunities he has to express his grief. We want him to express his grief.”
Asked today if it was this helmet or nothing, Heraskevych said: “Yes.”
Athletes can freely express themselves in press conferences, social media and interviews during the Games but they cannot make any political statements on the field of play or the medals podiums. The IOC told Heraskevych yesterday he could wear a black armband instead.
“We really, really want him to have his moment,” the spokesman said, adding that with dozens of armed conflicts around the world it would be impossible to allow political statements in the venues.
“It is what the athletes want. That specific moment on the field of play to be free from any distraction. It is not the message, it is the place that counts.
“For us and the athletes the field of play is sacrosanct. These people have dedicated their whole lives for this moment,” he said.
The IOC said they would look for ways from now until tomorrow to convince the athlete, including having other athletes talk to him.
Tomorrow, all athletes, including Heraskevych, will have to go through a material check prior to entering the ice canal for the competition. If he insists on wearing the helmet, the IOC would have to remove him from the competition.
Nordic combined: Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves is off, as athletes line up for a pursuit-style start in the 10km cross country skiing freestyle phase, based off their time-converted points differences from the ski jumping phase.
Ilves starts +15 seconds before Austria’s Thomas Rettenegger and +19 seconds before Yamamoto Ryota of Japan.
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Half-pipe: Second runs of qualification are coming to close. The top 12 qualify for tomorrow’s final under the lights. Kim was far and away at the top and she says that she still says she “has a lot in the tank” as she aims for her Olympic hattrick.
1 Chloe Kim – USA – 90.25
2 Sara Shimizu – JPN – 87.50
3 Maddie Mastro – USA – 86.00
4 Rise Kudo – JPN – 84.75
5 Xuetong Cai – CHN – 83.00
6 Gaon Choi – KOR – 82.25
7 Queralt Castellet – ESP – 81.00
8 Elizabeth Hosking – CAN – 80.25
9 Sena Tomita – JPN – 77.50
10 Bea Kim – USA – 76.75
11 Mitsuki Ono – JPN – 76.00
12 Shaotong Wu – CHN – 75.25
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Individual Neutral Athletes: There has yet to be an athlete from Russia or Belarus to medal at these Games, with Saveliy Korostelev coming closest (fourth in the men’s 20 kilometre skiathlon). Russia have dismissed the Games over the continued exclusion of their athletes. But the truth is international sport is still important to Moscow, writes Bruce Berglund.
Disgruntled Duma members can badmouth the Olympics all they want. The fact is the world’s biggest sporting event is still significant for Moscow, not only as a showplace for its top athletes but also as a political tool. As far back as the 1950s, Soviet leaders saw the Olympics and world championships as a means of demonstrating their country’s superiority. Putin has had this same aim throughout his decades in power, especially as his government has struggled to maintain infrastructure, public health and education. As political scientist Nina Kramareva explained to me, “Russia has nothing concrete to offer its own people. It has to give them gold medals.”
Read the full comment below.
Thanks Tanya and hello all. The women’s half-pipe qualifiers are still ongoing but we know Chloe Kim is in the final. Here is what she had to say.
There is a definitely a lot of pressure but I think that the Olympics is so special because we have so much support globally.
It’s honestly such an incredible experience, like, we can really feel the crowd’s energy.
It feels like a moment we’ve worked towards our whole lives. So when it pays off, it feels really good.
Time for me to take a break, I’ll leave you in the safe hands of our Winter Olympics expert Yara El-Shaboury.
Half-pipe: Liu Jiayu, who was in contention for making the final 12, had a horrible fall towards the end of her run, and had to be taken off the course on a stretcher.
🥇 Franjo von Allmen wins his third gold of the games in the Super G
Another gold for the unstoppable von Allmen, who becomes the fourth skier to win three gold medals at one Winter Olympics, with silver for America’s Cochran-Siegle, and bronze for Marco Odermatt.
A lovely story about von Allmen. After his dad died when he was 17, his village crowd-funded his ski-ing career. Now, on his Olympic debut, downhill, team-combined and Super G golds.
