Key events
The Opening Ceremony: The showpiece to kick off the Games happened across multiple venues but politics and protests were also present, writes Bryan Armen Graham.
Yara El-Shaboury
The Briefing
Women’s Downhill: Lindsey Vonn passed a key test of her damaged knee on Friday as she completed her first downhill training run, keeping alive her hopes of a fourth Olympic meda. Skiing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, the American clocked a time of 1min 40.33sec in her first official run in Cortina d’Ampezzo, and simply responded “yeah” when asked if “all good” by reporters.
The training was delayed for more than an hour owing to fog hanging over the Olimpia delle Tofane piste and Vonn entertained her teammates by singing along to some Usher. The Swiss team, including the reigning downhill Olympic champion Corinne Suter, passed the time by playing Yahtzee.
Italy’s Federica Brignone was the first to get all the way down the piste, with a time of 1:40.66, as she goes for a first Olympic gold after coming back from a double leg break just in time to compete.
“Some things were good, some things so-so,” Brignone said. “I’m trying to recover my leg because after skiing it’s always swollen and painful. I’m also working on my confidence because I’m still missing it.”
Curling Mixed Doubles: Jennifer Dodds said she and her partner Bruce Mouat had produced their best performances yet as the duo recorded another two wins in Friday’s round-robin matches in the mixed doubles curling competition. The pair beat Sweden 7-4 before a comprehensive 8-2 defeat of South Korea, with an end to spare in both games. “We said yesterday there were a couple of things we wanted to work on,” said Dodds. “We came out today and executed exactly what we wanted to do.”
The Team GB pair were also in a buoyant move after the American rapper Snoop Dogg asked for a photo. “We walked past and we were just kind of like ‘there’s Snoop Dogg’, a bit starstruck and we got ushered back,” said Dodds. “They said ‘he wants a selfie with you’ and we said ‘OK’. So, if Snoop Dogg’s team is reading this, can we please get the photo?”
Snoop Dogg, who was wearing a jacket that featured photos of the USA’s Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, is an honorary coach for the team and took to the ice himself to have a try at sweeping a stone.
Lizzy Yarnold: There is a huge buzz for the Games that are the pinnacle for the athletes but competing through illness and injury is all part of the test, writes the former Team GB skeleton star who won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.
The Briefing: Lovingly compiled, direct to your inbox and running throughout the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, sign up for our superb guide to the day’s highlights and the best that is yet to come.
What to look out for today
Times are all in local time in Milan and Cortina. For Sydney it is +10 hours, for London it is -1 hour, for New York it is -6 hours and San Francisco it is -9 hours.
Curling – 10.05am, 2.35pm and 7.05pm: more mixed doubles awaits. Great Britain and the US – both unbeaten so far – face off in the second session.
Freestyle skiing – 10.30am and 2pm: men’s and women’s freeski slopestyle qualification. Keep an eye out for Team GB’s Kirsty Muir and China’s American-born Eileen Gu.
Alpine skiing – 11.30am: the first gold medal event of the games is the men’s downhill. Switzerland may sweep the podium with Marco Odermatt, Franjo von Allmen and Alexis Monney.
Ice hockey – 12.10pm, 2.40pm, 4.40pm and 9.10pm: women’s games continue with Canada finally getting on the ice after their Finland match was postponed on Thursday.
Cross-country skiing – 1pm: women’s 10km + 10km skiathlon where athletes use classic and free techniques in the same race, swapping halfway through.
Speed skating – 4pm: the Dutch have won four of the last five Olympics in the women’s 3000m, the first of two long distance events.
Luge – 5pm and 6.32pm: two men’s singles runs get under way.
Ski jumping – 5.45pm, 6.45pm and 7.57pm: trial round and first round take place before the main decider.
Snowboard – 7.30pm: the men’s big air final promises to be one of the most show-stopping events. Japan are eying gold but Beijing 2022’s champion, China’s Yiming Su, will not let his title slip so easily.
Figure skating – 7.45pm and 10.05pm: two team events take place with the men’s single skating and the ice dance.
Preamble
Buongiorno! If last night’s spectacular opening ceremony at the San Siro was anything to go by, Milano Cortina 2026 is going to be a masterpiece of Italian flair. We saw the theme of Armonia (translation: harmony) come to life as the ceremony bridged the 250 miles between the urban chic of Milan and the snow-dusted peaks of Cortina d’Ampezzo. From Mariah Carey’s multilingual “Volare” to Andrea Bocelli’s always spine-tingling rendition of Nessun Dorma, it was a night that celebrated both the Renaissance and the rink.
But the party is over and now the business of “faster, higher, stronger” begins in earnest. We have five gold medals up for grabs on this day of competition.
-
Alpine Skiing: The blue-riband Men’s Downhill takes center stage in Bormio. All eyes are on Marco Odermatt as he attempts to conquer the treacherous Stelvio.
-
Speed Skating: The Women’s 3000m sees the first medals awarded on the oval, with Isabelle Weidemann looking to defend her podium pedigree.
-
Cross-Country Skiing: The grueling Women’s 15km + 15km Skiathlon will test the absolute limits of endurance.
-
Ski Jumping & Snowboard: Medals will also be settled in the Women’s Normal Hill and the Men’s Snowboard Big Air.
Beyond the podiums, the team events are heating up with Great Britain facing Canada in a heavyweight Mixed Doubles curling clash, and the US women taking on Finland in the hockey. Stick with us, your one-stop shop for every lunge, leap, and photo finish.
