02/17/26 10:55
Speed skaters win second consecutive Olympic gold in women’s team pursuit
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This is Canada’s third gold medal of these Games – one shy of their total at Beijing.Yves Herman/Reuters
Canada’s women’s long-track team pursuit trio – Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais – won a gold medal in Milan on Tuesday. They defeated a notably younger Dutch team who led for much of the race. But in the end, the vastly experienced Canadians reeled them back in.
This is a repeat of the same medal in the same discipline with the same group at the last Olympics.
The Dutch fans were in the vast majority inside the Milano Speed Skating Stadium, but the Canadians carried the day, on and off the field of play. By the end, those in red and white were dancing in the aisles.
As Weidemann, Blondin and Maltais circled the ice in victory, the PA blasted Shania Twain – which worked on a bunch of levels.
This is Canada’s third gold medal of these Games – one shy of their total at Beijing.
02/17/26 10:40
MacKinnon, Bennett sit out practice at Olympics for maintenance
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Canadian forward Nathan MacKinnon and Swiss counterpart Nico Hischier battle for the puck on Feb. 13.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Bennett were absent from Canada’s practice Tuesday ahead of the men’s hockey quarterfinals at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Head coach Jon Cooper said both forwards were held off the ice for “maintenance” and there’s “no panic” with Wednesday’s do-or-die game against either Czechia or Denmark on deck.
MacKinnon took a forearm cheap shot to the jaw from French defenceman Pierre Crinon in the third period of Sunday’s 10-2 victory that wrapped up Canada’s perfect preliminary round.
Tom Wilson dropped the gloves with Crinon – the first fight in Olympic hockey since 1998 – which resulted both players getting ejected under International Ice Hockey Federation rules on fisticuffs.
Josh Morrissey was a full participant in practice after leaving the country’s opener against Czechia with an undisclosed injury and sitting out the last two games. Cooper said Morrissey “looked great,” but didn’t know if he would be available for the quarters.
Veteran forward Brad Marchand, meanwhile, is available for Canada’s first do-or-die game after missing the last two contests with an undisclosed ailment.
– The Canadian Press
02/17/26 10:30
What’s in a day for the photographers who snap athletes at the Games?
You see the photos, you marvel at the angles as athletes glide at speed and pirouette in the air, or gasp when they crash. But what’s in a day for the photographers who snap those unique moments?
The Associated Press
02/17/26 10:20
The risk of the Winter Olympics is – surprise! – winter.
– Eric Reguly
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The slopestyle course is seen during heavy snow in Livigno.Lindsey Wasson/The Associated Press
I never made it today to Bormio or Livigno, the Olympic mountain towns about three hours north of Milan that host, respectively, the men’s alpine races and the men’s and women’s freestyle events.
The snow prevented me from hitting the road. My rental car lacks snow tires (although I had requested them); the Olympic bus schedule was in disarray because of the snow-choked, high-altitude mountain passes. The Foscagno Pass between Bormio and Livigno reaches an altitude of 2,291 metres. The twisty, two-lane road at that elevation can be treacherous even when it’s not snowing.
Lack of snow was billed as the greatest potential Olympics problem in climate-change whacked Italy; in the last couple of days, the problem has been too much snow, especially of the vision-blocking, billowing variety.
On Monday night, the women’s freestyle big air competition in Livigno, which was won by Canada’s Megan Oldman, was delayed by more than an hour over worries about visibility. When you are barrelling toward a ramp that launches you into low-earth orbit, you would like to see your landing spot.
On Tuesday, two other events were delayed – the men’s and women’s aerial qualification rounds and the women’s snowboard slopestyle final – “due to weather conditions,” the Games organizers said.
By late afternoon on Tuesday, local time, neither event had been rescheduled. The men’s freestyle big air final, also in Livigno, was still set to go at 7:30 pm local time, but that could change.
The forecast called for snow in both Bormio and Livigno on and off for the rest of the week. With the Livigno events still in full swing – Bormio’s are winding down – the mountain events’ schedule for the last five days of the Olympics is uncertain.
I am not complaining. The views of the snow-draped trees and mountains from my chalet-hotel, deep in a valley about a dozen kilometres beyond Bormio, are bewitching. I will yearn for these cold, white days when the savage, near-tropical heat wallops Italy in about three months.
02/17/26 09:38
Heated Rivalry is being embraced by fans and athletes at the Winter Olympics
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Hudson Williams, left, and Connor Storrie in a scene from Heated Rivalry.Crave/via The Associated Press
Olympic hockey knows all about big hits. That now includes Heated Rivalry a gay hockey romance TV series in which two players from opposing teams carry out a secret, long-term relationship.