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Super G: Unbelievable athleticism by the American skier Kyle Negomir, whose backside brushes the snow as he finds himself horizontal turning one of the blue flags – he somehow pulls himself upright at high speed and finishes in 26th. He looks disappointed as he pulls off his goggles, but it could have been much worse.
Women’s half pipe: qualification is over, with Chloe Kim in her familiar position at the top of the pile, with 90.25 points, looking down on Japan’s Sara Shimizu in second (87.50) and fellow American Maddie Mastro in third (86). Leilani Ettel, who lay in the final qualifying position after run one, is pipped by China’s Wu Shaotong. The final is tomorrow, where Kim will be chasing her third consecutive gold.
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Super G: The two Swiss skiers, von Allmen and Odermatt are still split by the USA’s Cochran-Siegle in the medal positions, with 20 skiers to go.
Ah no, huge shouts of frustration from the USA’s River Radamus, as he gets too low and slides off the course and out of the competition.
The bizarre story of Sturla Holm Lægreid’s public confession of infidelity, after winning bronze in the individual 20km biathlon, continues, as his ex girlfriend is tracked down.
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Super G: Norwegian Sejersted, who didn’t finish in the Downhill, absolutely flies down the slope, almost losing control at one point, ski airborne, but a few mistakes in the final approach leaves him far away from medal contention.
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Women’s half pipe: Qualifying continues, with run 2. The USA’s Chloe Kim is still at the top of the leader board, despite not improving on her first flurry down and across the pipe.
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Super G: Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr, who at last caught a medal on Monday, silver in the team combination, hurls himself down the mountain, but has to settle for seventh position this time.
Super G: Only three men have won three golds at the same Winter Olympics, and only two alpine skiers. The wait continues for Von Allmen, with over 20 competitors still to go.
Ahhh, terrible luck for Italian Dominik Paris, bronze medallist in the downhill, who loses his right ski only a few seconds after setting off. It flies away as he slides. He is unhurt but deeply pissed off.
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Super G: Having never been skiing, I’m plumping for Super G as my mountain sport of choice, for its simplicity, terrifying speed and crunchy snow beauty . Here comes Marco Odermatt, the world champion 12 months ago. He shimmies down the slope at an outrageous pace, his orange-red suit crouched in a squashed z – can he catch his countryman Von Allmenn? No, he squeezes into third.
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Super G: Time for the flying Swiss wonder, Franjo von Allmen, who already has two golds here - in the men’s downhill and the men’s combined. And he skies into another gold position in Bormio in 1.25.32!
Super G: Now the USA’s Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who had a disappointing downhill competition after vomiting on the way up to the start. He zips down the slopes and flies into the lead by 0.18 seconds.
Cowbells and cheers for veteran 41 year old Italian Christof Innerhofer, who skis into third.
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The BBC cut away from the half-pipe to the Super G, where skiers rely on instinct, having had no chance to do any training runs. We’re transported to the rugged peaks of Bormio. The start is 1959m above sea level, from where the athletes will bomb down the slope at an insane speed, through forests, to finish at village level 700m or so below. Home favourite Allegre starts things off, finishing in 1.25.63 seconds.
The scoring in the half pipe seems to have an air of mystery, baffling even the experts at times. Points are awarded for variety, difficulty, amplitude, execution and progression – but with some freedom for artistic licence for the judges.
Now the German Ettel sisters follow the Rettenegger brothers. Leilani slips into the final qualifying spot in 12th at the end of run one. Sister Konna lies 18th. And that’s the end of run one: with Chloe Kim looking down at her rivals.
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The riders are having to squint into the sun to see their scores come up. There’s lots of USA support on the slopes, first for 19-year old Bea Kim, who looks happy to settle into fifth, then for the queen of half pipe, Chloe Kim, who is aiming for her third consecutive gold medal in this discipline. Oh and she’s also just finished a degree at Stamford. It’s a cracking start – a big backside 720, frontside 900, and something floaty and turny which the commentators describe as “the penny black” of halfpipe. She immediately settles into first.
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Women’s halfpipe qualifying: Thinking about my attempts to stand on a skateboard as young women in baggy snow trousers zig-zag and float across the halfpipe.
