Key events
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
..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 Austrian team: as snowboarder Cam Bolton breaks his neck in training.
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
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.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/feb/11/winter-olympics-2026-gold-medals-up-for-grabs-in-skiing-figure-skating-and-more-live
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