Follow Canada in jam-packed Olympics Day 1 as Isabelle Weidemann tries for gold in long-track speed skating

jack up thomas crawford finishes 9th for Canada's top out ensue in men's Olympic downhill 

Canada's Gallant, Peterman fall to Great Britain for 2nd straight loss in Olympic mixed doubles curling

Italy wins their 1st medals at Milano Cortina 2026 as Franzoni and Paris ski to silver and bronze

Olympic flames are lit during opening ceremony of Milano-Cortina 2026

Canadian athletes enter Olympic venues at opening ceremony festivities

Host nation Italy enters Olympic venues at opening ceremony festivities

Team Canada athletes to watch at Milano Cortina 2026

Jobin is the lone Canadian to advance to the Olympic big air final

Canada's opening Olympic women's hockey game postponed over Finnish players' illness

If you're just joining us, here's everything you need to know about what the Milano-Cortina Olympics have in store on Day 1 — including Canadians to watch. 

What's happened? 

Canadian medal opportunities:

Other events to watch: 

In the men's slopestyle qualifier in Bormio, there won't be any Canadians heading to the final, as Evan McEachran fell short of finishing inside the top 12. His final ranking hasn't come out yet. 

Lindsey Vonn is just built different 🐐.

The 41-year-old posted the third-fastest time in the final downhill training run in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Saturday — just eight days after tearing her ACL.

Vonn suffered the injury in a crash in the final downhill race before the Winter Games in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, last Friday. 

Here she is doing a weighted front squat and other exercises in the gym, ahead of the competition, which she shared on Facebook on Thursday.

For some perspective on how incredible this feat is, I completely tore my ACL in a skiing crash last April, and I had to walk with crutches for the next few weeks — which is typical for this kind of injury.

The women's downhill is slated for 5:30 a.m. ET Sunday. All eyes will be on Vonn.

Megan Oldham and Naomi Urness are heading to the women's slopestyle final.

Oldham, from Parry Sound, Ont., scored 61.09 points to qualify in seventh in Saturday's freestyle skiing qualifier, according to The Canadian Press — just one spot ahead of Urness, who scored 58.40 points. 

Urness, a first-time Olympian from Mont-Tremblant, Que., was sitting 15th after the first qualifying run, forcing her to improve her score by more than six points to make it into the top 12 and Monday's final. 

Oldham, a bronze medallist in the 2025 FIS freestyle world championships, is ranked third on the World Cup circuit, according to CP. She ended her first run in fourth place and maintained that ranking on her second pass. 

The two other Canadians in the race, Skye Clarke and Elena Gaskell, fell during both runs and ended up 21st and 23rd. 

If you're just joining us, here's everything you need to know about what the Milano-Cortina Olympics have in store on Day 1 — including Canadians to watch. 

What's happened? 

Canadian medal opportunities:

Other events to watch: 

The women's 10-kilometre skiathlon has just wrapped. Sweden's Frida Karlsson came first, claiming her first individual gold in skiathlon.  

Karlsson finished the race at 53:45. The two-time Olympian and three-time world champion was followed by Sweden's Ebba Anderson and Norway's Heidi Weng at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.

Here's how Canadians fared in the race: Alison Mackie finished 22nd; Jasmine Drolet 38th; Katherine Stewart-Jones 45th and Amelia Wells 50th out of 70.

Jobin is the lone Canadian to advance to the Olympic big air final

Francis Jobin of Lac-Beauport, Que. Scored 170.75 in qualification finishing in sixth place, good enough to advance to the snowboard big air final in Valtellina, Italy.

The Canadian snowboarding team has taken some blows — but there's still hope.

After star Mark McMorris pulled out of this event due to a hard crash in practice, Jobin was the only Canadian to advance to the 12-man final, placing sixth in qualifying. The 27-year-old won gold in a World Cup slopestyle event last year but has not reached a big-time big air podium since taking bronze at the junior world championships in 2017.

McMorris said he's "getting better" after hitting his head in that crash and thinks there's "a really good chance" he'll be medically cleared to compete in the slopestyle on Feb. 16. McMorris has won three consecutive Olympic bronze medals in that event.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Canada Snowboard made the announcement this morning, serving another blow to the Canadian snowboard team's overall medal chances.

O’Dine, 28, fell during a snowboard cross training session and was evaluated by both COC and Canada Snowboard medical teams. 

O’Dine, who is from Victoria, was considered a medal contender for next week’s women’s snowboard cross event.

A two-time Olympic medallist at the 2022 Beijing Games, O’Dine also finished fourth at the 2025 world championships.

Medical imaging confirmed the fracture, which will force O’Dine to miss the rest of the Olympics.

“I’m heartbroken,” O’Dine said. “But I am proud of the work I put in this year to get here. After I fractured my ankle in November, I was able to show myself a new level of dedication, passion and hard work to return stronger. 

“I have seen a new athlete in myself emerge from the challenges I have faced this year and will continue to rise above. I am upset now, but I will grow from this.”

It sounds like the women's hockey game between Canada and Switzerland later today will be going ahead as planned.

There had been questions about whether Team Canada would be back for its second round robin game in women's hockey, where they're up against a Swiss team led by Boston Fleet forward Alina Müller. 

The team didn't march at the opening ceremony last night after one of the players tested positive for norovirus. It comes after an outbreak on the Finnish women's hockey team forced a postponement of its game against Canada on Thursday.

But Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games executive director, says the game is expected to take place at 3:10 p.m. ET anyway.

Speaking at a news conference this morning, Dubi said there is one confirmed case of the virus on the Swiss team, "but let's be very clear, no outbreak."

"What was done by the medical teams, super precise, super nicely done, and as far as I understand, the game happens," he said. 

"Swiss-Canada tonight, right? 9:10 [p.m. Local time]? I'm following the Swiss, sometimes I'm a bit Swiss as well, so 9:10 p.m., it goes on as scheduled, no impact."

Switzerland won bronze at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, where 15-year-old Müller became the youngest hockey player ever to medal at the Olympics.

Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen secured the first medal at the Milano-Cortina Games in the men’s downhill in Bormio. The 24-year-old powered through a challenging course in a time of 1:51.61 to capture the win. He was 0.20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. 

Giovanni Franzoni of Italy, the host country’s favourite, captured silver with a time of 1:51.81. His teammate, Dominik Paris, earned bronze with a time of 1:52.11. 

The Canadians were well off the pace. Crawford finished ninth, followed by Alexander in 14th, Read in 25th and Seger in 28th. 

Cam Alexander from Vancouver screamed at the finish of the men’s downhill, in a display of frustration at his time of 1:53.49. He was a medal hopeful after finishing third in Bormio’s last two downhills. But Alexander struggled on the rolls, performing a one-ski balancing act as he fought to maintain his line. Ultimately, that cost him some time. 

Next up from Canada was Brodie Seger from North Vancouver. The 30-year-old was off the pace by 3.35 seconds with a time of 1:54.96 in his second Olympics.

The final Canadian, Jeff Read, was a bit quicker. The 28-year-old from Canmore, Alta., finished with a time of 1:54.56. It wasn’t enough to challenge for the Top 3. The son of Crazy Canuck Ken Read did a quick wave in the finish and had a smile on his face. He congratulated the leader, Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland, who has held a comfortable lead in the downhill since the first couple racers.

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