Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 7/February 10

 

A lot of varied events today, which is part of what makes the Olympics so wonderful.  Let's get to it!

I am going to start with the person that is likely to be the most dominating athlete in these Olympics, Norway's Johanes Hoesflot-Klaebo, who was back at it again in the Men's Cross-Country Skiing Classic Sprint.   After dominating his qualifiers, he absolutely dominated the last hill in the finals to put major distance between himself and at that time the only two other medal contenders to win his second gold.  Finishing second in a surprise was Ben Ogden of the United States!!!

The Women's Sprint Classic competition was also held with a Swedish sweep!!!  Lian Svahn, Jonna Sundling, and Maja Dahlqvist won gold, silver, and bronze respectively to dominate the event, and more importantly, their main rivals - the Norwegians!

Staying at the ski-course, the Men's 20km individual biathlon was held, with Norway's Johan-Olav Botn defeating French biathlete Eric Perrot, and Botn's countryman Sturla Holm Laegreid who comprised the rest of the podium.  The difference is that Botn went 20-20 in shooting, and Perrot and Laegreid both missed 1 shot, incurring a 1-minute time penalty each.

Many team events were held on Tuesday, including the Mixed team ski jumping competition, where Slovenia took gold, Norway earned silver, and Japan won the bronze.

In the Alpine Skiing Women's Team Combined, team Austria won gold behind Ariane Raedler's downhill and Katharina Huber's slalom, followed closely by Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (downhill) and Emma Aicher (slalom).  Interestingly, Aicher, who skied the slalom portion of the team combined for Germany, won silver in the individual downhill race behind Breezy Johnson.  The United States finished third, but it wasn't Breezy Johnson (gold in the downhill) and Mikaela Shiffrin's team, as Shiffrin finished 15th out of 18th slalom skiers), but rather the team of Jacqueline Wiles and Paila Moltzan.  The medal was satisfying for Wiles who earlier finished fourth in the individual downhill.

Mixed Doubles curling held its semi-finals and finals, with Sweden defeating the United States 6-5 in the gold medal match, after dispatching the number-1 seed Great Britain in the semi-finals.  The US team of Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse beat the defending-champions Italy in the semi-finals before settling for the silver in a closely fought match in which the Swedish squad held the hammer in the last end.  Italy defeated Great Britain for the bronze.

In the last matches of the women's hockey round robin, Sweden defeated Japan 4-0, Germany beat Italy 2-1 and Finland outlasted Switzerland 3-1.  But all of these were just the appetizers for the United States-Canada battle, which turned out not to be a battle.  The United States swarmed their Canadian rivals and won 5-0, which was the first shutout of Canada IN OLYMPIC HISTORY!  The US was paced by 2 goals from Hannah Bilka, and led by yesterday's US Athlete of the Day Caroline Harvey who started the scoring with a goal just 3:45 into the game, and led the US team with a +/- of 3.

Short track speedskating started, with all of the Mixed Team relay qualifiers and finals held.  Italy, behind the team of Elisa Confortola, Arianna Fontana, Thomas Nadaline and Pietro Sighel, skated away from the field during Fontana's second-lap to win by a margin so safe, Sighel did a 180 and cupped his ears to hear the crowd as he crossed the finish line backwards!!!  This was Fontana's third career gold medal, and her 12 overall, the most in short track history.

In luge, the final two runs of the Women's Singles were held, with Julia Taubitz of the Germany winning gold!  Latvia's Elina Bota took home silver and Ashley Farquharson of the United States finished third - earning bronze.  Taubitz led after each of the last three runs, but Bota was fifth after the first run, and Farquharson was fifth after the second run, but both made up a ton of time on run three to make the podium.  This was Taubitz's first Olympic medal after finishing 7th in Beijing.  Bota likewise made a big jump from Beijing, where she finished 18th.  Farquharson improved on her 12th-place finish in 2022.

Athlete(s) of the Day - Johanes Hoesflot-Klaebo, Norway, Cross-Country Skiing

Go watch his spring up the final hill.  One of the most dominating sports performances I have ever seen.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Ben Ogden, Cross-Country Skiiing

Nobody has a chance against Klaebo, but Ogden dominated everyone else!

Upset of the Day - Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin, United States, Alpine Skiiing

Was not the US team on the podium in the Women's Team Combined, as Shiffrin did not ski even remotely close to her normal levels.  In the 8 World Cup races this year, Shiffrin has won 7 and came in second in the other.  She finished 15th of the 18th skiers in this race.

 

Team of the Day - Italy, Mixed Team Relay, Short Track Speedskating

What a final's race.  Fontana!!!  Sighel's 180 before the finish line!!!  Pure poetry.

U.S. Team of the Day - Women's Hockey

Annihilated Canada to truly make a point before the knockout stages.  Canada will be thinking about this game for decades.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Charging the Block - Short Track Speed Skating - In short track speed skating, it is when an athlete passes on the inside of a congested area just as the other skaters are making the turn.  This is what Fontana did to give Italy the lead in the mixed-team relay.

Olympic Events Watched:  Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Luge, Short Track Speed Skating

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Korey Dobkin, Ashley Farquharson, Breezy Johnson, Hilary Knight, Ilia Malinin, Ben Ogden, Cory Thiesse