The show’s impact was evident long before the Milan Cortina Olympics when co-stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie carried the Olympic flame. And it hasn’t stopped there. Athletes and fans from Canada and the U.S. are feeling the show’s impact.
Its biggest fans at the Olympics may be the Canadian delegation.
As part of the Olympic experience, athletes were gifted a potted plant. Many of the Canadians named theirs Shane or Ilya, according to the delegation’s lead press liaison, Tara MacBournie.
Canadian Alpine skier Kiki Alexander took the love a bit further, sharing on her TikTok that the village’s Canadian moose has been named Shane.
“If you know, you know,” she wrote.
Jake Sanderson, a U.S. defenceman who plays for the Ottawa Senators, said he has heard about the show, but doesn’t know much about it. When asked how far off the NHL is from having an openly gay player, Sanderson cited Luke Prokop. In 2021, Prokop was a Nashville Predators prospect who became the first player signed to an NHL contract to come out, though he has not yet played in the league.
“You never know if that show [will] instill some confidence in some people,” said Sanderson, adding that any openly gay player would be fully accepted in the locker room. “I don’t think we would treat them any differently. They’re our teammate, we love them no matter what, and obviously embrace them, absolutely.”
Read the full story here.
– The Associated Press
02/17/26 09:05
Canada to take on Netherlands for gold in women’s long-track team pursuit
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Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin of Team Canada compete in the semifinal.Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Defending champion Canada will face the Netherlands in the gold medal race in women’s team pursuit speed skating at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Valérie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann beat the United States by more than four seconds in their semifinal to move on.
The Netherlands beat Japan.
– The Canadian Press
02/17/26 08:20
Women’s curling team takes on an undefeated Swedish squad
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Rachel Homan in action during the women’s curling round robin session against Sweden.Misper Apawu/The Associated Press
Canada’s curlers are back in action in Cortina, where Rachel Homan’s team is taking on an undefeated Swedish squad.
The Ottawa-based rink snapped their three-game losing streak with decisive wins over China and Japan yesterday to even their round-robin record at 3-3.
They need to climb into the top four to make the playoff round.
– The Canadian Press
02/17/26 08:02
Lighter-coloured boards replace dark ones in the hockey arenas
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Germany plays France at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena today. The boards encasing the rinks are now light blue and green.Mike Segar/Reuters
The hockey arenas at the Milan Cortina Olympics got a new look as the knockout round of the men’s tournament got under way Tuesday.
The boards encasing the rinks are now light blue and green after the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association made the case to the International Olympic Committee to make a change from the dark colour during the preliminary round.
Players talked to the league and union about the boards after each team’s first practice in Milan.
U.S. goaltender Jeremy Swayman lost sight of the puck in the boards and the stands during his one round-robin game in net against Denmark. Swayman joked he was colour-blind, so it didn’t matter to him.
“It was a flash screen and it was just the perfect height right between the stands and board level, and I truly lost it,” Swayman said after the 6-3 win. “It’s something all of us always have to face, and we play in different arenas every night in the NHL, so this is just one, another one, and it’s a challenge that we have to embrace.”
– The Associated Press
02/17/26 07:48
Meet the first on‑ice camera operator for Olympic figure skating
Former U.S. competitive ice dancer Jordan Cowan is the first camera operator on figure skating ice in Olympic history, capturing intimate moments that the overhead or sideboard cameras cannot.
The Associated Press
02/17/26 07:18
Lindsey Vonn back in U.S. after crash in Olympic downhill
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U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn lies in a hospital bed, after she crashed during the women’s downhill, in Treviso, Italy, on Feb. 11.@lindseyvonn via Instagram/Reuters
Lindsey Vonn is back home in the U.S. following a week of treatment at a hospital in Italy after breaking her left leg in the Olympic downhill at the Milan Cortina Games.
“Haven’t stood on my feet in over a week … been in a hospital bed immobile since my race. And although I’m not yet able to stand, being back on home soil feels amazing,” Vonn posted on X with an American flag emoji. “Huge thank you to everyone in Italy for taking good care of me.”
The 41-year-old Vonn suffered a complex tibia fracture that has already been operated on multiple times following her Feb. 8 crash. She has said she’ll need more surgery in the U.S.
Nine days before her fall in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Vonn ruptured the ACL in her left knee in another crash in Switzerland. Even before then, all eyes had been on her as the feel-good story heading into the Olympics for her comeback after nearly six years of retirement.
– The Associated Press
02/17/26 06:35
Heated rivalry between Canada and U.S. comes down to yet another women’s gold-medal showdown
– Grant Robertson
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Canada’s goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens challenges United States’ Tessa Janecke during a preliminary round match on Feb. 10.Hassan Ammar/The Associated Press
On the ice or on television, there’s no heated rivalry quite like this one.
