Valérie Maltais wins bronze in women's long-track speed skating, Canada's first medal at Milano Cortina 2026

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: 

Weidemann is up. She's racing alongside Dutch skater Joy Beune. A medal ceremony is planned for right after the competition. 

Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida finished first in the pairing with Canadian Maltais, clocking a 3:54.28 time — an incredibly fast Olympic record. Maltais, appearing in her fifth Olympics, followed closely behind with 3:56.93. She's currently sitting in third place with two skaters to go.

Weidemann will skate in the 10th and final pairing, with a full view of the times to beat.

Fellow Canadian Valérie Maltais is in Group 8, up now.

The speed skating oval for the Milano-Cortina Olympics is a bit revolutionary in the sense that it was built to be a temporary facility. The venue exists in what is normally a convention or exhibition space. It will be dismantled after the Olympics are over.

In the meantime, speed skaters will notice something different: a bit of a hollow sound as their blades hit the ice, pushing them forward. It's most noticeable in the sprint races with their very fast starts. Some have said it's like the sound of skating on a frozen lake.   

Unlike some events, speed skaters get one go at the 3,000-metre final. It’s a time trial event, and the skaters race in pairs, but they are really racing the clock. They go 7.5 times around a 400-metre track. 

Weidemann, who won the bronze medal in this event in Beijing in 2022, is in the 10th and final pairing. She will be racing alongside a Dutch skater, Joy Beune. A medal ceremony is planned for right after the competition. 

I'm Briar Stewart, reporting from the Milano Speed Skating Stadium. It's located at the Fiera Milano Rho exhibition centre, which is also where some of the women's hockey games are being played on another rink.  

This venue is supposed to hold roughly 6,500 spectators, and I would say it is about 70 per cent full. Many of the seats are occupied by people sporting orange and cheering on the skaters from the Netherlands, but we have seen a few Canadian flags.

Want perfect Olympic ice? Call the Canadians

There's something new in speed skating at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games: this is the first temporary indoor ice oval at the Olympics. 

And who better to make sure the ice is perfect for the world's best athletes than Calgary ice master Mark Messer?

Messer is a veteran of six previous Olympic speed skating tracks, and he's also the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Milano Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

"It's one of the biggest challenges I've had in icemaking," Messer told The Associated Press during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

For speed skating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean — and very, very smooth.

"The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge," Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

OK, Canada. Here we go. Lots of eyes will be on the 3,000-metre long-track speed skating race starting now as Canadian star Isabelle Weidemann aims for gold. 

Canadian Laura Hall is also racing in this one and making her Olympic debut while she's at it.

No medals so far for Team Canada, but the hope is that could change soon.

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, ending up 16th. Next up for him is the big air qualifier on Day 9, which is on Feb. 15.

Lindsey Vonn finishes 3rd in final Olympic downhill training run

American Lindsey Vonn completes her second straight successful downhill training run and will compete for gold at the Milano-Cortina Olympics on Sunday, little more than a week after rupturing the ACL of her left knee.

Lindsey Vonn is simply reinforced different 🐐.

The 41-year-old posted the third-fastest clip in the last downhill grooming 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.

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