Korean Gaon Choi , Chloe Kim’s biggest rival, flies effortlessly through the air, rhythmic and big, with an average of 2.8m jumps and, I’m told, a very difficult switchback side seven (?) to open. It’s only enough to put her second, to the raised eyebrows of the commentators.
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The last jumper is Johannes Lamparter, who will be disappointed to be walking away from the ski-jump section in sixth. The commentators think the conditions might be tricky as “none have really excelled” – which seems a little harsh
So, the leader, going into the cross-county competition, will be Kristijan Ilves, who pockets a 15-second head-start.
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On they go, soaring through the icy air, often looking disappointed after flying nearly 100m down a mountainside. Two brothers follow one after another: first Thomas, then Stefan Rettenegger. They slip into second and fourth position.
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..but despite enthusiastic support from a busy crowd of big coats and woolly hats, he lands a little short and has to settle for third.
Our first event is the men’s Nordic combined – where marks in the ski-jump are turned into a staggered start in the cross-country race. Kristjan Ilves of Estonia is in the lead at the moment, with 132.6 points from his jump – (marks are awarded for style and distance). But here comes the defending champion Vinzenz Geiger…
On the BBC, they are discussing Team GB’s near misses.“There’s no shame in saying we wanted an early medal, but every single one of those three results could have been ours,” says the ever-optimistic Chemmy Alcott. “Our best prospects are in the men’s skeleton, they’re a tick in the box for me.”
Another horrible injury for a member of the Australian team: as snowboarder Cam Bolton breaks his neck in training.
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Today's highlights
09:30 Snowboard Women’s Halfpipe Qualification
10:00 Freestyle Skiing Women’s Moguls Qualification
10.30 Alpine Skiing Men’s Super G FINAL
12:45 Nordic Combined Men’s Gundersen Normal Hill/10km cross-country FINAL
13:15 Biathlon Women’s 15km FINAL
13:15 Freestyle Skiing Women’s Moguls FINAL
15:40 Ice Hockey Men’s Group B: Slovakia v Finland
16:00: Luge Women’s Double, Run 1
16:51: Luge Men’s Double, Run 1
17:30 Men’s Speed skating 1000m FINAL
17:53: Women’s Luge double FINAL
18:05 Curling Men’s Round Robin: China v GB, Sweden v Italy, Czech Republic v USA, Canada v Germany,
18:30 Figure Skating, Mixed Ice Dance, Free Dance FINAL
18:30 Snowboard Men’s Halfpipe Qualification
18:44 Luge Men’s Double FINAL
20:10: Ice Hockey Men Group B: Sweden v Italy
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to day five day of winter action in Milan and the hauntingly beautiful Italian mountains.
There are eight gold medals up for grabs today, mostly on the slopes. They go for glory in the high-stakes men’s Super G (giant slalom) and the men’s Nordic combined (a 10km cross-country race and ski-jump), while Australia’s Jakara Anthony defends her title in the women’s Moguls (more ski-ing, this time racing down a steep course of jumps, turns and aerial trickery). France’s Lou Jeanmonnot guns for her second gold of the games in the women’s biathalon (cross-country skiing and rifle shooting).
Over on the rink, the mighty Dutch are favourites in the men’s 1000m speed skating, while both sexes prepare to throw themselves down an icy shute in the luge double. Finally, flowing silks and rousing pianos accompany the free dance component of the ice dance finals. There, Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson aim to inch up from fourth to bronze. Incredible fact – 24 million tuned in to watch Torvill and Dean win gold in 1984, (and ten year old me was one of them).
Team GB are crossing everything that Fear and Gibson will kick-start the country’s haul of medals, which so far have dangled agonisingly just out of reach. “We always speak about winter sports and how it comes down to absolutely nothing and I think the last couple of days has been a prime example of that, hasn’t it?” said chef de mission Eve Muirhead. “Millimetres, milliseconds. But you know what, I’m really kind of, I’m positive.”
There’s also ice-hockey, snowboard half pipe, and more curling, where Britain’s men will start their campaign, against China. Grab a cappuccino and join us. We’ll be here all day.
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