Canada and the United States are locked in for another gold-medal showdown in women’s hockey – the seventh time these two teams have met in the final of the Olympics.
It is a feud unlike anything else in hockey.
In their previous six gold-medal meetings at the Olympics, Canada has won four times, the U.S. twice. Four times the matchups have been decided by a 3-2 score; one of those was settled in overtime, another came down to a shootout.
“We’re going to have to scratch and claw and absolutely bring our best game,” Canadian forward Brianne Jenner said Monday after Canada won its semi-final over Switzerlandto advance to Thursday’s final in Milan.
Since the women’s game debuted at the Olympics in 1998, it has always been a polarized battle between these two countries. Only once – when Canada beat Sweden for gold in 2006 – has it not come down to the two superpowers of women’s hockey.
Read the full story here.
02/17/26 06:05
Heavy snow upends freestyle skiing and snowboard events
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Workers clear snow as the freestyle skiing women’s aerials qualification is delayed due to adverse weather conditions in Livigno.Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Heavy snow scrambled the Winter Olympics schedule in the Italian town of Livigno as organizers postponed the women’s snowboard slopestyle medal event and reworked the start times for freestyle skiing aerials.
Officials decided it was too dangerous to start the qualifying round for women’s aerials on Tuesday morning under a steady snowfall, which could limit visibility and impact speed on the steep jump at the Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park. They rescheduled the event for Tuesday afternoon as workers used shovels to keep the buildup of snow on the course to a minimum. Temperatures hovered at a chilly -6 Celsius.
Competitors in the women’s aerials qualifying had completed practice rounds just before organizers postponed the event’s start.
Moving the women’s aerials forced a postponement in the men’s qualifying round that had been set for Tuesday afternoon. A new date and time for the men’s event has not yet been announced.
Across town, organizers cancelled the women’s slopestyle final scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the Livigno Snow Park and said they would move it to another day. Canadian snowboarders Laurie Blouin, who won silver in slopestyle in 2018 in Pyeongchang and placed fourth four years ago in Beijing, and Juliette Pelchat are both in the 12-woman slopestyle field.
– Reuters and The Canadian Press
02/17/26 05:50
– Jamie Ross
Will Trump show up for the men’s gold medal hockey game if U.S. plays?
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USA’s Auston Matthews celebrates with teammates after scoring his team’s second goal during the match against Germany on Sunday.ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images
Could U.S. President Donald Trump show up for the men’s hockey game, should the United States play for the gold medal on Sunday?
There are preparations under way according to a report in the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Asked about the possibility on Tuesday at a daily media briefing at the Main Press Centre in Milan, IOC spokesman Mark Adams wouldn’t tip his hand.
“You wouldn’t expect me to comment on the movements of heads of state,” Adams said.
The report in the Corriere says police have already begun planning for Trump’s possible arrival.
The U.S. men’s team (3-0) still needs to earn a berth in the final. It has a bye to the quarterfinal, which is set for Wednesday. The semifinal is Friday, and the gold medal game goes Sunday at 8:10 a.m. ET
Canada (3-0), meanwhile, also earned a bye to Wednesday’s quarterfinal at 4:40 p.m. ET against a yet-to-be determined opponent.
02/17/26 05:30
Laurie Blouin, Juliette Pelchat compete in women’s snowboard slopestyle final
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Laurie Blouin, from Quebec City, was ninth in qualifying.JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images
Canadians Laurie Blouin and Juliette Pelchat compete in the women’s snowboard slopestyle final. Blouin, from Quebec City, was ninth in qualifying but will look to improve upon her fourth-place finish at the 2022 Beijing Games after winning silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Pelchat, from Whistler, B.C., was the 12th and final qualifier in her Olympic debut.
– The Canadian Press
02/17/26 05:15
Women’s curling team to play Sweden, men take on Great Britain
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Emma Miskew, Rachel Homan and Sarah Wilkes in action during the match against Japan on Monday.Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters
Rachel Homan’s Ottawa-based rink looks to build on its rebound when it faces Sweden in round-robin action. Homan defeated China 10-5 and Japan 9-6 on Monday to snap a three-game losing streak.
Brad Jacobs, meanwhile, takes Canada’s men against Great Britain after an 8-2 win over Czechia improved their record to 5-1.
– The Canadian Press
02/17/26 05:10
Speed skaters return to defend their women’s team pursuit title
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Team Canada is led by Isabelle Weidemann, followed by Valérie Maltais, centre, and Ivanie Blondin, left, as they compete in the women’s team pursuit quarterfinals speed skating race on Saturday.Luca Bruno/The Associated Press
Canada’s reigning Olympic champion women’s speed skating team returns to defend its title in the team pursuit semifinals today at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Valérie Maltais of La Baie, Que., and Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann posted the fastest quarterfinal time at two minutes 55.03 seconds and will face the United States in the semifinal. The medal races are scheduled for later in the day.
“We think about that final, but we need to get to the final first. One step at a time,” said Maltais, who won bronze in the women’s 3,000-metre at these Games.
– The Canadian Press and Reuters
02/17/26 05:05
Czechia and Denmark play to determine Canada’s opponent in men’s hockey quarterfinal
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Connor McDavid of Team Canada during third period Olympic hockey action against France on Sunday.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Canada’s men’s hockey team finds out its quarterfinal opponent when Czechia and Denmark meet in today’s qualification playoff.
The Canadians cruised through Group A, outscoring their opponents 20-3. Connor McDavid has led the way with nine points (two goals, seven assists) alongside 38-year-old Sidney Crosby (two goals, four assists) and 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini (four goals, two assists). The quarterfinals are Wednesday.
– The Canadian Press
02/17/26 05:00
Today’s Olympic schedule and event start times
– Globe staff
It’s another packed day in Italy as the 2026 Winter Games as Canadian Olympians aim for more gold medals in the final week of competition.
On the ice, speed skaters Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin are trying to defend their women’s team pursuit Olympic title, and Canada’s men’s curling team are playing top-ranked Great Britain.
On the slopes, Dylan Deschamps is jumping for a medal in men’s freeski big air and Juliette Pelchat and Laurie Blouin are in the women’s snowboard slopestyle final.
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Dylan Deschamps of Canada in action during his third run of men’s freeski big air qualification on Sunday.Marko Djurica/Reuters
Here are the events to watch for, and you can find the full schedule here.
- 4:45 a.m. ET – Freestyle skiing women’s aerials qualification (Canada’s Mario Thenault)
- 7:30 a.m. ET – Freestyle skiing men’s aerials qualification (Miha Fontaine among Canadians)
- 8:05 a.m. ET – Canada vs. Sweden women’s curling round-robin
- 8:52 a.m. ET – Speed skating women’s team pursuit semifinal (Canada competing)
- 10:40 a.m. ET – Czechia vs. Denmark men’s hockey (Canada plays winner in quarterfinal)
- 12:45 p.m. – Figure skating women’s short program (Canada’s Madeline Schizas)
- 1:00 p.m. ET – Two-man bobsleigh run 3 (Taylor Austin and Shaq Murray-Lawrence among Canadians)
- 1:05 p.m. ET – Canada vs. Great Britain men’s curling round-robin
Medal events:
- 7 a.m. ET – Snowboard women’s slopestyle (Canada’s Juliette Pelchat and Laurie Blouin)
- 7:45 a.m. – Nordic combined men’s Gundersen 10km
- 8:30 a.m. ET – Biathlon men’s 4×7.5km relay (Canada competing)
- 10:22 a.m. ET – Speed skating men’s team pursuit
- 10:41 a.m. ET – Speed skating women’s team pursuit
- 1:30 p.m. ET – Freestyle skiing men’s big air (Canada’s Dylan Deschamps)
- 3:05 p.m. ET – Two-man bobsleigh
02/17/26 05:00
Where to watch the Olympics in Canada
– Globe staff
CBC is Canada’s official Olympic broadcaster. The 2026 Winter Games will be available to watch on CBC through your TV provider, or to stream for free on the CBC Gem app or at CBCGem.ca.
You can also follow The Globe and Mail’s live coverage of all the latest news and analysis of the Games, on our website or mobile app.
02/17/26 05:00
Your guide to the 2026 Winter Olympics
– Globe staff
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A spectator wears Olympic ring glasses at Milano Ice Skating Arena.Elsa/Getty Images
The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics have begun and are poised to be historic in more ways than one, as Team Canada and the world’s best athletes converge in northern Italy.
From hockey to figure skating and the debut of ski mountaineering, the competition will be nothing short of thrilling. But at the most geographically widespread edition of the Winter Games ever, international tensions – particularly toward the United States – will also be on full display.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Games.
02/17/26 05:00
Ask us your Olympics questions
– Globe staff
From how Canada is doing so far to what the energy is like in Italy, tell the The Globe’s Olympics team what you want to know about the Games. We’ll do our best to answer them.
Ask us your Olympics questions
What do you want to know about the 2026 Winter Games and Team Canada so far? Send us your questions, and The Globe’s journalists on the ground in Italy will try to answer them.
